I bought my mom a nice little 2.1 channel setup and am looking for advice.

[sizzam]

Hi I'm looking for some advice as I am not sure about preamps and such, I would like to get 2 things to help her get the most out of the 2.1 setup I bought her. Firstly at the moment its hooked up from her laptops headphone jack to a lepai 40w peak 2 channel amp into a Polk PSW-10 sub through the line level inputs to a pair of Dayton audio T652 towers. I want to get a proper USB DAC and a preamp to the lepai and remove the sub from line level inputs and use a RCA LFE channel. I'm looking for something that can decode 24 bit audio and also be able to use a EQ to tweak the sound to remove some of the top end sheen and some of the bass to make it easier listening and allow her to comfortably turn it to a good volume.

Any suggestions for a good USB DAC and a good Preamp around 300$ max for both would be appreciated.

 

[KEW]

Hi I'm looking for some advice as I am not sure about preamps and such, I would like to get 2 things to help her get the most out of the 2.1 setup I bought her. Firstly at the moment its hooked up from her laptops headphone jack to a lepai 40w peak 2 channel amp into a Polk PSW-10 sub through the line level inputs to a pair of Dayton audio T652 towers. I want to get a proper USB DAC and a preamp to the lepai and remove the sub from line level inputs and use a RCA LFE channel. I'm looking for something that can decode 24 bit audio and also be able to use a EQ to tweak the sound to remove some of the top end sheen and some of the bass to make it easier listening and allow her to comfortably turn it to a good volume.

Any suggestions for a good USB DAC and a good Preamp around 300$ max for both would be appreciated.

Here is a nice preamp w/DAC.
MSRP is $350, but you can probably negotiate the price down to $325.
I would pay the extra for this unit as the MusicCast phone app is great and allows easy access to the main streaming platforms (Pandora, Tidal, etc) and reliable control (not half-baked like some smaller manufacturers)!

Yamaha WXC-50

MusicCast wireless streaming preamplifier with Wi-Fi®, Bluetooth®, and Apple® AirPlay®

www.crutchfield.com

 

[KEW]

BTW, it is better if you stand this unit up (brackets/stand supplied) with the Volume knob at the bottom. It is pretty obvious that the venting was designed with this orientation in mind (taking advantage of the air flow from heat rising)!

 

[sizzam]

Here is a nice preamp w/DAC.
MSRP is $350, but you can probably negotiate the price down to $325.
I would pay the extra for this unit as the MusicCast phone app is great and allows easy access to the main streaming platforms (Pandora, Tidal, etc) and reliable control (not half-baked like some smaller manufacturers)!

BTW, it is better if you stand this unit up (brackets/stand supplied) with the Volume knob at the bottom. It is pretty obvious that the venting was designed with this orientation in mind (taking advantage of the air flow from heat rising)!

Very nice this does everything I need it to do and looks nice to boot ill get it my next opportunity.
Cheers!