Potential DAQuestion - Tube preamps and Buffers

Hi, Zd542. Thanks again.

Having enjoyed my Opus 21 for a number of years, I would *dream* of getting rid of it until I was convinced of a clear cut difference. Problem is, I live far, far away from any high-end shops, so demo'ing is a bit difficult. Before I buy anything, I have to hear it in my rig, as a basic rule.

This happened on my pre-amp. I had a solid state amp installed which, by virtue of sharing a name with my amp, should have been bitchin'. But we put Joseph Chow's TP2.1 tubed pre-amp in place, and within just a couple of minutes, we knew we had a winner.

One direction I'm heading: Upgrade the TP 2.1. There are many things we can do with that.

I am aware of the Maggie's brightness. That's one of the things we like about them... to a point. But as our ears become more developed, we're looking to take it to the next level, and I'm sure there's a lot we can do with room tuning, pre-amp upgrades, etc. I believe we still have the resistors for the Maggies, but haven't used them in years. Perhaps it's time to revisit that.

The question about DACs or tube DACs is largely because, whereas I've been content to spin CDs, I'm loving the computer-based library as well, and want to squeeze out more performance there, i.e., Mac Mini server, async USB, PureMusic, etc.

I should look at the amp, too. There's a lot of good to say about the Spectron, but all components play a part in this.

If you want to keep it within a budget of say $3K, then there are some great options, including:

Off-Ramp 5 driving I2S cable to Wired 4 Sound DAC2. This is a world-class sound rivalling $15-20K DACs.

Off-Ramp 5 driving S/PDIF to Metrum Octave DAC is almost as good.

The problem is getting a great DAC that ALSO has a great USB interface.

The PWD can be excellent, but needs the bridge IMO. This can be problematic too. I have customers that have abandoned the bridge to use Synchro-Mesh or Off-Ramp 5 to drive it.

USB is no cake-walk either. Dont expect to crush your CD transport with a PC and iTunes. It takes more than this. Here are my recommendations:

http://www.empiricalaudio.com/computer-audio/

http://www.empiricalaudio.com/computer-audio/recommended-systems

If you choose the right software and hardware pieces, the result can even beat the best vinyl, not just your CD transport. The important take-away from this is that the master clock, which is in the USB interface or network interface is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing in the digital audio system. This is why it sometimes makes sense to drive a USB DAC using S/PDIF and an outboard USB converter.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

I have Maggies and noticed a nice improvement when adding an Offramp to my digital set up. Try one with your current DAC to see if it helps.

Steve --

You've piqued my curiosity in a big way, only bolstered by what 4hannons just said.

I've sent you a PM via Agon, Steve.

Thanks again, all!