DACs: Burmester vs. Meitner vs. dcs

First I believe all of the above Dacs are good. I've had the DCC2 for several months. The Meitner and the Phillips are very sensitive (more than most) to powercords. I love my set up with power cords that follow the Shunyata school(richer). But with that said, I've tried some power cords that were forward and I did not like the sound at all. Anyone seriously trying out these units should try to maximize the performance of each unit, then make their assessment.

Mike,

Have you ever tried Guy's active preamp?

no Keith, i have not; even though Guy has recommended it to me. Guy also mentioned that my particular system 'might' not benefit from his active unit since i use very short i.c.'s from the RVC to my amps and my system seems to have great dynamics as is.

i feel no need for a change.....so why bother? OTOH, if the opportunity presents itself i'll likely try it.

Mikel, will your physical system configuration change with your new room?

maybe.

i will rethink my passive approach (or at least be open-minded to an active pre). in my old room (12' x 18' with very large dynamic speakers) i was in the extreme near-field, i had the walls covered with lot's of absorbtion, there was plenty of dynamics, and plenty of bass energy in that small space. i didn't get any feeling that the passive approach left anything out. in my new room (21' x 29' x 11') i 'might' get better bass and dynamic balance with an active pre.

i 'intend' to accomodate multi-channel music. since the DAC6 is multi-channel i will install conduit for the center channel, side channels and subwoofer interconnects and dedicated power outlets for each speaker location. i would likely get an emmlabs Switchman to distribute the multichannel and integrate it with my Jena Labs switchbox as an additional input. i plan on having 2 positions for my listening chair. a 2-channel position and then a foot or so forward, a multi-channel position. this will allow me to have all the speakers equadistant from my listening chair for multi-channel. the rear speakers won't be able to be at 110 degrees, but it will be the best compromise possible with a 2-channel priority (i would need a 25 foot wide room for 110 degrees--which would result in too large a room. i might have mobile absorbtive panels i can use to optimize multi-channel since 2-channel needs more relective energy to be optimized than multi-channel.

otherwise i expect to use the same gear, cables, power cords, racks, etc. i will have an additional set of ST Optical cables run to my seating position so i can have the digital transport where i can switch discs without getting up. in my other room it was narrow enough to reach without getting up. that is one great thing about optical connections....there is virtually no loss of signal regardless of length.

i am currently debating whether i want some sort of 'power-regenerator or just go with my previous 'simple' approach. Rives Audio recommends the big Equitech Balanced A/C power unit......i like simple (20 amp dedicated circuts, 10 guage romex 'home runs' all equal length, Jena Labs cryo's duplex outlets, on both sides of the panel). stay tuned for that.....

one little point. i will install my duplex outlets upside down for my Tenor amps since my damn Elrod Statement power cords currently require a full twist to go from amp to outlet. the Elrods sound so glorious i can't complain too much......but it would be nice if they thought of such issues when they make big, unweildy power cords. i am also adding 220v outlets for future possibilies.