Good Entry-Level DAC

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. 

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.

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.