As a part of stepwise upgrade into pre and power setup I'm in the process of zeroing on the DC - 1, it meets most of my requirements of DAC +Preamplifier combo, with a functional Remote. I will plan to add a monoblock in year's Time to this setup. Currently my Integra 8470 CD direct option will be used as amplifier to drive Polk RTI speakers. I mostly change my speakers on regular basis (2-3 yrs) so that shouldn't be a hard consideration in decision making.
With a budget of around 50k I'm looking for a decent preamp, preferably with a good DAC on board. Remote function is vital as my amp or Bluray /Pioneer DVD player - DAC (Smsl M8) combo doesn't have a remote with volume control options (why do they don't have volume control on Bluray players remotes ?). Most of my sources in flac and Cds, or streaming content Apple music (Handled by Raspberry pi 3 +hifi berry combo) etc. My music choice is mainly Indian classical, Bollywood, Kannada /Telugu /Marathi /Malayalam movie music (old and new), AR Rahman (his music deserves a separate genre in itself), R&B, Soft Rock, Trance etc.
I am open to consider tube preamp in the budget or integrated hybrids with preout options but none of them had all satisfactory options as required by me. So any other suggestions on tube preamp/ hybrid are welcome. I'm open to buying pre-owned gear too as my budget is quite modest for a hifi Preamplifier.
1. Any better options over DC - 1? New or pre-owned?
2. Tube /hybrid Preamplifiers ?
3. Any current users of DC - 1 and their experiences? I have researched shortcomings of DC 1 none appears to be very problematic like 192khz limits and no dsd support..
Any further information will be very valuable. I will be getting it from USA, need to order in a weeks time.
With a budget of around 50k I'm looking for a decent preamp, preferably with a good DAC on board. Remote function is vital as my amp or Bluray /Pioneer DVD player - DAC (Smsl M8) combo doesn't have a remote with volume control options (why do they don't have volume control on Bluray players remotes ?). Most of my sources in flac and Cds, or streaming content Apple music (Handled by Raspberry pi 3 +hifi berry combo) etc. My music choice is mainly Indian classical, Bollywood, Kannada /Telugu /Marathi /Malayalam movie music (old and new), AR Rahman (his music deserves a separate genre in itself), R&B, Soft Rock, Trance etc.
I am open to consider tube preamp in the budget or integrated hybrids with preout options but none of them had all satisfactory options as required by me. So any other suggestions on tube preamp/ hybrid are welcome. I'm open to buying pre-owned gear too as my budget is quite modest for a hifi Preamplifier.
1. Any better options over DC - 1? New or pre-owned?
2. Tube /hybrid Preamplifiers ?
3. Any current users of DC - 1 and their experiences? I have researched shortcomings of DC 1 none appears to be very problematic like 192khz limits and no dsd support..
Any further information will be very valuable. I will be getting it from USA, need to order in a weeks time.