I too noticed the curious effects of what appears to have been a pretty thorough "search and delete: function"...

Part of me believes that due to the speed with which DACs are evolving / dropping in price it is unwise to include in a pre-pro at all . Now I can completely understand how / why the marketing of a new pre-pro might be temporarily enhanced by touting the inclusive of a DAC, but the long term value of that DAC may be first part of the purchase that the gadget minded digital audio enthusiast might regret.

I suspect that the relative turmoil among the manufacturers and marketers of OEM grade DACs is also a significant factor in trying to pin down a stable supply of usable components. While theoretically any given OEM DAC ought to be "plug & play" with another, the details of integrating signal paths could very well get tricky...

Further I can easily imagine that the dissolution of one supplier relationship would result in a "late night purge" of any public mention of prior promises.


The "tea leaf reading" and general sleuthing that occurs when there are a lack of official annoucements is similarly something that the Outlaws could / should have imagined.