Bel Canto DAC

[frenchmon]

jrhymeammo...

and all who are interested..Its magic!

The Bel Canto is now configured running straight to the amp, bypassing the preamp altogether, Flipped the switch on the back of the DAC 2.5 and WOW! The sound is absolutely Fabulous! Totally different sound from running through the Rotel preamp. The sound is miles ahead of the Rotel pre. The first thing I noticed is the smoothness and warmth of wha'ts happing in the inner portion of the music. The sweetness of the sound is just enough to give you a feel of tubes but Bel Canto is completely solid state. The bottom end is robust and defined....never heard this much deep bass from my Cantons. And the higher extension has the edge removed while maintaining the lasting fade effect of the cymbals. There is a touch of high extention roll off but not much compared to the Rotel sound. The sound stage is not to forward and not to far back, but it just is. Female voices sound full and clear, the midrange is rich...very noticeable that the sound of the mids makes the overall sound romantic. ...the entire sound is thicker than the Rotel in my opinion. As with great gear, nice air around the instruments, even better spacing than what the Rotel preamp was able to do.

When I had the DAC 2.5 run throught the Rotel preamp and did the A-B with the Musical Fidelity XRAYv8 they sound absolutely alike . It was when I by passed the Rotel pre that I heard the true character of the 2.5 which surpassed the XRAY...at least I think. the weak link, that I thought all along, is with my Rotel preamp. By bi-passing the Rotel, I now have that same wonderful sound that I heard at my dealers house, who has the entire Bel Canto outfit. But I do believe if one was to run any of the Bel Canto DAC's through a preamp, it has to be one that will let the Character of the Bel Canto shine through. The Rotel can't, it seems.... which leads me to ask, what about the XRAY v8...and the Rotel... if both, the XRAY v8 and Bel Canto sounded absolutely alike, it must be the Rotel pre? So I am asking those who know far more about this than I....can a preamp limit the processing of the source or am I only hearing two different preamps that sound totally different (Rotel pre and the Bel Canto built in pre)? If the latter i's correct, then why did it sound just like the XRAYv8?

Edit: As I continue listening, there is way more noticeable detail than I remember from CD's I know backwards and forwards. This DAC is simply outstanding. Bass is punchier...and music seems thicker than I remembered, cymbals hit harder and piano is more real like. I believe sound stage is bigger, nothing of the music seems as if its coming from the speakers , but seems to be just there between the speakers. This DAC alone has taken the overall sound to another level. IF the DAC is this good, how good is a Bel Canto preamp/DAC combo I wonder?



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