Anyone have an opinion on Audio Research DAC-2 ?

I have the DAC2 and it is a real pleasure to listen to.

I've tried it with three different transports: Sony CD Player, XA7; Linn Ikemi CD Plahyer and Wadia transport. It sounds great with all three--a testament to its neutrality and transparency. It sounded better than the built DAC of the XA7 and the Ikemi.

The Sony needed some power conditioning; the Linn needed none and with the ARC DAC2 was acoustic heaven; finally, the Wadia and the DAC2 was my favorite--for some, maybe a bit too neutral.

With the right power cord, I use Transparent, Rock & Roll has the energy of Rock & Roll and orchestras sound pretty grand also--perhaps as Albertporter notes above, a bit more resolution for really "congested" music might help.

I wonder if the DAC3 folks have had better luck there?

At under $750, the DAC2 is a steal.

Hi Wm2001
Krell MD-1 ,Genesis Digital lens and DAC-3 is what I use for digital.Great sound,very pleased with the resolution and fine detail.Also recently bought the Northstar 192 transport,but haven't had the opportunity to experiment yet.
I am concidering the 192 Dac as a second unit.My ARC Dac-3 definetely will remain on my rack though.I want to roll some 6922(four required) for my Dac-3 (telefunken,siemens Nos)but $$$$$$.I envy your Wadia.
Smile
George

After 3 weeks of intense listening and coupling of the ARC DAC-2 with my Wadia 270 transport, I have to say--I like this DAC, alot! Diana Krall sounds like she's there in my living room with her bass player--and the bass sounds rich but not bloated, you can hear the attack of the pizzacato. And in the case of classical orchestral music, the solo instuments are imaged perfectly in front of a fully dimensional orchestra. Beautiful music.

For context, I also recently added Transparent Powercords and Power Isolators to the front end and ganymede isolators for the Amp--that last tweak really added a sense of space to the music and clarified the sound of the individual instruments as if they have been better tuned.

Go figure.

Bottomline, this DAC works very well indeed with one the best Transports in existence, the Wadia 270.

Wm2001

It's sad that Wadia went under.
All the best.