2. digital
  3. 190516-181705

dac recommendations for turntable listener?

hi everyone, kindly asking for your dac suggestions. im almost 100% a turntable listener, but recently picked up a DirectStream Dac for those times I cant find the vinyl, its too expensive, or it simply doesn't exist. im looking for suggestions as im not happy with the DirectStream dac, its just not to my liking. its too sharp up top, too thin in the lower midrange, other than that everything else is pretty great. id like to get, if possible, a dac that sounds more like my turntable. I feel like I would get mostly there if the midrange was fuller, and the top end was softer. 

my current system is marantz tt15 , dynavector 20x2, icon audio ps3 mk ii, primaluna prologue premium, and elysian 4 speakers. 

the current dacs I was looking to switch to were lab 12 dac, primaluna evo 100 dac, lampizators entry model, or Merason DAC 1. does anyone have experience with these and can recommend them? 

thanks a lot! 

Anthony 

palutena

Showing 1 response by fleschler

fleschler
2,035 posts
 

I have immense experience in analog (several friends are also remastering engineers).  We use the same cartridge (mine is low output-I love this cartridge for my mono and stereo LPs, 31,100 of them).

I went through tube CD players and hated CD sound for decades.  The EAR Acute allowed my to get a semblance of analog sound.  I tried high priced DACs to no avail for 4 years.

The first DAC that permitted me to share in analog sound quality is the only Toppin g DAC we like, the D70s.  We haven't heard the latest ones.  

I opted for an SOTA DAC with pre-amp in the Lampizator Poseidon.  It is 50X more expensive than the Topping and only 30% to 50% better.  Even the Lampizator Baltic compares very favorably to analog.  I have 16,100 CDs.  

I splurged and purchased the Jay's Audio CDt3 Mk3 to go with the Topping, then the Poseidon.  My best friend purchased the lesser cost Shiit Urd transport.  Great choices like a great cartridge but the lasers should last 10,000-15,000 hours (my EAR Acute for 15 years of daily use-amazing).  

The PS Audio gear-open it up and looked at the components.  You'll know why they don't perform well.  

P.S. 2 out of 3 of the Topping units I mentioned sounded fantastic and 1 was sonically inferior.  For $350 to $500 current going price, it's a small investment.

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