2. digital
  3. 169752-3610

DAC That Punches Above Its Price Point

I’ll make it short. I’ve spent some hours reading the DAC threads on this forum. I am aware quality of digital matters as superior DACs usually the costlier ones will sound better than cheap DACs, making music sound more analog, lifelike, real, believable with all the soundstage and detail etc. All the good things. There are some who thought it’s the music that matters, and although different DACs may sound different it’s the music that makes the most difference. In other words, the differences that exist between DACs are not that important as it's all about the music. I can see the point that people are trying to make.

Back to the topic. I’ve read great things on the Denafrips Ares II and Pontus II, and other costlier high-end DACs. I’ve read about the Chord DAVE. I personally own a Chord QBD76 and have no urge to replace it with anything else since it sounds splendid in my system, for the money. I may be setting up another system and was wondering if there is a DAC in the lower price bracket that punches way above its price point, sounding close to if not better than the costlier designs.

I presume the Audioquest Black, Red or Cobalt are not worthy of consideration and sound noticeably inferior to the costlier options? FWIW I tried the Musical Fidelity M1 DAC and this one really sounded poor to my ears. Very digital sound and I stopped listening to it after a while. The Chord sounds a lot more analog, lifelike and real to my ears.

I would appreciate any advice. Thanks.


ryder

Showing 1 response by apogeum

apogeum
34 posts
 

Finally the Soekris DAC has been mentioned. But it cannot be compared to all the rest because the owner can set/chose/compare  its digital filters. This adjustment can change SQ  far beyond any cable, speakers, amps, DAC changes and its still very subtle. It's kind of comparable to the filters which can be set in HQPlayer (with upsampling) but that would need a relatively powerful PC at the beginning of the chain.

Over the years CD players and DACs have offered these kind of different selectable filters but the SQ improvement was rather questionable IMO.

There must be almost hundred different filters, in the meantime written by DIY audio members which can be downloaded from DIYaudio. The DAC itself comes with 4 different filters.

For people who really want to  tweak their DAC with some understanding of the details of what they are doing   there is also a long thread which explains how to do it. So IMO this DAC has an incredible potential which no other DAC can offer.

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