dCS Rossini vs. Berkeley Reference dac 2

Spell check. Mids, to be clear. Also, the Berkeley is Awesome driving amps directly. I prefer it driving my Ayre MX-R Twenties directly, to running through an Ayre KX-R Twenty preamp.

You aren't doing something right then.

Thanks for these latest posts.  I'm queued up for the upgrade program, ref 1 to 2, but it may take a while.  Great to hear the change is substantial.  I too am scratching my head over your experience with vs without preamp.  It raises the question of whether you have a cabling issue?  I also run the same Ayre products and with ref1, using the KX-R 20 sounds vastly superior, well beyond issues of attenuation.  Enjoy!

The Berkeley upgrade is Substantial, not subtle. You will be pleased. I have no cabling issue. If I drive my Atma Sphere MA-1 amps, the sound is both much more dynamic and focused using the Ayre preamp in the chain. So I am not universally bemoaning the use of a preamp. Preamps have merit. I'm just saying that I prefer the sound of the Berkeley Reference 2 DAC driving my Ayre MX-R Twenties directly, with no preamp. I have two runs of balanced Synergistic Element CTS, so its a piece of cake to A\B the sound with or without a preamp. With the Ayre preamp in the chain, the sound is more focused, so I prefer the more airy Synergistic presentation. With the Berkeley driving the Ayre amps directly, I prefer a shade more focus, and run Audioquest WEL. I hear more details, and more realistic harmonics around those details without the preamp, in this case.

Sounds great!  As always, every room, system and ear is different.  I will certainly A/B with and without the KX-R twenty again after my Berkeley update.  I am #79 in the queue and they have temporarily suspended the conversion process until they finish the MQA upgrade.  There is a groundswell of glow over MQA but I haven't heard samples from a fully compatible system so I don't have an opinion.  But kudos to Berkeley for having a pathway to improvement for existing owners, even though they always (should be in caps) take longer than their well-intentioned estimates.  Happy listening!