Preamp for mc275le. Need advice, please

I'll come at this from a little different angle. While no one will argue that digital technology and advancement has come a long way, I believe much of the advancement today is certainly marginal for the perceived improvement. In other words, its not like today's digital doesn't sound like music!!! A terrific dac today will not sound like elephant dung in 3 years for crying out loud. People act as though dacs have an expiration date, which of course they do not.

As to your preamp questions, please audition the McIntosh c2500 vs the McIntosh c50. The c50 is solid state vs tube, the c2500 a newer design with, I believe, a newer DAC and implementation.

Ghasley,

Clearly DACs don't have expiration dates. But take a look at what kind of sound a $1k DAC bought you 10 and 5 years ago, and what it gets you today. That's my point. The same can be said at any given price point.

A C2200 (to take Mc, since the OP is looking at them) is about $3.5k today used, it was maybe $4k 3 years ago (used), and will likely not loose much value in 5 years. Can't say the same for DACs. How much are synch USB DACs worth today compared to their price 5 years ago?

Having said that, we do have very good sound from relatively affordable DACs today. I agree with that. But just like asych USB rendered synch USB obsolete on the last 5 years or so, who knows which of today's accepted technologies will be deemed obsolete in a few years?

Again, I agree with Lewinskih01. I have heard some older DAC's sound extremely good, however they did not have a USB input, and connection was digital coax from a CD transport. Yes, you can use black box convertors, then requiring an extra cable, however this can result in an increase of digital jitter, not good for the sound quality. My understanding is that asynchronous USB is superior to synchronous USB because of less jitter. As Lewinskih01 says, who knows what type of digital interface is around the corner that will be even better, and having a single component will be better than using black box adapters.

Wow! Thanks for the great information & reply ;))
Thank you very much!

But let me stress my question:
- I m concerned with the C50 DAC's sound quality. Is there any problem with the C50 DAC? I m confused with all the talk around this on the web.
- Should I consider a different equipment to pair with the mc275? (need to be from Mcintosh )

I mainly will be steaming music from my laptop via usb and from my apple tv via toslink and from my old CD via coax (one of this days I'll go for a Mcintosh CD player too ;)

My budget is around 7k €

Thanks in advance
& Sorry my bad english

There is nothing wrong with the DAC on the C50 if you are using the newer MC275. Because mixing old and new equipment just doesn't work. I have 2 MC275-V with C2300 and B&W 802 Diamond, they match well, sound fantastic with no problem.
If you streaming via USB, Get the newest Parasound ZDAC With all Asynchronous Input for $475. You will be enjoying all kind of music you play instead of tweaking for next 10 years.