DAC recommendation

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Russellc

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Joined 2003
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SRMcGee said:
intojazz:

I have three stereos in the house, each with a stand-alone DAC, including an older Schiit Bifrost, a late model Schiit Modi Multibit and a Chinese 8x TDA1387-based DAC that I've modified. All sound pretty good, but it's the Modi Multibit that impresses me the most -- great detail, rhythm and pacing, neutral, an excellent performer and a steal at $250. The Multibit design is very impressive. Since your budget would permit it, I'd suggest you look closely at Schiit's Bifrost Multibit. It's what I would get if the need arose.

Regards,
Scott
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Which is 250.00? I see modi 3E for 129, bifrost at 799. Am I missing one it seems? Modius maybe @229.00?

Russellc
 
Extreme_Boky

Extreme_Boky

Member
Joined 2003
airborne11b said:
I have used or currently use DIY Soekris dam 1941, Schiit Yggdrasil, Denefrips Ares II, Chord Cutest, and Holo Audio May KTE, and an assortment of delta sigma dacs. The greatest "bang for your buck" dac was the Soekris. This is a great sounding dac that you can customize as you see fit. However, mine developed an issue where after a few minuts of listening the signal lock would drop and the music would turn to static or no sound. There was no support from Soekris at all. Best sounding is definitely the May, the Cutest is my second choice for overall sound, Yggy and Ares are decent also. I heave yet to hear a delta sigma dac that blows me away.

To those that believe dacs dont make much difference, ignorace is bliss. At least your bank account is healthier for it.
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I see that you like May as well... just a hint: if you use USB input, make sure a very low-noise power supply powers the source (streamer). This will help because (apart from other obvious benefits of powering up the streamer itself) the source (streamer) USB port is actually supplying +5V Vbus to May's USB module. So, that Vbus should be really high-quality one... and the USB cable will in fact make a fair amount of difference in this application... The USB module's common return is in fact at the streamers' end.

I paired May with DC coupled Aleph J, with no pre-amps/volume pots. This was already stunning. I must say that the very low noise liner power supply I put together for my streamer (NUC11) made a huge difference, in addition to what was already stunning sound. I struggle to find an adjective that sits a level higher than stunning... :)

Also, are you using a first (with XMOS IC) or the second (the very latest, without XMOS IC) generation USB module?
 
ACnotDC

ACnotDC

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Joined 2021
On paper TEAC NT-505 (DAC and Network player in one) with two AK4497 looks very promising.
The device enables volume adjustment in 0.5dB increments when output mode set to "variable".

XLR @maximum output level:
12.0Vrms (1kHz, full scale, into 10kΩ, when set to variable)
Output impedance is 188Ω.

RCA @maximum output level:
6.0Vrms (1kHz, full scale, into 10kΩ, when set to variable)
Output impedance is 150Ω.

So I want to ask if any of you has had the opportunity to listen to it connected directly to any FW power amp?
Voltage sweep has to be enough to full control many of them;)
 
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beeah

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Joined 2006
My last two DACs have been Chord Qutest and Bel Canto 1.5, in that order.
I loved the Chord, and saw myself happily owning it for a long time - until I happened upon the BC.

In short, for years my goal had been accurate and neutral. The Qutest fit that to a tee. But after hearing the Bel Canto I finally realized that my assumptions about what “musical” meant were flawed - I heard it for the first time with the Bel Canto. And I loved it.

I’ve since added a LPS and iFi Purifier on the SPDIF input, both of which have been noticeable improvements. I have been tempted to move up the line, and while the voicing for their other DACs are doubtless of the same musical character (I.e., the Bel Canto house sound), they use different DAC chips and I’d hate to lose what I have. And with the LPS I’m pretty confident that the 1.5 outshines a stock 2.5 and is even possibly on par with the 3.5.
 
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Russellc

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Joined 2003
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xrk971 said:
The Khadas Tone Board 1 (KTB1) uses ESS9038 and is one of the best sounding DACs in my collection. It’s priced very well too at under $100. There is a KTB2 that has a mini chassis, volume/selector knob and balanced / headphone outputs. It’s supposed to sound even better but I have not personally heard it. I can highly recommend the KTB1 though. Superbly quiet even with USB as PSU. There are at least 7 on board DCDC power supplies so it has very powerful drive capabilities and can play louder than most little USB DACs out there.

Noise floor below -130dB, SINAD of 110dB. Harmonic profile is also second order dominant with descending higher orders. What’s not to like?

Review and Measurements of WesionTEK Khadas Tone Board DAC | Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum
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Older thread, but based on this post I got one of these tone boards. Quite surprising, for the money it is a no brainer. Think I will build a power supply for it. I do have a couple of spare positive power supply boards from that group buy! Impressive little dac. Guess I better get a positive 5 volt mini kit soon.

Russellc
 
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MrKlinky

Member
Joined 2016
I swapped from a £60 new Chinese 'FX Audio' to a £110 used Cambridge Audio DacMagic hoping for, but not expecting very much difference. There was! Trying not to use audiophool-speak, put simply it was smoother and more pleasant to listen to at any level, plus sounds were slightly more realistic and separated from each other. I'm a happy bunny, but what difference this and a £500 DAC I am now wondering...
 
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Markw4

Member
Joined 2016
MrKlinky said:
...what difference this and a £500 DAC I am now wondering...
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A more expensive dac can sound better, at least if you pick a good one. How much does it cost for the best sounding dac available today? First, there is no perfect dac. Not at any price. The one that is often found to sound 'best' by many people at this point in time appears to be the Holo May or else Holo Spring 3. They cost from a few thousand up to several thousand dollars. Thus one might opine for £500 you can get 'better' sound, but not the best of today's crop. Of course all this assumes you are someone who can hear a difference in dacs. Not everybody seems to notice a difference. Of those people who do notice a difference, many of them don't care about it and or they may consider the particular difference unimportant.
 
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MrKlinky

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Markw4 said:
A more expensive dac can sound better, at least if you pick a good one. How much does it cost for the best sounding dac available today? First, there is no perfect dac. Not at any price. The one that is often found to sound 'best' by many people at this point in time appears to be the Holo May or else Holo Spring 3. They cost from a few thousand up to several thousand dollars. Thus one might opine for £500 you can get 'better' sound, but not the best of today's crop. Of course all this assumes you are someone who can hear a difference in dacs. Not everybody seems to notice a difference. Of those people who do notice a difference, many of them don't care about it and or they may consider the particular difference unimportant.
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Given the often similar performance on-paper of DACs I was sceptical. Ditto amplifiers. Relatively recently and at this later stage in life I have found this to be untrue but I still enjoy listening to music far too much to worry about the exponentially increasing expense to get that extra percent towards 'perfection'! As a rule I prefer listening to my PA system than my home hifi - it has the excitement and dynamic headroom more in keeping with actual live sound which every hifi I have ever heard lacks.
 
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