dacs that I have had in my system - a listing

This is a great thread and good recommendations included, thank you @jjss49 - you have a great system and so much experience.

I like the high ranking for the Qutest and R26.

How did you like the Eversolo master edition?

Have you ever tried a Benchmark 3?

How did you like the Eversolo master edition?

Have you ever tried a Benchmark 3?

haven’t tried a current benchmark dac since this wave of dac trials starting 2020... last was a model 1 many years back... definitely a clear clean lean sonic character iirc

eversolo master is a very nice high value piece, dac section to my ear is classic ess sabre sound, forward (but quite clean) treble, clean/clear midrange, slightly dry bass but excellent transient resolution overall, somewhat narrowed and foreshortened soundstage compared to higher level units -- that said, for the price it may be all that many would need in good, mid level audiophile systems

i used the ank 4.1 le with stock tube set, i was surprised by its quite energetic presentation, with an open somewhat forward treble... resolution was very good, on par with a denafrips pontus but not quite as a clean as a venus 2, to my ear, and the ank had a bit higher noise floor (rca outs vs xlr from denafrips) .. mids and midbass on all were magical though deep bass tunefulness is superior on the denafrips

@jjss49 thanks again for answering all my questions. It’s rare that someone has compared these DACs directly. Did you feel one outperformed the other sonically? Were there any areas where the ANK exceeded the performance of the Pontus/Venus? If you were to recommend one on its sonic performance alone, which would it be?

Did you feel one outperformed the other sonically?

Were there any areas where the ANK exceeded the performance of the Pontus/Venus?

If you were to recommend one on its sonic performance alone, which would it be?

on sonic performance alone i think the venus is superior overall to both the pontus and ank 4.1, by a slim margin

the pontus comparatively has greater midband warmth but this to my ear comes from a slightly recessed and smeared treble and a greater sense of fine grain in the mids you get with the pontus... you don’t hear this delta till you compare the two side by side

vs the ank the solid state output stages of the denafrips defines bass better, more solid, less overhang while the sense of imaging is equal (a real coup for the dena models, imo) as well providing a lower noise floor, and thus microdetail is a touch better - one can argue the ank gives more ’air’ around the bass notes (think audio research tube amp bass versus hegel solid state bass) but i prefer a more tight deep neutral bass presentation

once again the key caveat here is i did not get into rolling tubes in the ank, and with effort here, there may be more sonic upside to the ank unit than how i heard it

Can you give us some insight into the $3k and $4k field? I know this is subjective so two or three options under each will do. Thank you very much for your time.

So the notion that RME ADI-2 Pro is clean and German, and gets out of the way, and we don’t need (and shouldn't need) anything more from a DAC.. is it not true? :)

So the notion that RME ADI-2 Pro is clean and German, and gets out of the way, and we don’t need (and shouldn’t need) anything more from a DAC.. is it not true?

it depends, in my view

yes it is clean sounding, yes it is german made, but whether it totally ’gets out of the way’ is a rather subjective thing... for a very good system set up that capably extracts and renders spatial info from recordings, the rme in my experience is lacking... its soundstage is foreshortened and narrowed... one quick a/b versus say, a chord qutest, exposes this notable weakness of the rme 

this is why i feel the rme is ideal for headphone listeners, much more than those with good in-room setups that seek to recreate realistic imaging, layering and decay of notes

@jjss49

I see that you have had the MHDT Toucan.  What was your opinion of it compared to the other MHDT dacs you have owned.  I have owned the pagoda in the past and switched to the YGGY Less is More Dac which I love, but lately I have been thinking about picking up one of the new mhdt dac again.  I have been thinking about the Toucan and the new Oolong which is similar to the pagoda which uses the upgraded PCM 1704 k graded chip and takes AES input.  Your thoughts would be much appreciated.  Thanks.

I have been thinking about the Toucan and the new Oolong which is similar to the pagoda which uses the upgraded PCM 1704 k graded chip and takes AES input. Your thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Toucan is very nice. Definitely a similar family sound as the Orchid and Stockholm with the benefit of a better case and of course, native 6dj8 tube buffering. The analog output voltage is a touch lower than the other units using the 5670/2c51 mini tube though, so make sure your downstream gear has enough gain or a good buffer stage. The sound is what you would expect from Juin’s better DACs and can be further improved through output caps upgrade for extension at the extremes and a touch more drive.

@jjss49 

Wondering if you’ve heard the new Weiss 204. If so, how does it compare to the 501?

@drubin 

i have not

the 204 is the core dac in the 501/502 (minus the manifold dsp features and streaming front end), so i don't see the point in trying it given i have the 501

@jjss49

Lots of DACs! My journey is not so comprehensive, but I have also ended up in the Chord (DAVE) plus M Scaler camp. With the recent addition of a Sean Jacobs DC4/ARC6 external LPS the DAVE is both detailed and lush.

My DACs

Schitt Modi

Schitt Modi 2

OPPO Sonica

OPPO Sonica with Modwright Truth tube mod (*)

Bryston BDA-3

CHORD Qutest

CHORD DAVE

DAVE plus M Scaler (*)

DAVE/M Scaler plus Sean Jacobs DC4/ARC6 LPS (*)

(*) I list the OPPO Sonic Modwright mod and DAVE/M Scaler/external LPS additions as separate DACS because each of these additions elevated the base DAC performance significantly

Though a while ago, I recall being gobsmacked at how the Modwright mod completely changed the OPPO Sonica’s character. In fact, that was one of the audio experiences that convinced me of the importance of electronics in a system.

More recently, adding Sean Jacob’s external LPS to DAVE/M Scaler improved my system exponentially. 10/10 It was immediate and not subtle. Of course, adding a $10K external LPS to a $15K DAC+$5K upscaler better do just that. Foolish gamble? Perhaps. No argument that going straight to a $25K-$30K DAC would seem to make more sense (OTOH, many of these are two boxes with an external LPS). But a large high-end one-time DAC purchase like Lampi, et al doesn’t in work in my cash flow. Also, I was pleased enough with the DAVE that I didn’t want to take a 50%-60% hit selling it to start over again. And since I had a good experience with modding my OPPO (and my very old Haflers modded by Musical Concepts - but that’s a different story), I thought “modding by accretion” was a reasonable approach.

Is it Lampi/DCS level? Can’t say as I can’t A/B them in my system However, each time I’ve heard amazing systems with these and similar either at dealers or shows, I’ve come home to my system expecting to be disappointed. But that hasn’t happened yet. I’m not saying that I’d refuse the million dollar AXPONA systems if gifted to me. But living in the “real world” as I do, I’ve been very satisfied with the piece by piece DAVE upgrade path

Happy listening, all

@jjss49 

Many thanks for such a useful post and thread.  Could you please comment on the Schiit DACs, the various Yggrasils compared to the Gungnir multi bit?  How did they fare against your favorite DACs?  I have an opportunity to get a Yggrasil Less is More.