@rsf507 Apparently the one I was referring to already sold on day 1. It's no longer listed.
DAC Choices - $5,000 to $7,000
What are the current top DAC choices in the approximately $5-$7K price range (new or used) that I should look at as possible upgrades to my current Metrum Adagio?
Having an on-board volume control is not a factor as I can operate my system either way. If I wanted to spend more I would look at Totaldac, Rockna Wavedream Signature, or one of the other top-end contenders, but I selected the price range to achieve a sound quality that is consistent with the rest of my system and because I don't want to spend more due to the still evolving nature of digital technology. I do like the more natural sound
(to my ears)
of NOS R2R DACs. So far, I have considered the three below, but none seem to be a slam-dunk upgrade from the Adagio, which still sounds pretty good in my system. The decision is complicated by having to "buy to try" so that I can hear one in my system. Maybe now is not the time for an upgrade. Any thoughts?
- Denafrips Terminator w/DSP board - Reportedly has the full body/dense tone type of sound I like, but also has a high'ish output impedance
- Holo May KTE - Reportedly measures great for an R2R DAC and has strong reviews
- Rockna Wavelight - Some reviewers like it but others put it in the middle of the pack for the price
Showing 32 responses by cal3713
@dgarretson Not sure if this is indicative of the house sound changing or not, but the new lampizator amber 3 definitely doesn’t sound syrupy. Was very lively in my system. Too bright and incisive for my tastes (& system synergy) actually. Also, just looked up your esoteric and it looks amazing. If you do find a dac that bests it please do report back. |
@wdguru I built my own amps (from Nelson Pass designed boards), and as I've refined them, I've directly seen the impact of moving from stereo to a dual mono design, putting the PS into a separate chassis, replacing copper with solid core silver wire, and using high quality film caps (in my preamp). The fact that the Holo May also incorporates all these features while also using r2r decoding as in my well-loved Audio Mirror and a pure class A amplification stage as in all my other equipment made it very attractive. It is very rare to find that many of my "key" features in a component, regardless of price. I'm hopeful I'll be rewarded with the choice. |
And perhaps out of your range, but if you're really thinking about Totaldac, there's an ad up for a d1-7 on the devialet chat sales page. It's an old ad from a dealer (I searched the username to see if it was legit), but is still available for ~€8000. I looked into it and even contacted the seller, but got scared off by the ASR TD measurements. I don't agree with their raw measurement perspective, but some of the TD outcomes were really troublesome. |
@grannyring Hey Bill, do you know why it's desirable to have class a/b opamps on the dac output (as in the Mojo Evo)? After reading so much about the benefits of class a in amplifier design, I have trouble figuring out why a/b would be more desirable on the i/v stage of the dac? Not criticising at all, just trying to understand the design decision... |
@mitch2 Your choice, an ldr or discrete resistors (.5% vs .1% max thd respectively). Each module is $50 and you can swap them out at will. My preamp builder tried both and liked both. Described the ldr as more organic and the resistor module as more transparent. Said neither were a compromise vs his standard TKD pot. Both modules also support 10db in balance control. In the case of the ldr, your signal path only sees a single resistor. My builder said he couldn't use a khozmo because it produces too much noise to be in the same chassis as the dht tubes, but couldn't measure or hear any from the Tortuga. This is his first time using one. All sounds like a pretty promising solution to me. Tough to get quality remote VC and balance out there. |
@mitch2 Sounds like maybe you've already located it, but if not you might consider the Tortuga epot.v3 mini. It's designed to screw into a chassis through the same hole as a standard volume control pot and add remote volume control (ldr or discrete resistors). I just had one added to my DHT preamp. They're reasonable and sound great according to many. https://tortugaaudio.com/products/diy-preamp-components/electronic-stepped-attenuator-epot-v3-mini/ |
@ddafoe Please do keep updating as you add the EtherREGEN. I've been eyeing the M5 and you've got me even more interested. @mitch2 Congrats on the Evo. Really looking to hearing your impressions. And if anyone is interested in the M3, there's one with a built in streamer up on usam for 4k. Still waiting on my Holo May... |
@mitch2 Perhaps you've found it doesn't matter with your gear, but best practice is to have your spdif cables be 1.5m (or longer) to prevent digital signal reflection induced smearing. At < 1.5m you run a small risk of having a signal go down the cable, reflect back to the source, and then reflect back to the output time aligned with the next part of the digital signal. |
@rajugsw I'm not trying to invalidate anything you've said, but I've had the Directstream (and May, and a number of other dacs) in my system and they've all sounded quite different. Not sure why, but the DSDsr just didn't work for me. I actually tried it twice over the years and resold both times. Just something about it and my ears I guess. As always, every review is so incredibly biased by the associated ears and equipment. Always a good lesson to remember. Obviously you and many others find the PS Audio dac superlative. My only take away is that we all hear different and everyone is "right." |
@dsper I keep thinking about buying that dac for a computer system and would certainly put it in the main rig for testing if I had. That said, I did try another ASR darling, the Matrix X-Sabre Pro and found it kind of grey, boring, and uninvolving. I had four dacs on home trial at the time and it was the only one I didn't want to listen to. It wasn't bad per se, it just didn't move me. |
In case anyone wants to read some user impressions: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/sw1x-audio-design-dac-ii-absolute-top-tier-ref-nos-dac |
@fsonicsmith Thanks for the heads up. I get more intrigued by the day. I'm sure the Mojo's are great given the number of positive reviews, but I'm leaning towards the SW1X. I e-mailed Mojo to ask about the unit's distortion profile (not amount) and they refused to give me an answer. Was looking to find out what the second and third harmonics looked like but only could get information about how great the power supply is. Clearly it's a great dac, but it was frustrating not getting a relevant answer. Btw, here's the SW1X DAC III review referenced: https://www.dagogo.com/sw1x-audio-design-dac-iii-review/ |