2. digital
  3. 187736-145382

*DAC

I am down to the last piece of the puzzle. I am very happy with the sound of my system at this point, so I’m not sure if the DAC needs to be improved on. What I am looking for is to hear those background subtleties in the music a little more pronounced. The strum of a guitar, the stroke of the piano keys, the clicks, ticks & tingles that accompany the music. I do here that now, I just wondered if there is a way to elaborate on those background sounds (details) a bit more.

Is it the DAC that will make this happen? If it is, they say my Gustard R26 is as good as a $5K DAC, how far over that $5K do you think I have to go?

Thank you for your help and suggestions and the best to you all over the holiday season and beyond!

PS: I listen mostly to Jazz

128x128navyachts

Showing 2 responses by ghdprentice

ghdprentice
6,486 posts
 

I am always suspicious of the claims of sound quality comparable of components 3x in cost. If you carefully choose a DAC that fits your values in sound quality I suspect you will be very surprised and happy in the $5 - $6K range. 
 

I would have a look at these: like read every review… don’t pay much attention to marketing hype. I’m sure others will have suggestions.

 

Chord Hugo TT 2

Gold Note IS-1000
 

 

ghdprentice
6,486 posts
 

OP, You are correct, both of those boxes are combined. My bad. You definitely want just the DAC function. I did some research on sound quality.. and didn’t pay attention to the functions close enough. This price range is not my specialty.

However, for very musical but with detail in the used market I can definitely recommend the Audio Research Reference 9 DAC or maybe one iteration before that. I never thought of ARC and DACs… until I heard one. 

More to discover