Celander,
I have used Bel Canto DACs the last 5 years.
I currently have the DAC 3.7. It is a hybrid design with SS and Class D, and is incredibly accurate (they use TOTL clocks), musical, fast, with top to bottom balance as well as gravitas in the low end.
Can be had for $2500. has an outboard PSU- it is a "virtual battery supply", that has such low distortion that it mimics an actual battery )(batteries have less distortion than a power supply attached to the wall constantly).
this is a $5000-6000 DAC that is priced at $2500 due to Bel Canto not really advertising much and using more word of mouth to sell products.
In fact, this is a discontinued model b/c it was so good in combination with the Bel Canto Renderer that is was detracting from their sales of their new line of "Black" and "Black EX" products, which run over $15,000. I hope I am making my point here ....
only drawbacks: one Analog input, BUT you can connect a high end splitter for 2-4 inputs (eg. from Goldpoint, $300-400) http://www.goldpt.com/index.html ) or a cheap one from Schiit.
But, the ADC in this DAC is very high end, and like no other I have experienced. it will take a signal, eg from my tuner, convert it to digital, then use their propriety ADC to convert to 24/192 hi res audio. And it sounds amazing.
The DAC is always in Standby mode, using 0 watts!
When being used, the two units (Audio and power) only use a paltry 18 watts. So you save money not only on using less power, but use less AC during the summer to keep the room cool!
best of luck, and I have no affiliation with Bel Canto, just a fan trying to get the word out,
http://www.belcantodesign.com/home/
I have used Bel Canto DACs the last 5 years.
I currently have the DAC 3.7. It is a hybrid design with SS and Class D, and is incredibly accurate (they use TOTL clocks), musical, fast, with top to bottom balance as well as gravitas in the low end.
Can be had for $2500. has an outboard PSU- it is a "virtual battery supply", that has such low distortion that it mimics an actual battery )(batteries have less distortion than a power supply attached to the wall constantly).
this is a $5000-6000 DAC that is priced at $2500 due to Bel Canto not really advertising much and using more word of mouth to sell products.
In fact, this is a discontinued model b/c it was so good in combination with the Bel Canto Renderer that is was detracting from their sales of their new line of "Black" and "Black EX" products, which run over $15,000. I hope I am making my point here ....
only drawbacks: one Analog input, BUT you can connect a high end splitter for 2-4 inputs (eg. from Goldpoint, $300-400) http://www.goldpt.com/index.html ) or a cheap one from Schiit.
But, the ADC in this DAC is very high end, and like no other I have experienced. it will take a signal, eg from my tuner, convert it to digital, then use their propriety ADC to convert to 24/192 hi res audio. And it sounds amazing.
The DAC is always in Standby mode, using 0 watts!
When being used, the two units (Audio and power) only use a paltry 18 watts. So you save money not only on using less power, but use less AC during the summer to keep the room cool!
best of luck, and I have no affiliation with Bel Canto, just a fan trying to get the word out,
http://www.belcantodesign.com/home/