I believe I saw that your budget was 2k? Thats probably about the most interesting price point that you could have.
Like many of us I suddenly had a lot of extra time on my hands last year and in my case, I had a brand new unfurnished place to do something with....I tried literally everything I could get my hands on. Naturally I had to try ALL the modern DACs
2K is an interesting price for DACs right now because if buying new you are looking at the the Chord Hugo 2/Brooklyn DAC+ sort of range. If I had to pick something in that general range for you..given that you are streaming tidal, I would choose the matrix MQA sabre Pro. The 9038Pro in that one is an 8 channel chip and it handles those MQA files effortlessly....but ultimately I kept DACs below and over 2k and found 2k to be a good price point when looking for a headphone amp/DAC type deal.
My suggestion would be to not pay that much for that chip and get the Gustard X26 Pro that was mentioned above....was very impressed...super clean with barely any color except when using some of the PCM filters. I thought the 2 best DACs .. and ones I kept were the Holo Audio May KTE and the Hegel HD30...I would wait to get one of those used or buy an earlier model of Hegels. Both of the make me feel like a spoiled scumbag daily......until my girlfriend takes control of the playlist! No DAC can save me then!
Goodluck!
Like many of us I suddenly had a lot of extra time on my hands last year and in my case, I had a brand new unfurnished place to do something with....I tried literally everything I could get my hands on. Naturally I had to try ALL the modern DACs
2K is an interesting price for DACs right now because if buying new you are looking at the the Chord Hugo 2/Brooklyn DAC+ sort of range. If I had to pick something in that general range for you..given that you are streaming tidal, I would choose the matrix MQA sabre Pro. The 9038Pro in that one is an 8 channel chip and it handles those MQA files effortlessly....but ultimately I kept DACs below and over 2k and found 2k to be a good price point when looking for a headphone amp/DAC type deal.
My suggestion would be to not pay that much for that chip and get the Gustard X26 Pro that was mentioned above....was very impressed...super clean with barely any color except when using some of the PCM filters. I thought the 2 best DACs .. and ones I kept were the Holo Audio May KTE and the Hegel HD30...I would wait to get one of those used or buy an earlier model of Hegels. Both of the make me feel like a spoiled scumbag daily......until my girlfriend takes control of the playlist! No DAC can save me then!
Goodluck!