Preamp for mc275le. Need advice, please

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.

I'll again make my point. Dacs today, note I am saying today, sound very nice on the whole and extremely nice in specific circumstances. The C50 and the C2500 BOTH come with a decent dac, built in, for basically no extra charge. Now then, lets say 5 years from now, you can always add a new external dac if you believe the additional sound quality is evident to your ears. The internal dacs on todays Macs are actually pretty decent and I've had some pretty good ones come through my system through the years. The Macs are not bleeding edge mind you but I find the one in my Mac very nice and I look at is as a nice casual listening dac, especially when you think about always having a reasonable sounding dac with an excellent power supply/output stage implementation.

All due respect but the c2200 and its depreciation curve has little to do with the dac implementation of the c50 or the c2500. I've had a c2200, it was a great pre. The c2300 was better, quieter and had a much better phono stage. The c2500 is better still with a free dac. People act like dacs introduced tomorrow will be revolutionary when compared to dacs today. While change is inevitable and ususally for the better, it is not always so clear cut as some expouse. I heard a 20 plus year old Levinson 30.6 dac recently that was still amazing. Horses for courses. For many, a reasonably priced dac today may be all they ever need and Mac waited to integrate one until the addition of a reasonably priced built in dac met their standards for inclusion. Are they the best Mac is capable of producing? Of course not. They build other products to fill that need.

Please do your research and listen for yourself. The C50 and the C2500 I believe have different dacs and different implementations so check for yourself.

Ghasley, I don't think I disagreed with your point, as I stated in my previous post about an older DAC sounding extremely good, and yes, it was 20 years old. I do think it is quite amusing that you say, "built in, for basically no extra charge" and "with a free dac." I just can't see McIntosh saying forget about those parts and labor when determining the price of a product, although it is probably a small percentage compared to the unit's full price.

The DAC in the C50 and C2500 are the same, verified by an email response I received from McIntosh tech support.

D123phy, there were some problems with early C50's, however software upgrades solved the problem. Also, in my brief research, it appears the C2500 is an overall better sounding preamp than the C50.

I upgraded my Rotel 1582MkII power amp and got an MC275. Paired with a Rotel RC-1550 it swept me off my feet, literally. The tubes sound amazing! Then I wanted the ultimate warmth and decided to get a C2500. Well, it's easy these days, so I got it yesterday. Paired MC275 with C2500 and it's a huge miss. The sound of Rotel was much better. The price difference doesn't really mean that the sound will be $5K better. I guess, the sound is warm, but it's far from clear and detailed. Probably, audiophiles here will scorn me, but I'm going to give that C2500 another week or two and then I'll take it back to the store and get another Rotel. I was too quick to put it on eBay and it was sold overnight literally. I wish I had bought that C2500 from my local Best Buy so I could have returned it for a full refund without paying a restocking fee. I wish I hadn't sold my Rotel preamp. I'm at a difficult junction now, but my Bose car stereo now sounds better than that C2500 as ridiculous as this statement sounds, but it's true.