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Does a Tube Dac make sense?


I’m  in the market for a dac since I bought a Musical Paradise MP701MKII Tube Preamp few months back, does it make sense to buy a tube dac? The seller Garry is suggesting to get the Musical Paradise MP D2 MKIII which is a tube dac with a AK4490 but can be upgraded to AK4499 but I’m leaning towards the RME ADI2 which is almost the same price as the MP tube dac. I’m finding it hard to justify a $1k dac but I have read a lot of forums that suggests the RME or the SMSL M400 and Denafrips Ares II but I’m a sucker for vu meters and spectrum analyzers but if the MP tube dac is a good match for my MP tube preamp I’m willing to give it a go.
stibin

Showing 4 responses by pauly

pauly
1,012 posts
 
A good tube DAC will produce sound as accurately as a good transistor amp, if not more. Anybody who claims tube amplification is not linear is, to put it mildly, “unfamiliar” with electronics and modern tube amp designs. Go with whichever sounds better to you. 
I’m not familiar with musical paradise but I own a RME. It’s an excellent DAC but it did not perform well driving my amp directly. I added a preamp and now it performs properly. 
pauly
1,012 posts
 
A Tube DAC softens the sound. A sound that would not need to be softened if the DAC was able to avoid certain digital distortions. Tubes are a band aid....
 Re
Nope that’s not true. 




pauly
1,012 posts
 
Note to self :  Do not engage with the unhinged extremist. Asinine insignificance is all they have on offer. 
pauly
1,012 posts
 
@jjss49 

That is so true. 

Regards 
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