Devialet DAC quality equivalent?

[thumb5]

Yes, I can't argue with that.  Other than the TotalDAC DAC I've read a few using here, it appears most use the internal Devialet DAC.  I know the cost of the TotalDAC.  I guess I was wondering if there is any consensus of at what price point, or appliance level makes a sonic impact significant enough to go with an outboard DAC.  For instance, the TotalDAC, the Berkeley Reference DAC, Meitner, Exasound, dCS Debussy, Esoteric D-01, probably worth it.  Auralic Vega, Benchmark, Myteck, Wyred 4 Sound, probably not.

Apologies in advance if it sounds as though I'm being pedantic, but if you're using a Devialet (Expert series) amplifier, you're using "the internal DAC" (as you put it), end of story.  It's an integral part of the way the amplifier works, not a separate processing block that sits before a traditional analogue amplifier.

As I think has been noted on other threads, if you use an external DAC via an analog input into the Devialet, it will go through an ADC before being amplified.  So you're not bypassing any internal DAC in the Devialet, rather you're adding an additional stage of processing.

If you particularly like the sound (colouration) of an external DAC then, as f1eng has noted, the Devialet will most likely preserve it unscathed.  But that's a different question than "how much do I have to spend to beat the Devialet's DAC" -- what I'm trying to suggest is that that may not be a valid question if you're using the Devialet amplifier.

Just my 2p-worth...

Ian