Find a used Antelope Zodiac Gold or Platinum. They are superb
DACs that do well without a preamp
I am looking for a DAC to feed my DNA-1 gold power amp directly, streaming Qobuz or Tidal from a Bluesound Vault. Budget is $1-2K; would consider used, if worthwhile. Current contenders are Benchmark 3 HGC, Brooklyn DAC+, Gustard x26 pro, Holo Spring 3, Musetec 004 and Pontus ii. Looking for clean, detailed, uncolored sound that "lifts the veil". What are the qualities I should look for to drive an amp well, without a pre?
Showing 2 responses by antigrunge2
Another approach where built-in attenuators are deemed not good enough is to simply get a high quality passive, since high output voltage and low output impedance of most high end dacs make this feasible, provided cable runs are short. The additional active components of a pre tend to add distortion in most cases. @agisthos : agreed in most cases, exceptions though confirm the rule: e.g. Antelope Zodiac, Sonnet, DCS, et al |