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DAC Selection

I listen to vinyl mostly, but with my recent speakers upgrade I found digital sounding quite good and have been thinking to invest in a better DAC. I use tube gear - tube preamp, SET mono blocks, etc. I am using big full range 3-way speakers, highly efficient, very dynamic, going almost flat down to 20Hz. Most of the gear I use is either DIY or highly upgraded commercial products with exotic parts. The DIY products are all built by me, either from kits or from well-known simple and good sounding schematics. Listen to all kind of music but mostly jazz and blues. 

Looking to get the best DAC I can for my system. My budget is $6K. I can try building one myself, buy a kit, or get a commercial product. Besides building one myself, three DACs have caught my eye:

  • PS Audio DirectStream DAC
  • Schiit Audio Yggdrasil 
  • Audio Note Kits DAC 5.1

I have listened to several DACs and found the Analogue Devices chips to sound more musical in my system than the newer Sabre chips. But that could be due to the DAC implementation rather than the chip itself... Never heard an FPGA DAC like the one from PS Audio. The Audio Note Kit looks great in terms of design, components, and quality, but I would never know how it sounds until I build it, so can’t really audition and return if I don’t like it like I can do with the other products on my list. 

Another idea going through my head is to try building one myself - get the cleanest regulated power, the best digital section I can find, and a high-quality analog section with the best components available. And I might end up with a very high-end DAC. But again, you invest a lot of money, not knowing what the end result would be.

Some days I wish I could not solder. With all the choices we have, it is already so difficult to make decisions, and when you add DIY in the picture you make the decision making process a lot worse. And when you open a commercial product that costs $5,000 and find parts for $450, that makes you think really hard if you spent your hard-earned money the best possible way. But let’s not go there… I am happy to spend $6K for a PS Audio DirectStream DAC if I am convinced that’s my best option. And I will certainly audition that 


Any comments, suggestions, recommendations? 


nenon

Showing 2 responses by jim204

jim204
881 posts
 
I would certainly recommend The PS Audio Direct Stream DAC as it is the most natural sounding DAC I have heard at the price. In fact the only DAC I heard that was better and not that much to effect the horrific price difference between them was the Gryphon Kalliope DAC but that is a wholly different story but the price is eye watering.My friend owns the PS Audio and I have to say it is a delight to listen to as it upsamples everything to DSD and of course DSD files sound phenominal on it . I know where you are comming from regarding the quallity of parts inside anything. I am of the opinion that mostly all pieces of gear can be improved upon and when the warranty was out on my Oppo Sonica DAC I opened it up and did some work inside it. I am not at the level of your knowledge but I put better specified caps in it and also inserted EMI and RFI chokes on all wire runs. Also another coup was putting liquid Graphene from Mad Scientist in New Zealand on the exposed pins when I had taken the plugs from the cicuit boards inside and then reinserting them with the Graphine coating on them and the difference was almost magical.
After saying all that I would still go for the PS Audio if I had the money. Also PS Audio give regular updates to their firmware and in all instances it has made a big difference to my friend's DAC. Do see if you can audition one if possible. Good luck , Jim.
jim204
881 posts
 
@ejr1953 I find all digital equiptment responds to really good mains regulation. I use one on my dac and music computer and have to say it make a big difference to both.In the PC it really cleaned up the noise floor and now i can play at any volume I care to.

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