Black DAC FX Wifi vs older III

BTW, Underwood Wally no longer sells Black Ice Audio products.

But great advice on the volume pot. Thanks.

often wondered if it could be improved by bypassing the volume pot

Sorry, kind of late to chime in:

Surprising, there are some of you unaware of the flexibility this DAC has.

The gen III model`s volumne pot can actually be removed out, by turning it fully clock-wise, provided there is another volumne knob downstream ( a preamp).

I have the FX Tubed DAC III as my go to headphone rig, and have used it as a standalone DAC, using the method described. By the way, this method was suggested to me by Underwood Wally.

i had a gen iii model, sent it in to wally/chris j at parts express for their level 1 upgrade, was in it for over a grand with the upgrade

did not like the sound, was more detailed and extended, but sibilant, sometimes too aggressive, changed from stock tubes to various old stock ones that were smoother but i could never get the upper mids up to sound sufficiently non-digital - had other dacs in the same rough price range at the time, a schiit gumby, ayre codex and mhdt tube dac, all to my ears were more musical and transparent...

sold it after trying various things, and messing with it for over a year... often wondered if it could be improved by bypassing the volume pot

oh well, glad others seem to enjoy it ...

Incase this helps anyone in the future. I think this may steer me to the newer DSD Wifi model. From an email reply from them:

"Both DACs share the same tube output stage but the digital conversion stage is different. The DAC III uses the 24bit/96khz burr-brown DAC chip whereas the DAC DSD WiFi has the 32bit/192khz burr-brown DAC chip and the DSD/128 Savi-bravo chip. They do sound different. The DAC III is a very good sound but I find the DAC DSD WiFi is better because of the smoothness in the highs without losing detail, a more accurate midrange and a tight controlled bass. Overall the DAC DSD sounds less like digital and more like analog."

thanks for the thoughts guys.  I emailed the manufacturer this am - we'll see if I get a response.

Pricing these things is tough, as they've really shot up.  I wanna say almost doubled in the past couple of years, but I could be wrong.  

I found a review of the DAC FX III, which is the model previous to the Wifi, and its listed as $599 retail.  The new ones are now up to $1250, so depending when someone purchase, it could be all over the place.

The older III model, there's one on one of the big sites for $500, fairly close to me.  While this is a good price compared to new now, new back then its kinda close to retail.

Do used prices follow the inflation prices of the new equipment?  I guess its worth what someone is willing to pay.....

They do respond much better to email. Perhaps, once you have their attention that way, you can schedule a phone call.

I agree, bypassing the volume control would improve the sound quality slightly. With that said, it's still one to audition if you are around the $1k price range.

@vinylvalet 

glad they answered your call, i had no such luck, tried twice within a week, maybe it was covid problems at the time

i agree i wish they made that one with the volume control removed or at least able to be bypassed... suspect it would further improve the sound

When I contact Black Ice Audio, I always get an answer the same day.

This DAC won the 2019 AZ Audio Video Club DAC-It-Out. It was a very well designed comparison of ten DACs (the Black Ice being the least costly and the PS Audio the most costly and one of the worst sounding). $100k+ system in a purpose build room. I was there. So, yes, I heard it and it sounded very good.

I wish they would make a slightly less costly, non-wifi version for folks like the OP. I would also add a switch in the back for fixed or variable volume (you're stuck with variable volume). Decent sounding headphone output is icing on the cake.

Black Ice Audio

i would doubt it

but call wally at underwood he can tell you for sure

don't bother writing the folks at jolida/b-i i tried at one point, they don't reply