preamp upgrade- lavry da10 vs modding my p3 vs p8



I have been thinking of a preamp upgrade because the parasound p3 that i have is the weak link in my system right now.

the three options I have been considering are:

1)getting my parasound preamp fully modded for $799
2)buying the lavry da10 and using it as a preamp/dac with my arcam cd73
3)buying a nuforce p8 with the 30% off discount

I plan on listening to the p8 and da10 in my system soon. Which option do you think would give me the most improvement?
thronbocaj

Showing 2 responses by qualia8

I have the Lavry and dearly hoped I could use it directly to my Threshold amp. I was disappointed, to say the least. The Lavry is a great dac, no doubt, but without a preamp in the chain, it produced a lifeless, clinical sound that repulsed everyone who heard it. Now, it could be my speakers, Revel monitors that lean towards accuracy, or my amp, or my room, but the Lavry's sound was just hateful without the preamp.
What do you have now?

I got some balanced-to-unbalanced connectors and I'm loving the Lavry through my preamp... A thousand times better than skipping the pre.