I don’t think so though; dCS DACs have had excellent volume control going way back to the late '90s. John Atkinson @ Stereophile reviewed the dCS Elgar DAC in '97 where he had this to say;
For the next sessions I dispensed with the preamp, which gave me the simplest possible signal path: digital from transport to DAC, balanced analog from DAC to amplifier, and the Elgar’s volume control to set playback level. This volume control operates in the digital domain and appears to be properly dithered in that it is free from “zipper noise” as it is operated. With the analog outputs switched to High, the control setting varied between -6dB and -12dB, depending on the recording.
The result was an astonishingly detailed yet delicate presentation. One of the areas where 16-bit digital has traditionally underperformed is when the mix gets really complicated. With poor players/processors, all the soundsources blend together at climaxes, the sound resembling a giant mouth organ. Well, not only was this not what the Elgar did without a preamp in the chain, but it allowed individual sonic objects to be differentiated better than anything I’ve heard. It was equaled in this respect only by the combination of the No.30.5 and the Meridian 518, which is 50% more expensive.
Although my main Amps have changed over many years, my main dCS system has always been direct to Amp; it’s the explosive dynamics and clarity and delicate nuances that gets me every time, I can always hear some of it being lost when I’ve attempted to add a Pre-Amp in-between.
In my dCS system in the Study though, I’ve got a Nagra Tube Pre-Amp that does some real magic to the bottom end without affecting the dynamics and top end too much. I guess the added harmonics of a really good Pre-amp does enhance the experience for many.
Why do you think there’s that difference between the two systems, Anup? (And what are the systems?)
It still gnaws away at me that I could eventually prefer a dCS direct to power amp…if I move up from the Bartók to Rossini, Vivaldi, or Bonzo Dog (or whatever the next top-end ones are called).
My main system’s the Vivaldi stack, while my Study has a Bartok. The Bartok without the Nagra is no slouch, but I have the Nagra Pre-Amp in place mainly because of my reel-to-reel deck.
I can share my experience too, I tried to connect bartok directly to tube 2A3 monoblocks and compared internal volume control to Audio Note M5 tube preamp. I must say, its day and night, with tube preamp it sounds much better! Another level, more body, nature, better voice reproduction, it sounds more real and, of course, darker.
I think you can improve you system with good preamp. I would count good preamp with a price range similar to bartok’s price.
Welcome Cooler. However I do think that there are a number of good preamps costing less than $15,000 or equivalent. There are several suggestions made in various topics on this forum.
Definitely stripped down. But I have not tried one. I used to own a rebuilt Lotus 7, a car for which paint was deemed an option because it added weight. I love minimalism, but I definitely need a bit more than The Truth offers.
I like that Bartok directly plays very much like ATC SCA2. But I still prefer the preamp with mine 50ASLTs. It is compliment to SCA2 (or to Bartok?:)). At least it’s convenient… and a little home-like))
Apologies for the delay on this – last week turned out a tad busier than I had anticipated. Yes, I can confirm as above: Stick with whichever Output Voltage setting allows you to keep the volume control towards the top end of the scale. Should this happen to be 0.2V for night-time listening, that will be the way to go over a higher Output Voltage with a lower volume control (assuming we are talking quite low on the volume control).
