The speaker rig is going to be pretty high end so I'd rather not have any preamp in the signal path. Loop out of a headphone amp is an option, but I'd prefer to have my source/preamp in 1 to go straight to the speaker amps.

Fair enough, I guess I see a preamp as one of those things that should be very easy to do well.

Fair enough, I guess I see a preamp as one of those things that should be very easy to do well.

Yup I know where you're coming from. A passive pre should in theory add or remove nothing to the sound, but that's not always how it goes \ (and the convenience of having a remote with a DAC/preamp combo is something I'd have to have with speakers). I might actually get a traditional preamp if neither DAC allows me to input a signal from my phono-stage if I do decide to keep the vinyl setup.

My new source is out for delivery yay!

Listening to it now, it's a beast ;p Not as many playback (Up-convert) options as I'd expect (Actually doesn't have any options just the 1) since the dv50/dv60 has a bunch as does the p03/d03... which is sad. But still sounds darn good

Not sure it beats out the EMM labs SE stack, but its still a cheaper player overall. I like it more but that's more of a sound signature preference thing. The bass is insane focused deep present and textured. The more ambient sounds come from a far distance which I like and everything is crystal clear. It's a bit more upfront than the dv50s I remembered but I listened to that balanced.. but right now I have my sds hooked up and its tubed/single ended of course. Now that the ES-1 is saled and mostly boxed up I can make room for the SS-1 and hook this beast of the source to it and hopefully the ultimate qualia rig will be reborn (Though before it was with a p03/d03 which is still superior).