Looking for recommendations for a 'warm' sounding DAC
Agree with mitch2 regarding the Yamamoto DAC (I’ve owned mine for many very happy years. SS version but utterly organic). I believe that the Audio Note DACs are more available on the used market ( Larger company with far more DACs built and sold). Also in the stated price range the OP can find a 2.1 or 3.1 model and achieve excellent natural sound quality. Terrific value purchased used IMHO. Charles |
Look for a Yamamoto YDA-01B.....the “B” denotes the tubed version. https//6moons.com/audioreviews/yamamoto8/dac.html |
I must ask, why are you using B&W’sThese are my old main system speakers which have moved to the secondary system. My wife loves the compact and beautiful look of them. Sonically they are light on bass which is perfect as they are squashed in next to a cabinet and most other speakers would tend to boom. I do agree that they can sparkle a little too much though. |
@duckworp, I suffer from hyperacusis as well. Mine developed from a virus. I’ve gone thru many speakers and components so that I could listen to digital without issue. I must ask, why are you using B&W’s which present such detail in the highs? As far as a dac recommendation, I think you should try a NOS dac aka a r2r ladder DAC. There is no upsampling, it takes the native data stream and shapes it into a smooth waveform. I own an Audio Note (all tube with no digital filters) which I purchased used. It presents warm, non-fatiguing sonics. Ather highly rated NOS dac is from MHDT. Border Patrol is a Dac that has created a lot of buzz on the forums. It's NOS and uses a tube rectifier I believe. |
This one might be worth a look: https://6moons.com/audioreview_articles/sonnet-digital/ I haven't heard it but I have owned 5 of the designer's other DACs and still own two of them. |
What DAC are you using now?So this is my second system - a Naim 180/82 into B&W 804s, which is used only for background social listening. At the moment I use it to play Qobuz via Roon through Chromecast Audio. I would like a better DAC than the Chromecast audio, but the Chord one I tried provided a very detailed presentation which somewhat grated my ears. I suffer from hyperacusis - in my case a low threshold to loud harsh sounds - think kids screaming or dishes clanking, and the Chord and cheap-as-chips Topping seemed to accentuate those attributes of the sound. My main system is fine but that is a very much smoother Vitus/Boenicke set up which is rich and warm and doesn’t aggravate my ears. |
