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Differences in sound: DAC vs. DAC + Pre-amplifier


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  • 2 weeks later...

Well having owned the Sonore Optical Rendu, Optical Module and Uptone JS-2 Supply, I can tell you that the Lumin X1 is far superior  to the front end I had before.

It may have been the age of the DAC (BADA Series 2) but whatever the Lumin X1 is doing, it works great.

I also like the fact that it is well made and a single box solution that I just put fiber in and take balanced analog out.

If you want to deal with a lot of boxes and wires (and their individual ground connections), go for it.

 

I would encourage people to actually hear the X1, preferably in their own system and then decide.

 

 

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@barrows

 

Actually the X1 is NOT a DAC.

It is a network streamer, so it negates the need for Ethernet renderers such as Sonore or SotM.

It has optical network input, so it is comparable to the OpticalRendu from an isolation point of view.

 

I thought the debate was whether DAC with digital volume (LeedH or not) sounds better than DAC with Preamp.

In my system, DAC without preamp sounds a tad anemic and thin.

I prefer a tube preamp with NOS tubes, but that's my taste.

 

 

 

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  • 10 months later...

@Kal Rubinson

 

As a Senior Contributing Editor of Stereophile can you explain quite how this works?

 

I'm curious because I have a pretty high end analog rig:

SME 30/2 + custom SME V with only static balance + Koetsu Onyx Platinum + OCC silver leads etc.

 

For a preamp I have an EAR 912 with the best old NOS tubes I could find, which include new Amperex pinched waist 6922s from 1959 in the line stage and Mullard pinched waist PCC88s from Harleen Holland (1957) in the phono.

 

My digital source isn't quite as exotic - a Lumin X1 with an Audio Sensibility Signature OCC silver DC cord.

Now, the Lumin X1 supports LeadH volume control. Supposedly better than regular digital volume.

I ran the system for 3 months without the preamp while it was being hand built in the UK over Covid.

 

I know what the digital only, no preamp sounds like.

Digital sounds close to analog in my system when played through the preamp.

Without the preamp, digital sounds dull, flat, uninspiring and just meh digital.

 

From a purist perspective, less things in the chain should sound better but they don't though do they though ;)

 

ET

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