Good Entry-Level DAC

Black Ice Audio(Jolida)DSD,Tube DAC....Underwood Wally a dealer here on Audiogon has them on sale right now for like $600.00 or $700.00...They say it competes with multi thousand $ dacs...

search is your friend

short answer:
chord mojo/2qute
rme adi 2
schiit xx multibit
topping d50 and up
neko d100

dac chips by name are largely red herring - how they are implemented is what matters more

MHDT

Since you liked your previous tube DAC I would try MHDT or the Black Ice suggested by freediver.

With your budget in your shoes I'd be looking to find a used Ayre Codex.  Should be able to pick one up in the $900 to $1000 range.
I'd also be much less concerned with the DAC chip in play.
Much more concerned about the total implementation of the DAC.

there a reasonably priced ( < $1K) DAC that could significantly improve the sound?

Doubtful. 

Take a look at the Schiit MultiBit DACs with the Unison USB input boards.  To my ears, their MultiBit DACs are the only thing that sound like real music.

I am enjoying a Soncoz LA-QXD-1
about $200

I’ve had good luck with my Project Pre Box S2 although I am trying out the NAD C658 for the added benefit of BluOS streamer/ Dirac room correction and Phono input. 

Good luck. 

Musical Paradise MP-D2 Mk III Deluxe at top of your budget range at $999 with free shipping.  I've owned multiple versions and now the Mk III Deluxe. Has the tubes you enjoyed and sounds superb.

https://www.musicalparadise.ca/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=61&product_id=97

RME ADI-2 fs DAC. Music I thought I knew well, I’m hearing information I have never heard before. New can be had for $1099. The RME is hands down better than my Cambridge 851C which is a respectable deck, so it should be just as noticeable on your NAD if the rest of your system is up to it. The DAC input on my Cambridge is much better than using my Bluesound Vault 2 direct. When I purchased the RME, I was hoping it would surpass my Cambridge but I wasn’t expecting it to pounce on it... it’s not even close. 

+1 for Rme adi-2 Fs  

Border patrol

+2 for RME ADI-2 fs

Thanks, all!

I appreciate your input. I will look at these options!

Gasbose

I still doubt any of these suggestions will significantly improve upon the DAC in the NAD. If you simply want a new DAC that’s a different thing altogether.

djones, 

I'm not really lusting over a new DAC; just wondering if I can get better sound. You say you doubt any of them will be a significant improvement. Is that because the NAD is so good? Or the others not good? Or do DACs just not make so much of a difference?

Why don't you pick one of the above suggestions from a seller with a good return policy and check if YOU can spot a difference that's worth it between your current setup and this one?

It's like you said in your original post it is a pretty good DAC in the NAD. It's not that some of these DACs mentioned wouldn't sound different, not necessarily better, but you were asking about significant improvement. You already noticed how you couldn't tell any difference when you got the NAD from it and the other DAC. If some of the ones mentioned look intriguing I would make sure I could return them with a trial period. I've certainly been there and done that. 

The idea that DAC’s don’t get better but only a different sound is just like saying there’s no difference between preamps and amps. Can only speak on the current RME ADI-2 fs to the DAC in my Bluesound Vault 2 and DAC inputs on my Oppo UDP 205 and Cambridge 851C. All these DACs have a clear sonic signature that is indeed different from each other just like the NAD, Sonic Frontiers, Audio Research and ModWright preamps I have owned among others.

What the RME is doing, is extracting information off CD’s or streaming of music I know or thought I knew well. I’m hearing minute things for the first time and yes preamps, speakers and etc. have done the same but not by this margin. I don’t know if it’s the reduction of jitter, crazy low noise floor or just good engineering but it’s not just changing things a little. Agree the only way to know or believe is try in ones own system and fortunately many retailers that sale RME do indeed offer a refund.

Obviously it takes ears that have been trained to listen and equipment that is revealing in the first place. It takes time to dial a system in with proper set up, room treatment speaker placement and etc. so just having expensive equipment doesn’t mean anything as I’m sure most here have heard systems costing far more than one’s own that sound horrible. If the DAC in a NAD is similar in sound quality to a Bluesound, then it’s not even going to be close.

DACs don't extract information off CDs or Streams they convert what's been sent to them. The speakers, room placement and treatments will affect the sound a lot more than the DAC. The OP could also try a newer NAD CD player with the newer 24 bit Wolfson DAC cheaper than some of these outboard DACs. I still haven't seen anything here that would be a SIGNIFICANT  improvement over what he has. Especially if he auditions them in a blind setting. Another thing he has never said what the rest of his system consists of, if it's consumerate with the NAD I wouldn't expect changing a DAC unless it's really crap to make much of a difference.

+1 djones51! Certainly a one-box CD player can be the equal of any transport/DAC combination! A good recommendation for the latest NAD player!

dhjjones,

I run my CD Player (and my Rega RP3) through a Sonographe SC-1 Preamp and a Counterpoint SA12 amp and Cabasse Galiote speakers.

Most of the system's 25-30 years old, but I do like it. I'm upgrading in small pieces. Added a phono preamp last year (Project Tube Box) and had the CAL DAC in for some years....

I'm thinking hard of going with used for another DAC. Are there sellers who'll accept returns?

G

PS- Did you mean 'Commensurate'?

Yes I did, sorry about that. There are dealers who take new returns. I think The Music Room has a return policy on used. 

True a DAC does not extract information out of a recording anymore than a preamp or an amp does, but a DAC does have an analog output I believe? Wouldn’t one agree better preamps and amplifiers that have a lower noise floor pass more information through or not hidden under noise... micro dynamics don’t improve? Why are some systems enjoyable at low volume levels over other systems? If a DAC has an analog output stage then why would it be different from a preamp? Guess I should have stated it differently than extracting, but I am hearing micro detail that is lost on the DAC in my Cambridge; oh it’s there likely but it’s being masked to a point one has to try much harder to hear a pianist say move about on their bench where on the RME it’s more pronounced and it’s not because it has a forward sound or the volume is cranked up. I’m sure it has much to do with jitter, the clocks and just an overall lower noise floor. I’m using the same cables both digital and power so what is it then? I’m not understanding how DAC’s don’t change anything but only sound different, but preamps and amps on the other hand do.

Yes, DACs have an analog output and the noise floor can be measured on those outputs. No matter how much noise comes in on the digital side if the DAC measures noise at inaudible levels on the analog side then it’s doing job and is a well designed DAC. That’s why reclockers and supposedly noise lowering cables are irrelevant for well designed DACs. Say I use a lousy cable with no shielding and the noisiest computer I can find to feed a DAC and the noise is ridiculous coming into the digital side yet when it leaves the analog outputs it measures - 120db and is inaudible to humans and then use the best cables I can find and clean the digital before entering the DAC yet the analog side measures -121db was all that cost worth -1 db that’s completely inaudible anyway? It’s not 1980 anymore even a well designed $250 DACs can handle a lot of noise.

Try a Topping D90 from Apos Audio.  Price matching and returns are allowed and they double the warranty.  I added this to the Bluesound Node 2i and changes were significant.  Better resolution and detail.  Better bass.  Better everything in my case.  For less than $700 it is worth a try. 

We just got in a Topping E30, which apparently replaced the D-30.


It measures well and sounds better- smoother and more 3D than the D30; Already we've seen it topple a $4000 DAC...


I've no doubt that it would help out an entry level NAD. I've never been a fan of digital but Topping is winning me over. This is because in the past to get a really musical DAC you had to spend close to 10K or more; now for just over a hundred bucks you can do really quite well.

Any suggestions for a good power supply for the Topping E30?