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Looking for a tube (or tube sounding) DAC

I’m selling my Shiit Yggy and want to purchase a tube DAC as a compliment to my Primaluna Dialogue HP integrated amp. My budget is up to $6,000. I have a small assortment of music on a hard drive, do not have analog gear, no headphones, and listen almost exclusively to Qobuz through Roon. My list of DACs to consider so far are:
  • Lampizator Baltic 3 $5,900
  • Holo Audio May Level 3 $5,000 (not tube)
  • Tubadore III with all additions $2,300ish
  • Primaluna EVO 100 $3,000

Others I thought of, but are not tube are:
  • PS Audio Perfect Wave with network card
  • Mytek Manhattan II with network card

I live in a small town in OR and it’s four hours to Portland. I would love to hear suggestions from all of you. I’m looking for a nice step up from the Yggy. If you’re interested in my Yggy, it will be on Agon next weekend.

My gear:
  • Roon Rock via an Intel NUC that I built.
  • Ethernet connection to a separate switch, then fiber optics to an EtherREEN.
  • Bryston BDP-1 music server (might sell this too)
  • MiniDSP SHD for Dirac room correction
  • New DAC
  • Primaluna Dialogue HP integrated
  • Martin Logan Summit X speakers
  • Cables and interconnects are Acoustic Zen and Kimber.

Thanks, everyone!

Steve
smills59

Showing 1 response by yyzsantabarbara

yyzsantabarbara
5,036 posts
 
I am doing some testing with my new tube DAC and 3 amps. I have the AMT3SE fully loaded except the XLR for longer than 1 meter runs. I have the default XLR. I am comparing this DAC with the KRELL K-300i internal DAC and a Benchmark DAC3B.

To make a long story short I find that the AMTSE really shines with my Class A amplification. That is the KRELL and the now sold CODA CSiB. The AMT3SE has a slightly warm relaxing, yet detailed sound. I also found that using the very best streamer I have had a profound affect on the AMT3SE. Streaming from ROON using my Fibre Optical system (not Toslink) was noticeably better with the AMT3SE. Actually I can say that with all the DACs I have, but it was something I noticed was a significant improvement on the AMT3SE.

I have 4 streamers available to compare.

- 2 opticalRendu’s with 2 different LPS power supplies
- 1 microRendu with LPS
- KRELL internal DAC RJ45 Ethernet streaming

The AMT3SE on the Benchmark stack (my reference stack) is something I am going back and forth with. Sometimes I find I love it and other times I am thinking it is just a minor softening compared to the Benchmark DAC3B. The gain matching with the DAC3B vs AMT3SE is a pain and may determine if I continue to use the AMT3SE with the Benchmark stack.

Next week I will retest my AMT3SE with the internal KRELL DAC to see if it is worth me having 2 DACs for my headphone use, a RAAL SR1a. I use an integrated amp for this sole purpose (a little crazy).

BTW - ROON’s feature of TRANSFER ZONE is a great feature to do this type of comparison. Love ROON, it has gotten to be transformative for my use.
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