Hello folks is it necessary to have a preamp in the chain if you are using a high quality dac with volume control like the DCS rossini or the vivaldi will this degrade the sound then having a dedicated pre
It depends. 6V would too much for most amp / speaker combinations. You would end up with attenuation levels somehere between -20dB and -30dB. That is way too much. From my experience, if you do not exceed -10 to 12dB attenuation levels during normal listening, dCS stuff can sound better direct than via a preamp. That is unless you want to use the preamp as a tone control.
I was using dCS variable outputs for over 5 years. First with the Puccini and then with Scarlatti. I have tried many preamps through that time, including the $100.000 Kondo M-1000 mk 2, but I always ended up prefering the direct connection. Before I got the Puccini, I had the ARC CD-8 / Ref 3 combo. At first I just replaced the CDP and was using my Puccini with Ref 3 / Ref 110 combo, but then I realised, the Puccini direct to Ref 110 sounded much better, so I sold the Ref 3.
The problem is, in most systems, with medium sensitivity speakers (~87dB) and amps of avg. gain (~ 28dB), even in the 2V setting, you still too much gain in the system (read: you need lots of digital attenuatuion). I have solved this problem by getting msb M202 monos, which have selectable gain of 18dB or 24dB. In the low gain setting, I was able to stay in the range between 0dB and -10dB, which is about perfect.
My experience with dCS is the complete opposite. I always had a preamp handy, but still, from time to time, I'd hook up the dCS (first Puccini, then Paganini) directly to the amp. At first, it was exhilarating, the extra transparency and resolution had the "wow" factor... But after a day or two, I'd just put the preamp in and welcome a certain smoothness that is lost when going direct to the amp...
I'd have really long listening sessions, so I noticed that fatigue, for some reason, sets in much earlier going direct.
Hello folks is it necessary to have a preamp in the chain if you are using a high quality dac with volume control like the DCS rossini or the vivaldi will this degrade the sound then having a dedicated pre
When I run my dCS direct at 2v, my volume is often between -5 & 0db. I need the 6v. dCS recommends that the volume be between -10 and -30.
Use a pre-amp. dCS just didn't quite get this right.
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