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Best DACs under $7,000.00

I'm tentatively beginning the search for a DAC upgrade.  Currently, I have Innuos Zen MK3 as a streamer connected via USB to a Denafrips Iris DDC that is connected via I2S to a Denafrips Pontus II DAC.  The Pontus II is excellent but I feel it's the one point where I could gain incremental improvement toward that illusive natural, layered, analog end-of-the-rainbow.  I simply can't / won't spend above $5,000.00 - $7,000.00 on the DAC. The rest of my system:  top-of-line Prima Luna Evo 400 Integrated Amp and a set of Harbeth speakers.  Right now, I'm looking at Denafrips Terminator II or Holo Audio May DAC.  I've never seen an a/b comparison of these two, but both stand out and have a following.  Of course, the unsettling thing is DACs have evolved so much and are still in a blooming state technologically, making it a given that whatever we have today will probably be surpassed by better for less later, like electric vehicles. But that's the nature of the beast.  Does anyone have alternative suggestions in this current climate?

gregjacob
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davespencer
17 posts
 

Plus +1 for Sonnet Pasithea reference level dac

Many great reviews like this :

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/sonnet-pasithea-dac-review-and-measurements.12382/

rwwear
2,867 posts
 

Holo’s DAC has a dedicated DSD DAC instead of converting to PCM like most ladder DACS including the Denafrips.

genez
220 posts
 

I was forced by AT&T in finding the best DAC I ever heard.   

I have a Schiit Yggy. 

AT&T mandated that I stop using their DSL, and installed Fiber.  

The Fiber quieted things down .. apparently the copper running the DSL and the DSL modem attracted noise.  AT&T supplied a new hefty looking modem.  It sounded quieter and smoother than DSL ever did.  

Then one day when checking my modem set up, I realized that by default the wi-fi was always on... and the software for a landline phone was also turned on.   I turned off the wi-fi and shut down the phone operation.  " New Quiet!"  It seems that those two operational features (even when not used) would contribute to activity on my mother board.  Noise was being produced.  

I connect the fiber modem via an audiophile ethernet cable from the modem to my PC.  And use a high quality USB cord to my Yggy.  It never sounded as good no matter what modem I had been using.  

If AT&T did not force me to switch to fiber?  I would still be trying to find some tweak to get things better.... It now sounds so natural.   I am a musician.  I know what real instruments sound like.  I am impressed. 

googoogjoob
88 posts
 

i am GOBSMACKED by my PS Audio DirectStream Dac. soundstage blew the walls out of my room. taller, wider, deeper

jeremyjava
7 posts
 

To Gregjacob and wdguru, thanks for the comments and for overlooking or deciphering my voice to text typos. Please do me a favor and listen to Leon Russell sing A Song for You. If it doesn't bring you to tears i don't know what will... it's shocking with the halo may.   

Or maybe it's just me, it's the song my dad plays when he thinks of my mom and his memories of her. 

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