Minimalist PMC AML:1 based setup - opinions needed


I am thinking of setting up a very minimalist setup similar to others mentioned here. It will consist of the following:

Speakers: PMC AML1 Active Speakers
Source: Either one of the following sources:
a. Slimdevices Transporter
b. Linn Majik DS
c. Squeezebox + Benchmark DAC-1

I have 2 questions:

1. Which do you think would be the best source(in terms of pure sound

quality)?
2. Do I need a preamp for any of these sources?

I'd also be interested to hear of peoples' experiences with the AML1s as this will be my first foray into pro-audio speakers.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Hughie
hughie
Don't go for that Squeezebox solution because it isn't 24bit/96khz compatible. The transporter is superior to the Linn Majik for less money. If you want the best of all worlds, maybe go for an Olive Melody + Belcanto DAC3/ Benchmark DAC1.
I own the DAC3 and it drives my active speakers well. Many people on the forum seems to prefer the DAC3 to the DAC1 if driven direct without preamp, some attribute it to the larger power supply.

Happy hunting!
Alexander
Can the Transporter be connected directly to a power amp or active speakers?

yes it can.
Well i have had 2 transporters one heavily modded and one stock,i also had benchmark dac 1 and a stello dac here.
I then got the oppotunity borrowimg home the Linn sneaky DS ( under majik ds) and to my utter suprise it completly wipped the floor with the stock transporter, compared to the modded one it was closer but the linn had one major strong point and that was it puts weight to the music, not just more basss but getting weight og the music right, it was also more transperant and simply worlds more musical and tunefull

I now have the majik ds and its simply no comparison to the transporter .

I curious to if the gentelmens above have actually compared the two.
Just wanted to chime in on my experience with the SB vs Transporter.

I have a fairly decent system, B&W 703's connected to a McIntosh MA6900. My music collection is encoded in the lossless FLAC format.

I bought a Transporter at a good price to replace my SB3. To my ears after countless A/B comparison I could not hear a difference between the two. I had to keep the Transporter because the sale was final but if the situation was different I would have kept the SB and looked at something else.

Yes the Transporter is more feature packed but to my ears I could hear no sound/music improvement.