DAC's Streamer and Preamps

three of my favorite units are the msb analog dac, the weiss 501 and chord hugo tt2/m-scaler combo.... they all have volume control capability for their analog outs, which allow them to directly drive the power amp, the first two have built in streamers too  (the msb even has an additional analog input for, say, phono!)

it is wonderful to have that flexibility, a real boon to system building -- there are enough boxes already in the digital front end to get the streamed feed nice and clean

not to say there aren’t some instances where a great pre doesn’t add some additional musicality -- still keep my c-j and arc tube linestages around for that reason (though i must admit they haven’t been hooked up for quite a while)

Separate DAC's are a marketing gimmick. Just get a nice preamp with onboard DAC chips. Much shorter signal path with one less wall wart to plug in. Notice also chips converting analog to digital are the price of a bag of oranges. It is not a difficult electronic function. 

@soix 

+ 1

Separates for sure.

Do you have a budget restriction? Schiit Yggdrasil is a good starter DAC. In general the more you pay (choosing the best at each price point, the better they get). Typically you want to match the quality of the rest of your system, or future system. My rule of thumb is choose the very best at your investment level and ~ $Streamer = $DAC = $Preamp (yes, separate) =$Amp.

The big benefit of a 2 in 1 or 3 in 1 unit is cables.

Depending on your choice of cables you can save a small fortune. 

Not just the interconnects but the power cables too.

Do you have a budget restriction? Schiit Yggdrasil is a good starter DAC. 

For me the R2R Yggi+ OG is an end game DAC. Especially the discontinued A2 variant (or Yggi+ OG DAC). I would not replace this DAC with anything mentioned in this thread up to $20k.

At this current time, you may see a lot of Yggi DAC variants show up on the used market. The reason is that Schiit has just released a new Delta-Sigma DAC that people are loving. Schiit actually designed the whole thing from scratch. That is ZERO off the shelf ships, such as an ESS or AKM chip. Not many digital companies can do that. Rockna, Playback Designs, Chord come to mind but they are not delta-sigma.

I am in the queue to get the Byggi DAC via an upgrade of my other DAC, the Yggi+ MIB variant. the cost of the upgrade is $1500, and the new cost is $3500. It can also be used as a digital volume with some DSP though I will not use that feature. I will use it with a RAAl VM-1a tube headphone amp, Kara F preamp, and Benchmark HPA4 preamp. All connected at the same time.

Even though the Yggi+ OG is an incredible DAC I am considering selling it along with the Yggi+ MIB and Yggi+ LIM cards. This gives someone 3 flavors of DACs. Easy to hear the differences on my system. The reason is to generate cash for the best DAC I ever heard and that cost $26k, the Allnic D-15000 Signature OTL/OCL. 

Do not listen to OTL/OCL gear it will be hard to go with anything else afterwards. Very expensive.