How is the TacT RCS 2.0 as a pre amp vs

For what it's worth, my experience matches Hbrandt. I have the dCS 972/Elgar combo. I have a Vishay resistor shunt to ground volume control built into each of my Melos Monoblocks. The Elgar is directly connected to the Melos. For serious listening I set the dCS gear to Odb and adjust for peak levels on the monoblocks. My serious listening is confined mostly to classical so this isn't a big deal. I use the Sigtech but in my trial of the Tact I found a noticable loss of transparency from about -10 db.

I've posted alot on this topic but the quick answer is the Sigtech is better. This doesn't mean the Tact doesn't work, it does. I own an MSB Gold, an MSB Platinum and a dCS 972/Elgar combo. They are all work as DACs but they are different. Greene in TAS summed it up. The Tact is a piece of consumer (NOT MIDFI) gear built to a price point while the Sigtech is a serious complex professional unit. I looked inside and my guess is that in terms of raw digital processing power the Sigtech is at least 4x i also believe that their algorithms are superior. In my opinion you can get good room correction from the Tact if you fiddle long enough, but you can get superb correction using the Sigtech setup methods in about four hours. If you listen to small Jazz ensembles you probably won't notice much difference once you get the Tact right. But if you have a really wacko room setup(perhaps due to WAF), or listen to large scale orchestral music, art techno, or percussion heavy music you will. For much more detailed comments see these threads:

TACT RCS 2.0 Users Group
42 followups, last on 07-17-01

Room correction in high-end system???
22 followups, last on 05-28-01

Is TACT RCS 2.0 truly transparent
7 followups, last on 05-16-01

For any specific questions after reading these just post here

It depends on your level of fanaticism and your budget. The DAC’s in the SigTech and Tact are not as good as the best stand alone DAC’s. From your perspective they, MAY be good enough depending on your overall system. I personally think the MSB Platinum is a superb unit that is close to my dCS combo. I don’t use a preamp, not because of budget but because of sound. We are talking differences that may seem small to some folks and not to others. One more comment on rooms. The algorithms in the Sigtech do have the flexibility to improve some really awful rooms. The Tact is more limited in the assumptions about room correction. Again that may or may not make a difference. It depends on your level of fanaticism and your budget. The DAC’s in the SigTech and Tact are not as good as the best standalone DAC’s. They MAY be good enough depending on your overall system. I personally think the MSB Platinum is a superb unit that is close to my dCS combo. I don’t use a preamp, not because of budget but because of sound. We are talking differences that may seem small to some folks and not to others. One more comment on rooms. The algorithms in the Sigtech do have the flexibility to improve some really terrible rooms. The Tact is more limited in the assumptions about room correction. Again that may or may not make a differenceto you. You can get an in home trial from both.

Hbrandt. Thanks for the update. Your DAC comparison was much more careful than mine. Again, above a certain level of perfomance all of this stuff is very close to one another. That's why it is important to listen and decide if it is worth it to you.

My digital system is a Theta III (waiting to hear the new dCS unit),DMX Digital Music Express unit isolated via a ThetaLinque and an ATT connection to the Sigtech. Sigtech, dCS 972/elgar combo (z-Systems RDP and MSB Platinum alternative) Elgar direct into Melos customized monoblocks with Vishay shunt to ground switched volume. ASC room treatment, Dunlavy SC-V and PSAudio powerplants.