ob_kook;616623 Wrote: > I recently decided to change my Duet from wireless to wired, and am very > happy with the stability and the fact I can now easily listen to FLAC > without a niggling worry in the back of my head of a drop out and > re-buffering. > > As you can see from my signature, I run RCA through passive attenuation > directly to 2 monoblock amps. I have been interested in making the > following change: > > 1. Getting a DAC (have my eye on DACmagic due to the cost, and the > footprint) > 2. Change from RCA to balanced XLR cables (both the amps and DACmagic > support this) > > The problem is volume attenuation because I do not have, nor do I want, > a preamp. I am worried about not having any attenuation by running the > DACmagic direct, but I think that would yield the best sound. > > How bad an idea would it be to run with only software attenuation? > Anyone done/do it? Are there any smallish comparable DACs to the > DACmagic which has attenuation built in? > > Peter
Don't even think about doing the digital attenuation. Get Beresford Caiman DAC, comes with a kick-ass preamp stage, and quite easily beats DACmagic (make sure you order the Gatorized Caiman). The only downside to this DAC is inordinately long burn in time. However, once this DAC 'grows up' (i.e. reaches its maturity after 200+ hours of play), it can pose significant challenge to DACs that are tend times more expensive. -- magiccarpetride ------------------------------------------------------------------------ magiccarpetride's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=37863 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=86186 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
