Discrete DAC -- output to pre-amp

mintakax

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Aug 28, 2018
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I notice in the Discrete's user manual, it says to connect the outputs to the inputs of any amplifier. What does this mean as far as connecting to a pre-amp ?
Thanks
 
If the Discrete DAC is a DAC with preamp capability but you already have a preamp in the chain it has a "Unity Gain" setting for it's volume control for use in that scenario. So you set the Discrete to that Unity gain volume setting and hook it up to your preamp like any other source. For example on your Lumin that setting is a 100 but other DACs have different settings.
 
If the Discrete DAC is a DAC with preamp capability but you already have a preamp in the chain it has a "Unity Gain" setting for it's volume control for use in that scenario. So you set the Discrete to that Unity gain volume setting and hook it up to your preamp like any other source. For example on your Lumin that setting is a 100 but other DACs have different settings.

Thank you again Jack ! If you had a preamp that you really liked (as I do), would you hesitate to buy a DAC that had a preamp capability or is this just a non issue given the unity gain setting ? I notice that the Discrete's User guide states:
Note: If you choose to use the DAC with an external preamp, we recommend turning thevolume control off. To do this, turn the knob past 100 to either “Volume Off - Native” or “Volume Off - Optimized”



 
No I wouldn't as the DAC in use now in both of my systems have preamp capability so they are both set to the Unity Gain setting which in most cases is max to get you to 2v or 4v. I don't know what the difference is for MSB with "native" or "optimized" but I'm sure Mike or some of the other owners do.
 
No I wouldn't as the DAC in use now in both of my systems have preamp capability so they are both set to the Unity Gain setting which in most cases is max to get you to 2v or 4v. I don't know what the difference is for MSB with "native" or "optimized" but I'm sure Mike or some of the other owners do.

Thanks for the clarification.
 
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