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Fayne
2575
Sep 30, 2019
Why use a pre-amp? That MC-13S should be able to eat line level audio from the RCA out of any DAC. If by phone you mean headphone, just get yourself a DAC with a capable headphone stage. Something like a DX3 Pro would work pretty good there. Definitely under $300. You could also do something like a Topping D70 or a MassDrop x Grace SDAC-Balanced, and pair it with a balanced headphone amp like the MassDrop THX 789, MassDrop x Cavalli LCX, Monoprice x Cavalli Liquid Platinum, or LOXJIE P20 via XLR. Pair the YAQIN via RCA. I don't have the platinum, but all the other balanced amps I listed have been working wonderully for me. Most all of these are usually expensive, but the SDAC-B and LOXJIE P20 combination is ~$250-$275. If by phone, you mean phono(graph) preamp/RIAA stage... For Moving Magnet (MM) cartidges, the YAQIN MS23B is pretty fantastic once the tubes have been rolled to something other than the super cheap Chinese 12AX7B tubes it ships with. I currently use one with my Denon VL12 turntable. Couldn't be happier now that I've got some GE Matshushita 12AX7A in it from 1975. Can be found for $200 on Amazon. For Moving Coil (MC) cartridges you could always try a Schiit Mani. It does MM and MC, but YMMV there, I don't own one so I can't give my personal opinion. $129 and that Schiit is yours.
(Edited)
Sujay Rao
109
Sep 30, 2019
FayneMY APOLOGIES. I meant the ODAC. O2 is a headphone amp. Sorry again! I tried it. Not a peep! A pure / dedicated DAC does not have a preamp. It produces a very weak signal. A power amp needs a leg up from a preamp.
Sujay Rao
109
Sep 30, 2019
FayneI have the Liquid carbon. Will try out your suggestion. Thanks
Fayne
2575
Sep 30, 2019
Sujay RaoThe MC-13S is an integrated amplifier, which means it has a pre-amplifier built in. It should not need an external pre-amplifier for any sources other than RIAA for turntables without built-in preamp stages. I'm going to assume that you've got the speakers on the right posts for the impedance, if you've got them wrong it'll sound super quiet or ultra loud depending on your speakers. 4ohm speakers to 8ohm post will be quiet/muffled, 8ohm speakers to 4ohm posts will be loud and distorted. If you're doing software volume control of the DAC, just set it to the max and do the volume control via the left knob on the MC-13S. If you want a quick and easy way to see if it is your DAC being the problem, just RCA up to a TV, Cable Box, or any other component that spits out line level audio via RCA.
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