$99.00 laughing my tits off! I've spent over 20x that on speaker spikes. Ffs get with the program or have a ear transplant.
Next best exponential DAC quality level?
I recently did a shoot out of three DACs using my Hint6 + routing each of the other DACs to analog input on the Hint6:
(1) Hint6: ESS Sabre32 -- Integrated
(2) SMSL M500: ES9038PRO D/A ~$400
(3) Khadas ToneBoard(v1): ESS ES9038Q2M - ~$99
I played the same song passages on Amazon Music and was able to cycle through each Hint6 input corresponding to each DAC.
The result? Very small difference in terms of rendering. Maybe a more open sound stage with better overall balance using the Hint6 DAC. The Khadas was more bass / midrange pronounced w/ a more narrow soundstage. However, I wouldn't suggest that any were head-and-shoulders "better" over the others. In fact, they were all pretty decent with only small nuances (certainly not worth the price differences.
I decided to keep the Khadas for my small headphone listening area.
But it got me thinking - how much would one have to spend to realize an exponential difference in quality? Is the Khadas that good, or is DAC technology differences more nuanced than I originally thought (meaning, we're paying 10x for only 5% better).
Showing 5 responses by lordmelton
@martinman Hey Buddy a lot of folks have been in this hobby a long time and I do apologize I shouldn't of said what I did. However we are talking apples and oranges here. Our Nirvana is getting breathed upon by Lennon, Jagger etc. Can you imagine how it feels sitting next to John Lennon? It's yours for $50k+. It really isn't possible much short of that price point. Please go and make an appointment with several dealers that sell really high end gear and realize what is possible. : ) |
@cindyment It appears you are regurgitating a load of stuff about DACs from Wikipedia or wherever, your incites don't seem to come from experience or first hand knowledge. Here we go: A $99.00 DAC is a turd and you can't put lipstick on it you probably have a better DAC in your laptop or car. What makes a good DAC? Firstly it needs as good a signal as possible, so just sticking a computer USB into it isn't going to cut the mustard. If you're using a computer you need JPLAY or similar to reduce computer jitter and provide drivers for the DAC. Secondly to get the best sound you need a re-clocker such as Mutec to put the USB into before the DAC. Then an AES/EBU or COAX into the DAC. Please don't worry about OP amps or valves or trannies if the signal and jitter are taken care of properly you'll get a great sound. A big clean linear power supply is more important than what OP amps you use. The icing on the cake is a Word or Master clock so you can either slave your system to the Master or output separate Word signals. Some good cables both digital and analogue will help enormously.
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@cindyment Yes you must be right because the Aries Cerat Kassandra II DAC weighs 120kgs and Lamm hasn't changed the design of their solid state 1.2 class A monoblocks for around 20 years. These guys must be total clowns to build such garbage : ) Except there's plenty of people parting with $40k USD to buy each one. |
@cindyment Manic, bi-polar? |