Bryston BP-17^3 or McIntosh C49??
 

Assuming we survive the current crisis, a room update is in order. Will be adding furniture from Atocha Design (on order), and upgrading various components. One will be a pre-amp; sticking with Bryston amplifiers in all cases.

So:
Option 1: BP-17 cubed, with installed phono card and external Chord DAC, likely Qutest. Stay in the Bryston family, not too terrible.

Option 2: Mcintosh C-49 (opt for version II DAC card??)

McIntosh look is iconic, the amp will not be visible; Bryston performance is top-notch.
The McIntosh offers more features and has far more inputs then we would ever use.

I do plan on using ROON, which may favor the McIntosh.

This is two channel only, visual media in another spot.

:scratch2:

https://media.istockphoto.com/vector...TdYXoH8xmqF00=

I’d go with a Bryston and an external DAC of your choosing. Take a look at my signature and you’ll see this is blasphemy!

Here’s why. I just don’t like the idea of building DAC’s into analog preamps. DAC’s are still changing faster than analog preamps. So why buy a box that may become obsolete due to it’s digital inputs? That, and McIntosh is using a version of an ESS delta-sigma DAC that has a specific sonic signature that you may or may not like.

With a separate preamp and dac you have more flexibility to tailor the sound to your preference.

Tom

Another vote for the Bryston. Had a BP-17cubed and thought it was excellent. Have owned a few McIntosh solid-state preamps and the newer ones did not suit my taste. To be fair, that was 10yr+ ago. If were my $$ it would be Bryston.