I just purchased Melody SHW1688 Signature to try in my system. It has balanced in and balanced out and according to 6moons review, it goes great with push/pull amps. MBL9007 dual mono transistor amps I am going to use it with has 2.0V input sensitivity so there should not be a gain problem. I will get it in 10 days so I'll post my impressions.
DEQX is definitely not the way to go. My friend has both DEQX PDC 2.6 and TACT 2.2XP which do similar room correction function. DEQX is really a computer and sounds horrible unless you remain completely in digital mode such as between transport and a good DAC. Same applies to TACT 2.2XP. If you are going to use DEQX or TACT's analog output, I would have it modified by mauimods or aberdeen group to replace cheap power supplies and parts that are used on these devices.
My next step is to get TACT 2.2XP fully modded but only use in digital domain initially and see how good Anthony's mod of the Dac section is. It could possible replace my Theta Digital Generation VIII if it is good enough. We'll see.
Got side tracked a little but hopefully Melody preamp will balance out the sound of my system with virtues of tube sound.
DEQX is definitely not the way to go. My friend has both DEQX PDC 2.6 and TACT 2.2XP which do similar room correction function. DEQX is really a computer and sounds horrible unless you remain completely in digital mode such as between transport and a good DAC. Same applies to TACT 2.2XP. If you are going to use DEQX or TACT's analog output, I would have it modified by mauimods or aberdeen group to replace cheap power supplies and parts that are used on these devices.
My next step is to get TACT 2.2XP fully modded but only use in digital domain initially and see how good Anthony's mod of the Dac section is. It could possible replace my Theta Digital Generation VIII if it is good enough. We'll see.
Got side tracked a little but hopefully Melody preamp will balance out the sound of my system with virtues of tube sound.