Room Correction Hardware options ?

Had 2.0S for years. Sold it not to long ago. Few notes:

-it is a very nice toy
-does well in nesty rooms
-nice DAC
-cool features

dislikes:

- rub your system from transparency
- outdated DAC when compared to what is out there now
- not a great dedicated preamp as one would think
- set up is easy but not for everyone

OK mid-price room correction/DAC/pre nothing more, nothing less. Sorry if I disagree with others but it is my experience and YMMV.

Mariusz

The ADCs/DACs in the new RCS 2.0 and 2.0S have been upgraded since the first models(just in the past year). I've never owned the 2.0, but do own an RCS 2.2Xaaa, and the new converters are better than what I've got. My experience has been nothing less than excellent(and I'm extremely picky about transparency, being a sound technician and hearing live music AT LEAST twice a week).

Mr N- You can choose your own frequencies to EQ (anything between 20 and 20kHz). That's IF there's anything left that needs to be EQ'd after the TacT runs it's automatic correction algorithms. If you can operate a computer(and I assume you can, or you wouldn't be able to respond to this thread)- The TacT should present no problems. There's a brief learning curve, and should you encounter any difficulties at all- Boz(the designer) is a very helpful support person. There's also a TacT Users Group, and TacT Hackers site loaded with experienced Tact tweakers to aid in any and all situations. Lots of happy TacT owners, and support for new ones.

Agree with Rodman, mostly.
1. I've found the Tact units to be pretty transparent, and even better with the Aberdeen after-market power supply installed (as with everything, the Tact is built to a price point). There are better preamps, but when the advantages of room correction are added in, the Tact is hard to fault. Most rooms mask way more detail than the slight opacity of the Tact.

2. The Tact DAC card is awfully good for a $500 DAC. Slightly to the detailed side. If you want to hear what Tact can do with digital conversion, consider the Tact 2150 (and it doubles as an amp). It replaced a $5k tube DAC in my system and I was only giving up a little.

3. How much do you listen to SACD? The Tact has a pretty good A-to D card, but it's a backslide with SACD in my experience (like most, Tact won't decode the digital SACD stream). I sold my SACD player as I found the Tact didn't do it justice. That said, redbook WITH room correction sounded better than SACD without. So, there are trade-offs, but if you listen to a lot of SACD, the Tact may not be the best option for you.

4. Does your integrated have a line-level input? You can use the Tact as a preamp & DAC (with the DAC card installed) that way, simply bypassing the integrated's preamp. If it doesn't, you can still use the Tact digital in/digital out, but then you'll need a separate DAC (does you Esoteric have digital inputs?).

5. Again, if you want to use your Esoteric as a player rather than a transport, and it doesn't have digital inputs, or if your integrated doesn't have line level inputs, Tact may not be your best option. As decent as the A-D is, I wouldn't want to be passing all my signals through the Tact's A-D converter.

It's always a help if you post your system when asking for advice of this kind -- good luck.

Agree with Richards' #5, given that you place importance upon maximizing effect with minimal signal "degradation".