Border Patrol SE. Caused some controversy when it was reviewed. Why? Because it sounds great. Yup. That was controversial. In your price range new I believe and if not, just skip the SE part. Gary Dews makes excellent stuff.
Need a DAC Recommendation.
Im retired and can only spend $1200 to $1500 on a DAC. What would you recommend? I assume I will be in the Used market. Thanks!
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@what I do not leave it on all the time. I turn it on in the morning and shut it down around 1AM. I am usually listening to tunes during that time. In the course of the day the unit does get warm. It is the warmest DAC I have owned but it is not scalding hot. The heat that it generates is likely not ideal for long term ownership. I am pretty confident I can get 5 years easy with this DAC. I believe there is a Class A output stage on this DAC and that is what makes it warm. I sit 2 feet away from the DAC and do not feel the heat from it. I also do not notice that the DAC sounds any worse in the morning after turn on, but then again I am pretty groggy in the morning. |
I adore my Doge Audio Tube DAC. In my system and my room, it beat out lots of stuff and it's been too difficult to find a reasonably priced upgrade so it stays. Due to demand, prices have gone up. I think it you could get them delivered in 3-4 days for $1400 when I bought mine. They might be edging upward now though. Be sure to research and look at the parts quality in the DACs. The Doge has British caps throughout. It's a holographic powerhouse. Can't say enough good things about it. https://doge.audio/product/doge-7-tube-dac/ |
https://www.l7audiolab.com/f/measurements-of-gustard-x26-pro/ Gustard X26-pro test vanson1, I see Gustard multitone performance is the best achievable, and that is the most important DAC perf-metric. third order is about -125dB, which is perfect. Third order harmonic increase over topping is because Gustard has discrete class-a analog signal path, which on my experience is better than regular OPAMP chip design. |
just a few comments based on earlier posts below -- the border patrol dac uses its tube, a rectifier, in its power supply - it is not directly in the signal path, either as a driver of, or as a buffer for its analog outputs -- you do get what you pay for, but some models do bring more value than others, esp. those with direct sales channels (denafrips vs ps audio, for instance) - or if you value features and lots of ancillary functions, the rme adi2 is terrific for its price, even if it is more on ’clean and lean’ side of the sonic palette with chord, and the better bitstream chi-fi dacs -- as for denafrips, i had trouble with the entry level ares ii, it had an annoying sibilance (for me, a major no-no) that i could not cure with cables, input choices, nos/os settings etc etc... but stepping up to their next level pontus model did the trick... a very very good sounding dac (though 2x the ares price) -- don’t overlook the wonderful ayre codex for under a grand used, if you are a headphone listener as well as standard in-room two channel... excellent sound, very balanced presentation |
Hello, RME ADI -2 DAC $1150. I like how you can adjust the EQ to fit your system. John Darko reviewed this and rated it very high. Plus you pick the sound signature. The Topping is very good too. The Denifrips Ares 2 is good. I just like how you can set up the RME. Be careful of R2R DACs if your system is already warm or tubes. If you have SS go with the RME or the Denifrips. You will need to jump above $1500 to go to the next level. |
I was just reading the asr of the new topping d90se and the gustard x26. Both measure great but the 3rd harmonic of the new topping is-130db and the gustard is-115. John Curl has studied this and finds that the odd order harmonics is really bad. No company ever indicates which order of harmonic is being produced by their product. I can tell you, this is what makes a product sound musical. Remember, no instruments or human voice ever goes above about 4khz. But it's the harmonics that allow you to tell the difference between a violin playing a c note or if it's a piano. |
Wow, the
Matrix Audio Mini-i Pro 3 has gone up in price. It is pretty good and I owned it for about 6 months. I bought it on Black Friday for $850. However, for $1350 it is no where close to the Gustard X26 Pro at $1500 (I got for $1350 new). The Benchmark DAC3B is a bit better than the Matrix Audio Mini-i Pro 3. However, the all in one nature of the Matrix Audio Mini-i Pro 3 is a great selling point. |
I'm pretty happy with this: https://borderpatrol.net/DAC.htm I upgraded from a Jolida Glass and never looked back. It will only take one input but I only use it for my Node2i. Warm, nice soundstage and looks to be well built. Happy listening! |
@ghasley and what is your point? It is still one of the best sounding DAC’s on the market today. I have DAC’s from Bel Canto, Simaudio that cost 3 times what my BP Se cost and the BP SE is my favorite. It is also the unit that gets the most use in my office system with my QS Integrated. Wonderful combination and made in the USA. |
Save your money and get a used ps audio DS jr dac, it will blow these mentioned dacs away in sq and in features. For example: do the other dacs above have an Ethernet connection? Fpga based? I2s input? (I2s and Ethernet are the best inputs to use on a dac), free firmware upstages that provide new features and sounds better, MQA support, up samples to dsd? Most of these other dacs mentioned above don’t provide even 1 of these features let alone all of them. You can get a used jr for around $2400 |
Audio gd. Their DACs punch way above their weight class. I didn’t believe it until I actually heard it. There are a couple between $1-2k that would make you fall in love. Someone previously mentioned the R8. It’s a $5k unit all day going for under $2k. The R7 put my PS Audio out to pasture by a mile. Wally at Underwood HiFi carries the line now. Give him a shout. He’ll do whatever he can to stretch your dollars. |
I would put my money down on a Gustard X26 Pro. Easily beats the Topping everyone is so fond of, is built like a tank, has lots of settings and beats many much more expensive DACS on SQ. Extremely well designed. I would buy it new. And I would not spend much more than this considering DACs now-a-days have improved so much so that I would rather wait for a new technology before venturing any more money on one. |
We tried the Topping D90 against the SMSL M400 both in the same price range and preferred and bought the SMSL M400. The Topping was a bit forward and bright for our taste, while the SMSL was just right. Not as good as my Chord Hugo TT2 but much closer than I had ever expected for seven times less money. Best DAC I've ever heard under $1000 although I'd admit I've not heard the R2R examples. Happy listening! |
Check out this R2R dac for $1195, it’s Very natural sounding https://headphone.guru/audio-gd-r2r-1-fpga-pcm-dsd-dac-done-right/ |
Nice to see I'm not the only one that finds the RME great bang for buck and a keeper. I tried the Chord Qutest it was nice but found it a little bass shy and hifi sounding. One thing I enjoy with RME is the balanced output along with rca output. I run a Audience au24 se balanced to one input on pre and a Acoustic Zen silver ref 2 rca to another input on preamp and can switch inputs on the fly to adjust to the sonic quality of recording. The AZ comes across a little softer. I run all settings on RME flat. As small as it is it responds very well to footers. |
If you could save just a few hundred more I have owned many very good dacs ,look up Underwood Wally his new line ,I am currently running in one I bought Audio GD R8 MK2 dac .it is a non oversampling dac and built like a Tank ,just compare with anything under $2500 it has very big dynamics and control but still very warm and natural with excellent grip on the performance.It is very special ,it weighs 25 lbs from the 3 R core transformers and over 30,000 uf in filter capacitance it just came out end of April ,it’s well worth the extra few hundred bucks I am 63 and have heard most everything out there . Give Walter at call asking $1995 delivered see what he can do I guarantee this R2R dac won’t disappoint . |
I have had the Audio mirror, Aurender N10, sw1x Dac, and just recently a Chord TT2 in my system. I also have an RME ADI2 Dac Fs. For me the RME has the best sounds at about$1200. I am also using a CXN v2 for streaming and the built-in Dac is actually pretty good all for$1099. I also added the Teddy Pardo PS to the RME, it's not going anywhere soon. |
