Looking into the SE stack- I will be using the DCC as a preamp - Has their been any updates if I look at a used unit-I assume the preamp is SOTA? thanks

Without a pre-amp in the path it sounds very clean, but information is missing from the music when using Foobar volume control in the computer. This made it sound edgy but it was still smooth and clean, there was more space and blackness in the soundstage because the low-level details were cut off early. When I compared the Foobar volume control against the pre-amp inside Benchmark DAC1 the amount of low-level detail was equal overall, but the flavor was very different. DAC1's pre-amp was very boomy and veiled the low-level details, while the Foobar cut them off instead. Foobar made it sound very thin and boring because the body was missing from the music.

Using a pre-amp gives a similar difference as daisy chained power conditioners because it both improves and worsens the sound.

I'm using dCS Elgar Plus DAC which has a digital volume control. I don't have a problem anymore, it sounds very full.

I have bypassed the amp as well. I have my K1000 headphones plugged directly into the XLR outputs. The dCS has a switch at the back to change between 2 and 6vrms output...when I used the default 2vrms I got worse sound than from my reference headphone amps, but with 6vrms I got the best sound ever. For a headphone setup the dCS Elgar Plus is a bargain because you don't need interconnects and amps.

Looking into the SE stack- I will be using the DCC as a preamp - Has their been any updates if I look at a used unit-I assume the preamp is SOTA? thanks

Of course my answer is not without bias but IMHO it remains the one to beat. They did introduce a new unit at CES with a new drive and in all likelihood later this year their newest one will show up with an Esoteric drive

I was told via email the Esoteric drive will be featured in the new two piece unit (transport/dac) in 2009. Projected MSRP: $40K

I was told via email the Esoteric drive will be featured in the new two piece unit (transport/dac) in 2009. Projected MSRP: $40K

I have heard the same as well