NEED HELP CHOOSING A DEDICATED STEREO PRE-AMP!

[myryse]

My understanding is that a pre shouldn't do anything to the sound and that it should be "invisible" in the chain. BUT, what it did for me, going from the umc-1 pre/pro to a dedicated stereo pre, it was many times more detailed. I just got the W4S DAC-1 and am now A/Bing it against the XDA-1. I am still waiting on the Musical Fidelity M-1 DAC/V-link to arrive so I can compare the three and make a decision based on what I am hearing through the STP-se. I am still trying different ICs and ins and outs as well. I bought the pre mainly to have the ability to use the HT bypass. In a 2 ch dedicated set-up I don't see the benefit of adding a pre to a DAC that has built in volume control unless the volume control itself is supreior to the one in the DAC. W4S has put a great deal of R&D into their volume control section of the STP and I am enjoying every bit of it thus far. I am still in the "break-in" period of the DAC, but like what I am hearing...Time and some A/B-ing will only tell which DAC will stay.

[TJHUB]

May 11, 2011 0:22:39 GMT -5 myryse said:

My understanding is that a pre shouldn't do anything to the sound and that it should be "invisible" in the chain. BUT, what it did for me, going from the umc-1 pre/pro to a dedicated stereo pre, it was many times more detailed. I just got the W4S DAC-1 and am now A/Bing it against the XDA-1. I am still waiting on the Musical Fidelity M-1 DAC/V-link to arrive so I can compare the three and make a decision based on what I am hearing through the STP-se. I am still trying different ICs and ins and outs as well. I bought the pre mainly to have the ability to use the HT bypass. In a 2 ch dedicated set-up I don't see the benefit of adding a pre to a DAC that has built in volume control unless the volume control itself is supreior to the one in the DAC. W4S has put a great deal of R&D into their volume control section of the STP and I am enjoying every bit of it thus far. I am still in the "break-in" period of the DAC, but like what I am hearing...Time and some A/B-ing will only tell which DAC will stay.

True, a good preamp should be as true to the source as possible.

I'm watching for your impressions of the DAC's you are auditioning. I would assume the DAC-1 will be decent, but I'm curious as to how the M-1 DAC compares.

I am not one that believes in A/B'ing DAC's. That is good for noticing more obvious differences between the two, but for me all it does only that. I can't judge which sound is "better" in this way. I prefer to listen to a DAC (or any component) for a few days to get acquainted with the sound on several of my favorite tracks. Then swap the DAC (or any component) and listen to it for a few days. This usually tells the story. Which one sounded "better?" Which one was more engaging? Which one presented the best overall tonality, sound stage, separation, etc? Sometimes it even takes switching back to the original component, and then it becomes obvious.

One word of caution is that if you are swapping IC's as well as components, you are in danger of confusing yourself. I would recommend that you take one set of components and get a feel for what each IC does to the sound. Write this down and refer back to it as you try different DAC's. In my opinion, you may find the the combination of one DAC with a certain IC is much better than another DAC with that same IC, but the second DAC may be better than the first with a different IC. I don't even know that sentence makes sense. Hopefully you understand what I'm trying to say.

I'd like to know what IC's you're trying out as well. If you find a combination of DAC/IC that really works well, please post as such.

You are doing this the right way. I wish I could hear all of this stuff with you. Good luck finding a great combination that works for you.

[myryse]

Thanks for the input TJHUB. Don't worry, I understand what you are saying completely. I have had that exact experience before ( confusing myself with ICs and swapping combos ) and have since then started doing exactly what you have suggested. My girfriend always laughs at me when I break out the notepad. She calls me "the mad scientist". I do like to A/B these units to get a quick idea of which one is more "open" sounding, and this seems to work well for me. After I do so, I then sit and do some critical listening, which can last a couple of days at a time. Break-in is very important and I do like to listen throughout this period as well to get a feel for what "direction" a component is going in. One "problem" I have encountered in choosing a DAC is that I do listen to quite a diverse selection of music (granted I favor only a few genres) and this makes choosing a bit more difficult as one may handle certain types of music "differently" than the other. I did just receive the M-1/V-link today. I hooked everything up, started amarra on shuffle, listened for a few minutes, and had to leave for work. So I am looking forward to getting back home and getting to know the Musical Fidelity piece a little better. I will post a detailed review of my findings with all the info I am jotting down about set-up as well. It will take some time but I will be as thorough as I can be.

[TJHUB]

May 11, 2011 19:43:53 GMT -5 myryse said:

Thanks for the input TJHUB. Don't worry, I understand what you are saying completely. I have had that exact experience before ( confusing myself with ICs and swapping combos ) and have since then started doing exactly what you have suggested. My girfriend always laughs at me when I break out the notepad. She calls me "the mad scientist". I do like to A/B these units to get a quick idea of which one is more "open" sounding, and this seems to work well for me. After I do so, I then sit and do some critical listening, which can last a couple of days at a time. Break-in is very important and I do like to listen throughout this period as well to get a feel for what "direction" a component is going in. One "problem" I have encountered in choosing a DAC is that I do listen to quite a diverse selection of music (granted I favor only a few genres) and this makes choosing a bit more difficult as one may handle certain types of music "differently" than the other. I did just receive the M-1/V-link today. I hooked everything up, started amarra on shuffle, listened for a few minutes, and had to leave for work. So I am looking forward to getting back home and getting to know the Musical Fidelity piece a little better. I will post a detailed review of my findings with all the info I am jotting down about set-up as well. It will take some time but I will be as thorough as I can be.

I have confused myself many times when swapping components and cables at the same time. Eventually, you don't even know what happened. So be careful, you'll save yourself time and frustration.

I'd love to try some new DAC's, but I'm going to wait for new developments in hi-rez first. It seems there is a DAC explosion going on, so I hope it gets more competitive to lower prices. I'm also going to wait until I "upgrade" my source as well. I'll just continue to be extremely happy with my modified Music Hall 25.2 (using the solid state output). For now, I'll just live vicariously through you.

[myryse]

No need to live vicariously through me! From what I understand, your music hall sounds like it's hot rodded out and I'm sure it sounds very very sweet. I'm just going through the mix right now trying to find a happy medium. I need to be careful that I don't get overwhelmed/overloaded with too many pieces at once. I've got to take it one thing at a time.

[Deleted]

May 12, 2011 1:13:56 GMT -5 myryse said:

No need to live vicariously through me! From what I understand, your music hall sounds like it's hot rodded out and I'm sure it sounds very very sweet. I'm just going through the mix right now trying to find a happy medium. I need to be careful that I don't get overwhelmed/overloaded with too many pieces at once. I've got to take it one thing at a time.

Well looking at your signature it seems like you may be a little overwhelmed lol

[myryse]

LOL! Yeah I tend to overwhelm myself when it comes to this stuff. I just believe that it is the best way to really find out what is going to work best in my set up. By the way kraemerkid, I'm trying out PM and it is really nice. Thanks for the suggestion and I just love the V-link, it's a great piece. Just in case any of you don't know I am selling the Musical Fidelity M-1 DAC. I had a really really hard time deciding between it and the Wyred4Sound DAC-1. They are soooo close across the board and are very big step up from the XDA (but do cost 2 and 3 times more). The XDA really holds it's own and hats off to emo on a great DAC. I just wanted more from my set-up and found it with both of these units. The deciding factors between the DAC-1 and the M-1 DAC were that I already own the matching STP-se and that the DAC-1 has two more inputs, which I really need but other than that, there was VERY little difference. So if anyone is interested in the M-1 let me know. I was asking 675.00 shipped but I am willing to work with someone on the price. This unit is just over a week old, in pristine condition and I promise you, will make someone realize what they have been missing. I have also found that I like the way my set up sounds running "balanced" all the way to the amps better than running single ended from the pre to the amps. I thought single ended would sound better being that the XPAs are not differential, boy was I wrong. I think the voltage out (10.6 Volts to each amp) has really helped the XPAs "open" up and are running more efficiently. Bass response has improved greatlty and upper frequencies seem more controlled IMO.