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Upgrade DAC or Buy New

I own a Muse 296 DAC (first manufactured in 1998) which I've always enjoyed. I just changed my system where the DAC is driving the amps directly, but the output voltage of the Muse is only 1V, so am not getting enough output. I can upgrade the Muse to their model 192 (first manufactured in 2003), but it will cost $1,200 to do so.

So the question is should I spend the $1,200 to upgrade the unit to one that has been discontinued for a few years and is a five year old model, or look for something else? I would be willing to spend up to around $2,000 or so.
smeyers
larryi
3,719 posts
 
Smeyers,

My CD player, a Naim CD555, is a current, in-production model. It uses "vintage" 1704 chips. I don't know what the current price of this player (the dollar is dropping oh so fast), but last I looked it had a retail price around $30k; that is a pretty strong endorsement for this chip. I think I read somewhere that Charles Hansen of Ayre is a big admirer of this chip, even though he cannot get this chip for his own production.
smeyers OP
181 posts
 
Larryi,

Interesting; I just found out that Esoteric also uses them in their $14k X-01 CD Player. As I also mentioned earlier, Empirical uses them in their Spoiler DAC; this is a quote from their site: "PCM1704U-K D/A chips - some of the best-sounding D/A chips ever produced".

Interesting... It makes me think about keeping the DAC I have, but I would need an active preamp after the DAC, since the output voltage is too low. Do you know if a simple active line stage is sold for this purpose? I only need a single input and single output (probably with the ability to adjust output gain).
glory's avatar
glory
1,614 posts
 
Smeyers,

In '95 you were 98% CD & 2% LP. Sad indeed.

2008 Forget the CD or make it 2% CD & 98% LP and put the 2K or so into analog. =8^)

Shoot away.
smeyers OP
181 posts
 
Glory,

Now I'm 95% digital through a Sonos system, 5% through CD. No LP in my future; too fiddly and inconvenient for me.
stereo
147 posts
 
Hi Smeyers,
A good active preamp will fix your issue. I use an Audio Mirror Pp1. I use LP and CD. There are some really great reasonably priced preamps that will solve your problem without changing the sound of the system you have. I have not heard the Tact, so I can't comment on how it would compare to the Audio Mirror preamps. An Audio Mirror T-61 preamp (no phono) will do the trick for you and used for under $600.00. If you don't like it, it will sell quickly.
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