dacs that I have had in my system - a listing

I am also interested in getting your opinions on what are the best value Dacs among the ones you have tried.  And also, whether you think it is a good idea to bundle the streamer with the Dac these days so that the number of boxes can be fewer.  Thanks again for sharing all your knowledge!

let me come back and tackle some important queries posed...

I wonder if your final 3 would have changed if did not have a preference for a volume control?

for fixed output dacs, i would put a few i have had in the same sonic league (or very close) as my favorite three already covered, i could easily live with any of these sonically - i will make a few comments on the sonics of each

-- audio note kits dac 4.1 -- for a tube dac, very saturated and surprisingly spotlit sound, rather forward treble and excellent drive, to go along with terrific imaging... did note just a touch of sibilance and splashiness, but this likely cured with carefully tube rolling

-- mojo mystique v3 -- very sweet, delicate, analog sounding unit, maybe a touch lacking in drive and the last degree of inner detail -- i feel my msb analog dac has a very similar highly musical presentation but with somewhat superior imaging and drive

-- metrum pavane/adagio -- in my view, still cees ruitjenberg’s best efforts (including his later sonnet morpheus, which i did not like) -- utterly smooth rich yet detailed incisive sound, saturated and tonally accurate but plenty of drive when called for

-- bricasti m1 mdx as mentioned earlier (sonically a weiss clone to my ears)

I am also interested in getting your opinions on what are the best value Dacs among the ones you have tried.

in their respective price ranges, i would nominate the following

-- denafrips pontus/venus -- rich midband and midbass, coupled with a vast layered soundstage... very hard to beat in the $1500-low 2’s (be sure to listen in oversampling mode) -- pontus has just a fine grain thru with the upper mids/lower treble that the venus smooths out

-- mhdt tube buffered dacs (ideally with upgraded tube and output caps) -- sweet rich yet sufficiently insightful sound, very analog tonality but with pretty good drive -- hard to beat in the $1000-1500 range -- definitely in the sweeter smoother school and great for systems with klipsches tektons focals b&w’s i think -- walks you back from the bleeding raspy edge

-- chord qutest -- yang to the mhdt’s yin under $1500-- open detailed fast simply holographic, maybe a touch lean but will breathe life and insight into many systems (harbeths, vandys and so on)

-- gustard r26 -- so impressed with this $1500 streamer/r2r dac -- sounds like a good schiit yggy (lively detailed top, but sweet warm mids, great tone) with a roon ready streamer to boot (wow!) -- since i started this quest i considered gustard/matrix/smsl as lowest common denominator guangdong swill, but this one really surprised me with its really excellent sound and full feature set

-- the cambridge cxn v2 with modwright tube output mods -- $2000-2500 unit with full streamer preamp and oversampling dac using real deal modwright 6dj8 tube output stage (not just a tube buffer) -- tremendous sound (think of it as an audio note 4.1 lite) and full feature set -- dan wright’s tube designs have always sounded so right to me (awful pun, i know 😂)

-- finally, for an older/used dac, i would heartily recommend the musical fidelity trivista 21 -- wonderful sound, tube goodness with sweetness with insightfulness up top and excellent drive and bass foundation -- these are seen used not much over a grand, they are excellent sounding

jjss49 

Thank you very much for the valuable suggestions from your experience with all these DACs and calling out the great value buys.  I noticed you didn't include any Schiit models and am curious why, if you don't mind sharing that.

Wow, this has been an incredibly informative thread.

 

I also used a Sonore OpticalRendu for streaming to USB via fibre.

The 2 best DACs I have had are the Yggi+ Less is More and the modded GAN1. The Lumin X1 is also up there but I liked the Yggi+ better and it cost a ton less. The GAN1 is not really a DAC but the end result is pretty amazing, The stock version is not comparable to the modded one I have.

@yyzsantabarbara the opticalRendu and the Yggi+LIM combo being compared to the X1 got my attention - that’s really saying something from what I gather. There was another poster on a different thread that had made the move to the ultraRendu and the Gustard R26 with great results, but he was coming for an all-in-one NAD C658 (which I’m currently using) not an X1. Regardless, appreciate you and the OP sharing this experience. Definitely helps people navigate the wide variety of streamers, DACs, and flavors in the market.

Beyond the tax implications from a 401K loan, in addition to extending my time horizon, I’d definitely love to try an MHDT Orchid, Lab12 DAC1 Reference, Audio Mirror Tubadour (IV SE), Black Ice Audio Glass FX Tube DAC, Denafrips Pontus or Venus, and ultimately a T+A DAC 200. If I follow through with this probably-good decision, I’ll make sure to share my findings/experiences :)

@toro3 I took a flyer on it based on this review. Schitt is also very close to my home so I could easily return it.

https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/audio-shows/schiit-texas-audio-roundup-writeup-r1125/

Since I liked the Yggi+ so much I ordered the Aegir 20 watt ’Class A’ amp yesterday for my headphones. That cost $800 and I am going to compare that with a $7K dedicated headphone amp. It will not be better (the use of an adapter makes this impossible) however, if the Aegir gets me to 90% of the $7K (amp was sold) I will be amazed. My great CODA #16 amp gets me to 90% of the top amp.

The reason I liked the Yggi+ more than the X1 was that I felt the top end the Yggi+ was super clean and realistic. The X1 in comparison sounded a bit darker on top. This issue was rather easy to notice on the uber revealing RAAL SR1a earphones.