dacs that I have had in my system - a listing

You are clearly in a completely different pursuit than I am. 

Thanks for taking the time to share all this info for posterity and being willing to answer all the inevitable questions that will come !  Have you had a standard streamer to test them with or have your tried a bunch of those also? 

That’s an amazing list of dacs @jjss49 holy cow! Thanks for sharing.

Did you have something close to a control reference system you used to evaluate most of these or did you change speakers and amps too in parallel at times?

The reason I ask is I’ve changed other things in my system at times that sometimes makes me want to go back and retry some dacs I had before.

[btw] I always wondered how some of Frank’s older dacs sounded, never heard one, you answered that too. I'm sort of into wanting to retry some of the older dacs again with other amp, speaker, tube changes I've made since. Thx.

I’d be curious to hear your impressions of the Van Alstine dacs. I’ve been wanting to experience one of their more recent offerings in my system at some point. Given your predilection for dacs with good output stages and attenuation, I was surprised not to see their Digital Preamplifier on the list

i really enjoy frank’s dacs... especially his older tubed output ones with have a lovely voicing and allow tube rolling

i haven’t tried his newer ones without tubes, using the akm chip, and yes you raise a good point about his digital pre, it is ’on the list’ to try eventually

What are you thoughts on the internal H590 DAC as compared to the standalone DACs you’ve tried? From your system page, it seems like you have quite a speaker collection as well. Did you find the H590 a good match for the Harbeth?

internal dac is quite good on the 390/590 -- they lean on the clear/clean side but with a good degree of saturation through the mids and very good imaging

hegels are an excellent match for the harbeths, with their even tonality and remarkable low end grip

How many hours do you actually listen to each DAC, with that kind of turnover?

back in the covid shut in days, i literally had pretty much all waking hours each day to listen ... at that time being newly retired from daily work... in the past year+, it is less of course with our return to normal activities, but still plenty... i am not a big tv watcher (mostly sports), prefer to read/listen in the evenings

dacs are set up in a/b and even a/b/c configuration, easily switchable to allow comparison when needed

Have you ever considered taking a break and trying something like the Technics SU-R1000 or SU-G700M2 which converts everything to PWM, using its own in-house conversion?

yes among the amp stack there is a lyngdorf 3400 which i believe works on the same concept as the technics units you mention, i should have added that one to the list

i don't view listening to various dacs a burden at all, it is part of the enjoyment ... there is some setup/connection overhead, then they are easy to swap, and when i listen to relax/enjoy, i can opt to a/b just for fun, or just leave it

Wow

amazing list

I'd be curious to hear your impressions of the Van Alstine dacs. I've been wanting to experience one of their more recent offerings in my system at some point.   Given your predilection for dacs with good output stages and attenuation, I was surprised not to see their Digital Preamplifier on the list

Thanks

JS

@jjss49; Thanks for the post and information, very useful :-)

@jjss49 This is a great list and thank you for sharing. 

What are you thoughts on the internal H590 DAC as compared to the standalone DACs you've tried?

From your system page, it seems like you have quite a speaker collection as well. Did you find the H590 a good match for the Harbeth? 

How many hours do you actually listen to each DAC, with that kind of turnover?

That's a heck of a lot of DACs and that perplexes me 🧐 

Have you ever considered  taking a break and trying something like the Technics SU-R1000 or SU-G700M2 which converts everything to PWM, using its own in-house conversion? it would simplify things and could sound favorable to your ears, considering all you've heard, possibly striking the right balance.

All the best,
Nonoise

top three (no order of preference) - i favor dacs with some linestage/volume control capability so i can go direct to power amp, and even better if streamer is onboard, and is a smaller form factor

weiss 501 (utterly pure and incisive sound) and with so many useful sound-shaping features, and built in streamer too)

chord hugo tt2 w scaler (absolute soundstage champ, fantastically smooth but with density and with detail effortlessly portrayed) - best at driving all kinds of power amps directly due to special analog output capability of the tt2

msb analog/powerbase (older gen r2r msb -- very aptly named, sounds most akin to top notch analog -- slightly softer, sweeter, less razor-focused sound, highly musical) - has streamer onboard and separate analog input too, and prolly the best remote ever 😉

i listen to the hugo/scaler the most, i use the weiss when i feel the downstream system needs a little more zip and clearer focus, and i resort to the msb in the other case, when what is downstream is a little too unforgiving up top, needs just a touch of smoothness

+1 @oddiofyl First, thanks for the incredibly comprehensive and impressive list!  Obviously they all have their inherent strengths/weaknesses as they pertain to your system and tastes, but can you list the top choice — or at least the top three — and explain what puts it/them there?  Curious minds wanna hear your very valuable thoughts/experience.

forgot a couple -

tried ben zwickel’s mojo mystique v3 in 2022 (an important one)

also had the ifi neo stream in 2023

am sure i have missed a few others that i will be reminded of in time...

That's a lot of DACs.....   what's your favorite or among your favorites.