DK Design Group vs. Boulder

I guess then I should get a new pre-amp? Maybe running three pre-amps in series is even better?

I agree with you on that one, Audioaril - it makes absolutely no sense to me to run a preamp into the integrated. When I questioned him about it, he said the guys at Aesthetix said it would be fine as long as both preamp sections weren't turned up too loud...

I wouldn't imagine it would have made an improvement, nor did I have ANY idea he was running it into the aux input balanced. However, it did sound better to me. He swears it sounds much better and the phono section on the Aesthetix is very good, as I think he said the phono on the DK needs jumpers moved and leaves a lot to be desired... That is only hearsay, I haven't heard a comparison on the phono sections.

Damn,I better sell my DK-MK3 after garnering all this info on how bad it is although it does sound better than a Plinius 100MK3 and a ML-32 ref.My opinion only and thanks for the info.Bob

When I spoke to Daniel Khesin about my own DK MKII (alas, the DK amp is no longer with us, has gone to a happier home), he advised to use the standard inputs as opposed to the "balanced" inputs as they were installed as a convienence for people with only balanced available and not the best input configuration sonically for the DK. Iv'e heard other so-so "integrated" amps with a decent preamp going into the standard inputs with the volume turned up to 3 o'clock or max and they always sounded better, hhmmmmmm.
Regards to you all, Mike.