Preamp Help / Suggestion

A

ab123

Audiophyte
I have recently upgraded my old integrated amplifier with Emotiva XPA 200 power amplifier and need some suggestion on good "Value for money" preamp. I'm limited on my budget (but flexible) so need your advice on whats the best bang for the buck. I will be using this set-up for 2 channel music only.

Above will replace my Onkyo integrated amplifier (20 year old).
 
B

bikemig

Audioholic Chief
I'd be tempted to look for a preamp/dac combo. But then I'm not purist when it comes to my 2 channel rig and I use computer based playback for music. If you want to use a computer as a source, you may want to look around for a device that doubles both as a preamp and as a dac.

Edit: and this won't do you much good if you are looking to play LPs. Your music sources may make a difference in how you decide to set up your system.
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
What are you going to hook to it?

this is what I use, Emotiva doesnt sell it anymore, since they are moving taords the higher priced electronics lately.
But It works awesome... with music audio I like the shortedt possible path, I go from my pure i20 dac to the xda1 to my amps, you can hook cd players and other inputs up to this, but you want to use digital devices, so make sure your cd player has an optical or digi output of some kind... It also takes usb directly from your pc..

I havent seen one of these on ebay in a while, and this week 3 showed up!!! Last one I seen sold for $250...

Emotiva XDA 1 DAC Preamp in "Like New" Condition | eBay
[/IMG]
thats mine matches the emo amps perfectly
 
A

ab123

Audiophyte
I'd be tempted to look for a preamp/dac combo. But then I'm not purist when it comes to my 2 channel rig and I use computer based playback for music. If you want to use a computer as a source, you may want to look around for a device that doubles both as a preamp and as a dac.

Edit: and this won't do you much good if you are looking to play LPs. Your music sources may make a difference in how you decide to set up your system.
Frankly I don't listen to compressed music. I only listen to CD but which preamp/dac combo are you talking about ? I don't mind looking at them....
 
B

bikemig

Audioholic Chief
Frankly I don't listen to compressed music. I only listen to CD but which preamp/dac combo are you talking about ? I don't mind looking at them....
Well I don't listen to much compressed music either. I buy CDs and rip them to apple lossless. I think you might be pleasantly surprised, though, with the SQ of music files downloaded either from Apple or Amazon. They sound pretty good on my system but ymmv.

There are a lot of dac/preamp combos out there and prices range wildly. Also dacs get little to no love on this site.

I've been really happy with the cambridge dacmagic plus. It has multiple digital inputs and can be configured either to have either a fixed or a variable output which makes it, I think, very versatile. I'm currently running it configured with a fixed output to my stereo receiver. The SQ is really excellent; the headphone amp is serviceable: Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus (Black) Stereo digital-to-analog converter/headphone amp/preamp at Crutchfield.com

But I use a computer as a source for all my music so this may not serve your needs.
 
Last edited:
A

ab123

Audiophyte
What cd player do you have
I have a sony CDP CX100. This is a 100 disc changer with optical output

and I currently have following pair of floorstanding speaker :-

JBL ES90 - But this is used in my 7.1 home theater

Paradigm Monitor series 9
B&W 603S3
Swan Diva 6.1

After after I'm done with my upgrade I will let go any 2 of the above pair.......
 
A

ab123

Audiophyte
Well I don't listen to much compressed music either. I buy CDs and rip them to apple lossless. I think you might be pleasantly surprised, though, with the SQ of music files downloaded either from Apple or Amazon. They sound pretty good on my system but ymmv.

There are a lot of dac/preamp combos out there and prices range wildly. Also dacs get little to no love on this site.

I've been really happy with the cambridge dacmagic plus. It has multiple digital inputs and can be configured either to have either a fixed or a variable output which makes it, I think, very versatile. I'm currently running it configured with a fixed output to my stereo receiver. The SQ is really excellent; the headphone amp is serviceable:

But I use a computer as a source for all my music so this may not serve your needs.
But i was looking at something with tone control (bass/Treble)
 

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