DAC Choices - $5,000 to $7,000

I continue to enjoy my Theta ProBasic III

This is already a good dac..... i think that perhaps you would better do to invest more time, and less money in the controls of your room acoustic, and in the cleaning of the electrical noise floor of your house and perhaps even in the controls of vibrations from the speakers...

But audiophile experience is for me synonymus with a controlled acoustic, not with the choice of a dac mainly....

It is only my very limited experience but very convincing one for me....

My actual dac sound limited in my non controlled room and is not the same at all in my new controlled room.... The dac has not changed a bit, my evaluation of it has.....Upgrading it then seems pointless now for me ....


Sound in an abstract way is equally wave or bits, but in a concrete room sound is mostly only specific space and waves for specific ears, not bits....

 And at the end you will be better prepared to upgrade if necessary  after an acoustical optimal installation...Or even after an electrical grid controls, etc

Thanks nonoise

very interesting review of the Pontus at relatively low price by a credible man...I read it now...

My best to you...

I hope to be understood right...

When we change an electronic component, amp,dac or speakers, we hear a difference in many aspect of S.Q.

Having said that i can say what i want to say and being understood...

In my actual audio system i dont have the impression that nothing is lacking much and more than that the music sound natural and my impression is that my speakers, dac, and amp. has NO sound of their own, no color, no emphasis on certain range of frequencies, and more important the instrument timbre sound right....

For sure my audio system has his personality so to speak, but when his personnality disapear for me and only the music is there the goal is reached....

The reason for that miracles is not coming from my choice of dac only, or amplifier, or speakers, however good they are; the reason is a rightful mechanical,electrical and acoustical embedding....

Then before throwing too much money in upgrade think about vibration control, decreasing the house noise floor, and controlling the acoustical dimension of your room.... If not, like said an acoustical engineer, no speakers can beat the room anyway; i will add no amplifier and no dac can defeat bad embeddings of the audio system either..

If you want to upgrade it must be for the good reason...

Myself i dont want, it is no more necessary...... :)

Can we merge this with the cable thread and ask why a DAC is so expensive? It is after all just a chip.

It is the implementation of the multiple chips...You know it for sure... :)

Then i choose for a low cost dac with an absolute minimalistic design...Almost nothing around the chip TDA 1543...

i cannot fathom my luck after 3 years with the Starting Point system Nos dac of Christophe Mariac.... I stole it with a bid of 26 dollars new on ebay....Dont look for one at this price now tough but at even few hundred dollars it is a steal.....

This dac is so perfect that unlike any other i listen to it present no limitations on my modest audio system....

I know the Denafrips terminator will probably exceed it but at which price difference ?.... I will let you calculate....

It is the best deal ever in my audio life not because of the price paid only ( i paid my extraordinary speakers 50 dollars and 150 dollars my Sansui AU 7700) but mainly because of his S.Q. that is apparent in a rightly embedded audio system more so....

I apologize for my rant in this thread but i must give audio hope to those who cannot afford a Denafrips or something else on the same level...

I will never upgrade mine and i want to buy a second one for the long road in case....😎