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 

128x128palutena
rodge827's avatar
rodge827
619 posts
 

Mojo Audio makes some real good natural

sounding Dacs I’ve owned a few and would put them up against anything!

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,920 posts
 

Good! The hustle paid off and now you know. 
I will also tell you, +1 @soix 

Streamer will improve things even further. I used mac mini for a while and didn’t believe a streamer can make this much difference but alas 4 streamers later I’m getting the performance I was expecting from my system…but the important part is every one of the streamers sounded different and better than the computer. 
 

palutena's avatar
palutena OP
22 posts
 

@audphile1 I have a bluesound node coming in the mail tomorrow I figure that’s a good inexpensive place to start. I turned this bedroom system up to 90db just to have a comparison with what I wa listening to in the main room, still a tinyyyy but sharp to my ears, but this is going through the diy horn speakers, and not my primaluna tube amp, and no room treatment, but the point is it’s at a level now where I can definitely see streamers/cables making a difference and getting me to where I want to be. I definitely don’t need to turn it up to 90db as 80 in this room feels louder bigger and fuller than 90 in my main room. I’ll report back once I listen to the streamer! 

mahler123
3,318 posts
 

+1 for the Bryston BDA-3.

  It’s particularly great with DSD.  I find that most analog lovers prefer digital as DSD

tony1954's avatar
tony1954
1,036 posts
 

"I respectfully disagree — you likely won’t be able to achieve the sound you’re looking for streaming from a laptop"

@soix +1

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