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Best DAC under US$300

I want to bypass the stock DAC on my mass-market Marantz CD4000, using only the quality Philips trasport. This will hook into an Arcam 6+ integrated amp. I live in India and am looking for ideas on quality DACs under $300 that will work with my humble set up. Gracias, Raghu P.S. I am anticipating grand improvements via this? Do I really need to spend a lot more?
raghu_ramachandran79b4
j_k
234 posts
 
One suggestion is a used California Audio Labs (CAL) Sigma. Typically, these can be found on Audiogon for your price range.
lihifiguy
126 posts
 
Ditto on the Cal Sigma.I have a Cal Alpha dac(same electronics as the Sigma but with balanced capability) and Cal Delta transport in my 20 k system ,and am quite pleased.I did upgrade the tubes and also had the Cal 24/96 upgrade(which improves the sound of standard cd's),use added isolation and sand bags.You cant go wrong for the very modest used price.This may not be the total answer to your system but will be a very good start and the next place to look would be for speaker and interconnect upgrades,providing that yiour sprakers are decent..Good luck!
dstewart
3 posts
 
Check out the MSB Link Dac III at MSBTECH.com, it's got fantastic reviews, and sounds great. I've currently got one on order, after I heard it on a similar setup to what I've got. The nice thing about it is that it is upgradeable, for future techs....
garfish
1,840 posts
 
The Adcom 600 and 700 DACs are also very good and can be found used on Audiogon for $250 to $350. Good Luck. Craig
bday0000
266 posts
 
AMC DAC8. I've seen them for less than $100.
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