For that kind of money you could buy a heck of a turntable... but that's just me. There are plenty of dacs under 1k and up to 2k that are just fine. Jeez, even my lowly musical fidelity v90 dac is great @ 299...
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
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- 231 posts total
@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. |
Aqua La Voce or La Scala, owned a Yggdrasil before I had a La Voce a significant step forward in terms of timbres realism... La Scala is even better but closer to your higher price range, I use it in a secondary system as my reference DAC is a DCS Vivaldi, those products are up there regardless of price... do yourself a favour and go listen |
PS Audio has a well regarded trial period for their Direct Stream DAC. Updateable FPGA, Years old review. https://www.stereophile.com/content/ps-audio-perfectwave-directstream-da-processor-page-2 |
- 231 posts total