Guys, I have heard nearly all the DAC's on the market from 8k up. After I heard it warmed up with only 50 hours on it, I could tell that this thing will fight in the school yard with the DCS and Trinity DAC's. It already is better than the Berkley Ref mk 2 according to a friend who has one fully broken in. Said that the Berk is way too polite compared. The QX will give us the excitement of a recording. One Berkley ref mk 2 owner decided to put it up for sale yesterday after hearing the QX5 Twenty.
As for running it without a preamp, I would say it would become more immediate, but you will not get the bass as low and the mids won't be quite as fleshed out in the mids. Playing in this league you really do need a great preamp, however if you really want to save money, go for it as you won't know the difference. The sound will be a bit more forward than with a pre, but there are some advantages that you may like and that would be it's faster driven direct, unless you are using the KX5 Twenty or above.
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