Help me with a fully balanced DAC

I have a Timbre TT1 Dac with balanced ins and outs that I love. You sometimes find them on here for around $800 used.

Regarding Theta products, the Miles CD player looks interesting as well, but a couple of things concern me.

First, I don't like the idea of having the cd player modify the analog gain - simply because that is what my $3000 headphone amplifier is doing - I'd rather have the Stax amp do this. Can this be turned off? I.E. so it isn't even in the signal path?

Second, how does the sound of a Miles compare to a Gen5a? I assume the 5a is better, but the really nice aspect of the Gen is the upgradability..

Thanks a lot for all of the help.

-Adam

Adam,

I believe the volume control is out of the circuit when set to 0db. There is an audible click when the volume is turned up to 0. I am under the impression that a relay is engaged/dis-engaged taking the volume control out of the circuit.

I don't know about the comparison to Gen5a, as I've not heard it.

I loved the Monarchy and really enjoyed working with the owner of Monarchy, Mr. CC Poon.

Enjoy,

TIC

FWIW, i have been told by a very reliable source that the theta gen5 WILL NOT be upgradeable to the new gen7 (apparently, the gen6 will be "skipped"). -cfb

Try the Chord DAC 64. It's absolutely stunning. I've heared various MSB and Theta units, and this will blow them away. It has balanced and unbalanced outputs as well as AES/EBU, SPDIF (BNC) and Toslink inputs. Retail is around $3000