I own the Outlaw 990 preamp. I run a Musical Fidelity A5 CDP into it analog. I set the 990 on stereo bypass and run balanced out into 2 McIntosh 501 monoblocks connected to Magnepan 3.6's. It sounds pretty good in my opinion. I'm in no hurry to upgrade. My audio guy tells me it's my weakest link, and it probably is. But for $1100 and with DVI switching for video, it is hands down a bargain. I have heard the new Mac preamp, and it was impressive, but was also about 5 times the cost of the 990. I plan on keeping the 990 and at some point buying something like the Mac (maybe with tubes) that has pass thru input. That way I can have my home theater and an excellent 2 channel system as well.
Sunfire vs. Outlaw
I currently am running a sunfire theater grand 1 in my audio system. I mostly use it for 2-channel playback with my meridian cdp. It sounds pretty good, but I have heard that the pre/pro from Outlaw is excellent for 2-channel also. Is it time to upgrade?? or is Outlaw not as good as the sunfire. I would greatly appreciate any feedback from Outlaw or Sunfire users.