Component Impact

Steve N.,

I would love to eliminate my preamp. What DAC with volume control do you recommend?

Sure.....the system operates at the ability of the weakest link in the chain

In one of my older systems, I was sure I needed to change the amplifier until my dealer, who sold both, proved to me that the sound I was looking for was actually achieved by upgrading the preamp. The system had more solidity, tonal accuracy and more pitch-accurate bass. All the things I previously believed were attributable to the amp were accomplished by the preamp. Quite an eye-opener.

Ricred1, what pricerange DAC with VC are you looking at? Steve manufactures/sells one himself, so may be he refrains from answering to avoid perception of conflict of interest. I personally have been researching and playing with DAC + VC with and without preamps for quite some time so I can give you a pretty good lay of the land and guidance if I better understand your parametes. What digital source(s) are you planning to use?

"I would love to eliminate my preamp. What DAC with volume control do you recommend?"

There are only a few choices that enable actually eliminating the effects of the preamp:

1) Overdrive SE
2) older Bidat with external volume option
3) Weiss 202 because it has gain settings that can be used in conjunction with a little bit of digital volume reduction - only works with computer audio

The sound of these varies all over the map, so I recommend auditioning.

Another thing that helps significantly and even improves on the "no-preamp" system is to add a high-quality transformer buffer betwen DAC and amps. This has numerous advantages and improves SQ:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=108715.0

Steve N.
Empirical Audio