I was wondering about the same thing, in particular about an Audio Research DAC-1 (20 bit). There is one for sale locally for $500. It seems like a great value from a great company.
Older DAC an Option?
Hi, all. Does anyone know if the DAC's made in the early part of the 2000's and late 90's - like Perpetual Technology's P-3A and MSB's Link - would sound good by today's standards.
The sampling rate of these dac's only go to 96 KHz, as opposed to the standard 192 used in most dac's today. Also, the chips used have of course been obsolesced by the manufacturers to purportedly better, cheaper ones
today.
Nevertheless, the price quotient on these quality units is tempting, since I have a high-end thirst, but a a low-end budget. I'm currently using an inexpensive 24/192 up-sampling DAC from China, off brand, that uses the 1791
chip. It's not bad for the money, but I get some glare in the upper mid-range. It's bad enough that I can't turn up the amp to levels I enjoy, because it starts to hurt my ears. Not cool!
So, I was thinking that the problem is the output stage, and that the previously mentioned dac's would have better op amps and filtering in the output stage (higher quality components, etc). I would appreciate any comments or suggestions on whether this would be a trade-up or a downgrade - going to the older but higher quality dac?
Terry
The sampling rate of these dac's only go to 96 KHz, as opposed to the standard 192 used in most dac's today. Also, the chips used have of course been obsolesced by the manufacturers to purportedly better, cheaper ones
today.
Nevertheless, the price quotient on these quality units is tempting, since I have a high-end thirst, but a a low-end budget. I'm currently using an inexpensive 24/192 up-sampling DAC from China, off brand, that uses the 1791
chip. It's not bad for the money, but I get some glare in the upper mid-range. It's bad enough that I can't turn up the amp to levels I enjoy, because it starts to hurt my ears. Not cool!
So, I was thinking that the problem is the output stage, and that the previously mentioned dac's would have better op amps and filtering in the output stage (higher quality components, etc). I would appreciate any comments or suggestions on whether this would be a trade-up or a downgrade - going to the older but higher quality dac?
Terry