Hi,
saturday I had the chance to audition the DAC9, together with the CDT8 transport, in a shop.
rest of the set up:
pre Spectral DMC15
power amp Marantz 'don'tknowthemodel'
speakers Rosso Fiorentino, those who look like a coffin (but they do sound good).
overall impressions are sure good, so good that I'm seriously considering buying the combo to replace my Naim CDX2+esternal PSU, but...
results were clearly better, to my ears, when the DAC9 was driving directly the Marantz power amp, without the Spectral pre: more focus, a less confused sound. so, as I should use the DAC with an int'd amp: is it possible to completely by-pass the DAC9 preamp section ?