2. digital
  3. 180863-2019

Neutral Dac?

I’m curious to see people’s opinions on what they believe is the most uncolored dac? Every dac I’ve tried seems to be a flavor that deviates from neutrality in some way (smooths things over, too bright, too soft on transients, lacks bass etc...). Is there a dac that people believe gets all the fundamentals correct with leaving very little sonic footprint? What is the cost threshold needed to achieve it? I’m surprised at my own findings recently but really curious if anyone else has been searching for a fundamentally uncolored dac and what they’ve found.

   I realize the most obvious answer is "the dac with impeccable measurements" but I have also found some of them to sound unnatural (dry/bright).

schw06
mofojo
2,289 posts
 

If neutral means best measuring you can get that for a couple hundred bucks. Best sounding… well maybe subjective but not couple hundred bucks. Hooked up a Musician Aquarius yesterday and I have to say I’ve never heard digital sound this good. Good timing cause my vinyl rig is buzzing like an SOB and I don’t know what the issue is. 

axo0oxa
98 posts
 

Don't you find the same issue with cartridges? As many people upstream mentioned, it is the marrying of the entire system and room that you try and create that neutral sound. A better question is what is "neutral" because I believe each person has their own opinion on this.

johnlcnm
45 posts
 

As jerrybj said Soekris 2541. Look under the hood of the Denifrips DACs. There sits a Soekris DAC!

gents's avatar
gents
113 posts
 

The Auralic Vega is remarkably flexible and affordable. You can set it up a number of different ways, but it always comes off quite transparent. It really is a fantastic piece of gear.

routlaw's avatar
routlaw
46 posts
 

In the past year there have been several extremely positive reviews on the Topping D90 SE/LE and Gustard X26 PRO DACS. All reviewers stated emphatically either of these two DACs were as neutral an anything they have ever heard. Granted around here neither of them are expensive enough to be considered for anything other than a paper weight, but you might be surprised based upon what I’ve read.

FWIW, I've owned R2R Ladder DAC's and at least the ones I've had were anything but neutral. I grew tired of their presentation quickly because quite a bit of detail and imaging were left on the table. Its not a road I would want travel down again. 

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