DACs With Killer Built-In Preamps

Ok, write this down and read the Six Moons review and owner comments.
April Music Eximus DP1 dac is simply a must listen to with or without a preamp. Wonderful and the poster child of,how audio is changing...

"One *can* achieve that last nth degree of micro detail with such a set up. But I've found that something is also also lost. I call it the "soul" of the music."

Interesting. Must be an implementation problem in the Bidat. I don't have this problem with the Overdrive as you can see:

(http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=105049.msg1200553#msg1200553)

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Benchmark DAC 2 HGC. An associaate uses the preamp and he loves it.

Steve,

If you're ever in St. Louis and wanna bring a fully tricked out SE, I'm sure I can rustle up a few audiophiles to come over for a shoot out with my CT5 and PWD MKII. ;-)

Here's the deal; plenty of people prefer the preamp-less sound. Plenty don't. My ears are open, but I know what I prefer so far. I know a number of people who went direct to amp, only to return to a good line stage later. That said, nothing would please me more than to dispense with a preamp, power cord and IC's so there's no "principle" at stake for me.

VHiner - There is an easy explanation for this. Either the driver on the DAC output was weak (AKA op-amp) or the preamp implementation in the DAC sucked. Most DACs have both problems.

I have never been to St. Louis. I wish I had time for this. I do have a fully tricked-out Overdrive SE demo with money refunded after it is returned, less shipping.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio