Advice needed: It's time for a new DAC
Hello People of Audiogon!
I received some help a little while back when I was considering upgrading my speakers so I am looking to the community again for guidance and opinions. It is time to upgrade my DAC.
My current system is Sasha DAW's driven by a Luxman L-509X.
The three DAC's on my short list are:
MSB Discrete
Berkeley Alpha V3
Chord DAVE
One thing to note is that I am in Canada so many brands are difficult if not impossible to audition.
My priority is "musicality" or "soul". What's this? Well to me, it means feeling. The Luxman and Sasha's well convey musical emotion and that is important to me. I don't know how to describe it better beyond that. They have flow (perhaps PRAT, to use another vague term). Sounds have meat to them and texture. The music feels real.
The second priority is three dimensionality.
The third is resolution.
My one caveat is no tube DAC's. Tubes, for me, just don't work well based on my listening style and habits. I love tubes, I've owned tubes and tubes are wonderful, but as things are now, I just don't want them in a DAC. Perhaps they will find their way into my system in a pre-amp in the future.
I listen primarily to Tidal but MQA is not a priority for me. I would switch to Qobuz but they were not available in Canada until recently and all my play lists in Roon are with Tidal tracks so I suspect a switch will be a real headache, but I digress. My point is MQA isn't really important and DSD isn't necessary either.
Of the above DAC's, if you have heard them, what are your thoughts/opinion?
Thank you in advance,
-Paul
Beautiful DAC, congrats! Wow, you really put in your homework. I am sure many and I would love for you to share some listening notes for each of those DAC’s if you can muster up some audiophile adjectives. And if you find a moment take some pictures and list your system in virtual systems, I would like to see the rest of your kit. |
And I do own one of these DAC’s, but knowing that I still would expect nothing less than someone telling their truth on what they hear. Hey I, and everyone else who owns one of these DAC’s, knows what it sounds like, and what someone else says has no impact on my impressions of it, and it shouldn’t with them also. Additionally you, with your ears, given a different room, different speakers, different other components, different digital connections/cabling, (perhaps the least preferable one recommended by the manufacturer) would have probably had a completely different outcome. Thanks! I (and I’m sure others) appreciate it! Sharing listening impressions is what this forum is all about. |
Well, take the comments with a grain of salt: the PS Audio mkII retails for $8000 OP’s top two choices here retail for $28,000 ~ $30,000, so once again typically one gets what one pays for, within the context of the law of diminishing returns. Clarification question though @bigfatpaulie since you mentioned a "CD Player" appearance, is that not the MPS-8 you have? (did you all catch that? "grain" of salt? ha ha)
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