[ctsooner]

I have also heard the newest MSB DAC and love it. I didn't like the last gen one though. I'm not a DCS fan either as it's still a bit dry for my tastes, but this is why we have so many options. I run an integrated, but am thinking about Vandersteen mono's. I'm about to take possession of The Memory Player with a new internal DAC built in. They want me to try it without a pre as they have a different way to implement the direct output so you don't lose any data when lowering the sound level.

I have never heard any DAC that didn't benefit from a pre amp. I'm not even sure if the MSB was being run direct, but I think he was going through the MSB pre as he was ready for show at his store. I'll have to ask him. It's a great debate, but there are so many variables, that there isn't one right answer for every system.