[dspringham]

As both the DAC-10 and the LM-502 are both based on the same family of ESS chipsets they are more similar than different other than the fact that one's output stage is SS and the other is tube.  Both DAC's portray the soundstage in my room wall to wall.  With the LM the depth is several rows back in the audience than the DAC-10, though both portray depth to the "back of the stage."  Detail retrieval goes to the DAC-10 as is the case with most comparisons between SS and tubes.  I have used it as a "linestage" only insofar as running the Vista Phono into the analog inputs for the TT.  For the first month I ran it as a DAC/Pre. Then after that I ran it as a DAC only using a W4S STP-SE, Sonic Frontier Line 2 SE+ and the Modwright LS-100 as preamps. I prefer to use a separate preamp, but many others prefer to use DAC/Preamps straight into the power amps so you mileage may vary depending on which option you prefer.

Jack,

Can you compare the DAC-10 as a line stage only vs the STP-SE. Please reference noise floor, speed, transparency. What amps are you driving?

Dave

[shahed]

Anyone compared the DAC-10 as volume control when feeding into digital signal as oppose to using a dedicated preamp. How did it compare? If you have, please mention which preamp you have compared it to. I mostly interested in volume control performance of digital input, not the analog input.

[Randy Myers]

I am using a DAC-10H as the control unit for my system.  It is the pre-amplifier, DAC, and headphone amplifier.  I use both analog (SA-CD) and digital sources (music server and Redbook CDs).  I have not noticed a difference in how the volume works from either type of source.  I actually replaced a Wyred 4 Sound STP-SE with the NuPrime.  The W4S might have been slightly more refined, but for my purpose they were so close that all of the advantages the DAC-10H brought to the table made it the best choice for me.