T+A DAC 200 Burn-in

@audphile1 ​​@milpai ​​@mclinnguy , @benzman 

Thanks again for your additional comments and suggestions.  They have been very helpful.

lest you think of me as a DAC 200 fanboy

I appreciate your comments because you have had such positive experiences with your DAC200.

I am wondering how the low frequency sounds, now that you are using the T+A as a preamp.

I still believe the Krell provides better presentation of bass frequencies.  But I have not been switching back and forth between them.  It’s not a deciding factor.  I pulled out some bass heavy tracks (Morph the Cat, Speedway at Nazareth) and they rock really well.  I am becoming pretty happy with the bass response using the DAC200 as DAC and preamp.  

but I was thinking he is not used to a tight bass, rather the looser woolier variety (?)

Definitely.  I have been concerned about how much bass is correct and where to crossover since I’ve never had great bass reproduction in my system.  I keep working at it.  I think I’m getting the RELs set up pretty well.  

Maybe the high output of the DAC had the old preamp in too low a range? 

That was the exact question that led me to take the Rowland out of the signal path.  The DAC200 has a 2.5V output and my Krell’s output is 2.0V.  Even with the Krell, I use the Rowland volume very little.  With the DAC200, I barely use any of the amplification capabilities of the Rowland.  So, I was essentially using the Rowland at preamplilfication levels that I’ve never used before.  The comparison was not apples to apples.  @audphile1  actually did not suggest taking the Rowland out of the path.  He suggested that with a Meitner MA3i (3.0V output) that I could attenuate the signal level using its preamp function rather than relying on its line level output. I haven’t tried that yet with the DAC200, but I intend to try this afternoon (it’s cold and rainy out today).

Not sure if your CJ monos have balanced inputs but try to use them if you can.

The CJs only have RCA inputs.  I’m quite happy with my interconnects which are only 1.5M.

I believe the preamp section is as good as the preamp section built in the fine Coda CSiB which I sold. 

So, I tried playing my Linn LP12 using the Rowland as a phono preamp feeding the DAC200’s Analog Input.  It sounded great, just like I recall having the Rowland play analog directly into the CJ amps.  I don’t own much music on both records and CDs.   But the stuff I played was still excellent from records.  

Thanks again for your comments.

@sealegs yep. You got it! You can attenuate the output of the 200 into your rowland pre. See if it balances out the energy in the mids you noticed earlier. 
As to using your rowland preamp’s built in phono stage, just set the rowland to unity gain using its volume control so that you don’t overdrive the input on 200 (unlikely with phono cartridge but still) and don’t add noise. 
Look at the gain spec of the rowland pre. Unity gain is normally the number of volume steps minus gain. In example…if your preamp has 99 volume steps and has 10db of gain, unity is at 89 on a volume level. 

@audphile1  

The Rowland C1S2 is so old that it does not have a stepped volume control. It uses very high quality continuous volume controls (one for overall volume and separate pots for left and right channels to adjust balance).  My understanding is that those volume controls were so expensive that Jeff stopped using them on future preamps.  An advantage of its age is that it has Tape In and Tape Out RCAs from back in the days when we taped music.  So, I turned off the volume (just because it is not needed), and used the Tape Out (which has a fixed volume) to connect the Rowland to the DAC200 Analog Input.  
My favorite album is Russ Barenberg’s Moving Pictures, which I own on vinyl as well as 2 copies on CD.  That entire album played Linn LP12 —> Rowland —> DAC200 —> CJ still sounds better than Moon 260DT —> DAC200 —> CJ.  Without getting into the vinyl vs. CD debate, I think it is a testament to the DAC200’s capabilities as a preamp that I didn’t lose quality in my vinyl playback when the DAC200 was in the path.  

@sealegs 

He suggested that with a Meitner MA3i (3.0V output) that I could attenuate the signal level using its preamp function rather than relying on its line level output.

This is the way I have the DAC200 set up in my system. I have set T+A to -15db. This feeds to my preamp. If you head over to Audiophilestyle and check out the DAC200 thread, you will come across a thread where the user "OE333" (was the head of T+A R&D) has mentioned that you can use the DAC200 and attenuate quite a bit to be used with a preamplifier. You will not lose any resolution there.. So try that option. Click here to go to that thread on Audiophilestyle.

I appreciate your comments because you have had such positive experiences with your DAC200.

Yes, I am using the T+A DAC200 in the most optimal way that I can. I am not aware of any other user on this forum that uses HQ Player to upsample all their sources to DSD. I kid you not; but before Spotify started streaming in HiFi a couple of local (seasoned) audiophiles came in for a listen and were impressed with what they heard.

It sounded great, just like I recall having the Rowland play analog directly into the CJ amps.

That entire album played Linn LP12 —> Rowland —> DAC200 —> CJ still sounds better than Moon 260DT —> DAC200 —> CJ.

That is indeed impressive. Good to know this. I do not have LP/Vinyl and thus have no idea. Looks like you are doing a fantastic detailed evaluation. All the folks should do it - but most do not - including me. I am hoping you will find your answers soon.

Cool! Good and thorough evaluation @sealegs