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Best Preamplifiers with DACs: Over $10,000

Bel Canto Black EX DAC/Controller

Bel Canto Black EX DAC/Controller

$13,500

This highly sophisticated preamplifier and DAC makes it easy to access streaming services such as Tidal. In addition to being Roon-ready, the Black EX offers full MQA decoding. There’s even a phonostage and headphone amplifier. The Black EX also has special provisions for using a subwoofer and can be controlled via an app. The Black EX is highly revealing of details in even the most complex and dynamically demanding musical passages. The extensive digital processing doesn’t add a hint of hardness or edge. Even standard-resolution sources sound superb through the Black EX. AHC, 290

Theoretica Applied Physics BACCH-SP adio

Theoretica Applied Physics BACCH-SP adio

$23,800–$27,800

The BACCH-SP adio is a controller/DAC with both analog and digital outputs. What distinguishes it from dozens of other products that can be described as such, and its raison d’être, is the “Band Associated Crosstalk Cancellation Hierarchy” filter developed by Dr. Edgar Choueiri at Princeton University. Interaural crosstalk—the tendency, in most listening environments, for sound from the right loudspeaker to get to the left ear and vice versa—has negatively impacted the realistic representation of spatial cues since the dawn of stereo. Choueiri has solved the problem, and the results with the great majority of stereo recordings are quite remarkable: the sort of envelopment associated with multichannel playback, as well as superior representation of a venue’s reverberation characteristics. Most exceptional is an advance in dimensionality and image specificity throughout the soundfield. Seventy years worth of two-channel recordings have the potential to take on previously unappreciated palpability and spatial detail. AQ, 333

Read the full review: Theoretica Applied Physics BACCH-SP adio Stereo Purifier
CH Precision C1.2

CH Precision C1.2

$36,000–$49,000 depending on configuration ($53,000–$66,000 with X1 power supply; $128,000 three chassis/dual mono/triple supply)

The C1.2 is a uniquely flexible control center that can accommodate all manner of digital inputs: SPDIF, USB, streaming, and raw DSD via the proprietary CH-Link between the C1.2 and its companion D1 CD/SACD transport. An excellent, optional analog input board is also available. All sources are treated to some of the most advanced digital technology extant, and all sound richly detailed and dynamically impactful. The C1.2’s performance with data streaming from a NAS drive deserves special mention for stripping away the glaze that is all but unavoidable with USB. Best used with balanced inputs and outputs. AT, 239

T+A SDV 3100 HV

T+A SDV 3100 HV

$38,900

The SDV 3100 HV DAC/preamp must be one of the most sophisticated and comprehensive digital products ever made. Able to handle virtually any of today’s formats, the SDV 3100 HV boasts a host of advanced digital and analog circuits that have been refined over the company’s 40-year history, including custom digital filters, advanced upsampling algorithms, dual-differential DACs, and a custom discrete DSD converter with an entirely separate signal path. Sound quality is exceptional in all formats and modes, with the PCM conversion approaching the best out there, and DSD reproduction in a class by itself. The battleship build-quality, extensive features, fabulous casework, and beautiful fit ‘n’ finish suggest a product of twice the price. RH, 300

Read the full review: Theory + Application elektroakustik SDV 3100 HV DAC/Preamplifier and PDT 3100 HV CD/SACD Transport
T+A SDV 3100 HV

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