Opinions On DACs Around 1,000$


I find it hard to get a hold of the world of dacs, and I’m seeking some advice.  Will be upgrading in the near future to something in the 1,000$ price range. currently running the dac in my Cambridge Audio stream magic 6 which is ok. I had a Musical Fidelity v90 that died which I preferred to the Cambridge. Anyways I’m stuck between the idea of buying an older top dac such as a Airalic Vega and newer designs like the Denafrips. I feel 1,000 doesn’t get you a lot with newer dacs. While used dacs like the Vega were 3,500$ not long ago and raved about. This is where I get confused. My previous experience with dacs has been that differences are pretty small. That’s why I’ve yet to invest in something nicer. My system has evolved nicely though and I’m optimistic I can get good returns on a bigger investment. Then I read on one of the big magazines them saying a pro-ject pre box s2 was near state of the art. These kinds of comments make me wonder again if a dac is not the best place to spend my money. I have never read a review about an amp or speakers that cost 500, and the reviewer saying they are near state of the art. Let me know what you think. Any opinions or advice will be appreciated. 

brylandgoodman

Showing 1 response by soix

My previous experience with dacs has been that differences are pretty small.

Yeah, no.  If you don’t get the info from the start it don’t get added back in elsewhere.  Listen, DACs make a HUGE difference in your ultimate performance, but only if the rest of your system is up to the task.  Tell us what the rest of equipment is in your system and what improvements/sound characteristics you’re after and you’ll get some really good suggestions here.  Without that critical info this is just a total crapshoot and you’ll get recommendations all over the place.