Small form factor, budget DACs?
Brooks, A good point and well made. I'm definitely not afraid to buy / sell / start over until I find what I'm looking for. That said, I really value the input and experience of the community and plan to use that as a starting point. That's why I'm starting my search by soliciting opinions about where to start. If it wasn't for the AG forums, in fact, I wouldn't know about any of these new breed of DACs. But I trust my ears over everything else. If something doesn't work in my system, I'll be the first one to kick it to the curb :) |
My advice (worth what you are paying for it) it to treat Audiogon like your personal auditioning service. Buy, listen, and sell if you don't like it. You will lose a few buckes each time (maybe), but you will be better off in the long run. Listening to the rest of us lather on about gear we own doesn't really help you in the long run...we all come with our own preconceptions...for example, I owned a Musical Fidelity headphone amp...couldn't wait to get rid of it, so I never reccommend their products to anyone...others obviously will disagree. It's more work and will take longer, but you will be better off in the end. There's another thing. Above I said go listen to a nonos dac. I love my dac (it's obviously a nonos), but just because it works in my dac, doesn't mean it will work in a Ack! dac or a Nixon or an Audio Note or a whatever. Listen,listen,listen Steve |
Gmood, The non-filtering, non-oversampling DACs are definitely something I've been keeping a close eye on, and reading as much as I can about them. I hadn't heard of the Audio Sector or Audio Note units before - they are both very sharp-looking units. I had been thinking about the Scott Nixon Chibi Dac with power supply in addition to the Lite Audio and Ack! Dac's mentioned in my first post. Unfortunately, I can't find a lot of info comparing them to the other DACs in my price range, or even to each other - they seem to kind of have a dedicated following outside the scope of "normal" high-end. There's lots of very positive reviews of the Audio Mirror, which is a souped up Dac-Ah - that's the main reason I was looking at that one. It's something I'm very interested in however. I'm a recovering tube addict who would love to get some analog-ness back into his system, and that seems to be the good word on these. The Dac-Ah seems like a no-brainer gamble at the price in fact. It's my top choice right now, though Mwilson's words on the older CI dac makes me think it might fit well in my system. And then maybe in a year or so I can save up for that Bel Canto or Birdland DAC. |
I would add the Scott Nixon, Audio Note and Audio Sector DACS to the list. You owe it to yourself to experience NON OS done right. You may never look at oversampling DACs again. I haven't experienced anything up to several thousand I would trade my DAC for. I know I would have to spend quite a bit more to hear a clear upgrade..so I haven't bothered. In most cases, I would be just pissing in the wind.LOL Good Luck |
About the older CI DAC, I was well impressed with it for such a simple unit. It had reasonably good bass - not boomy, but not really in charge. It had surprising detail and presence, but it was a little bodiless through the midsection, and in comparison to DACs in the next price step, in the end a degree less detailed and spacious. The Bel Canto was palpably more lush, smooth and deep, and at the same time more in control of the bass, and more crystalline on the highs without brightness. The CI was extremely pleasing and capable - only by comparison to a costlier DAC of similarly exceptional value did it please less. Compared to the older DACs in this list, the CI was just way better. Build quality of the CI is an example to others at the price. The Bel Canto is in the next rung of overall quality with better chassis + connectors (the RCAs on the Bel Canto being considerably more robust with thicker plating etc.) I liked the CI enough that I'd buy one again at the $225-250 or so used, but at a couple hundred more, I think the Bel Canto stands as the greater value. If I had $225-250, I'd buy the CI. If I had $500-550, I'd buy the Bel Canto. Both are great - I really liked the CI, I loved the Bel Canto. I 'd enjoy owning either (I've owned 2 of each over the years, I currently have one Bel Canto 1.1) |
I highly recommend the Bel Canto DAC 1.1, at around $550 used. I owned the earlier CI DAC (your price seems to indicate the new one), and while it was pretty good, I found the Bel Canto clearly superior in all respects. Other small form-factor DACs I have also owned: Theta Cobalt 307: nothing special, dated Musical Fidelity X-ACT DAC: un-musical and dull, dated, I hardly think it would improve even the oldest player Musical Fidelity X-DAC v3: dry (perhaps "brittle") but quite detailed (like the Classe DAC-1 I briefly owned), but posessed of an impossibly annoying input-scanning "feature" that could not be disabled I haven't tried the others on your list, but of the whole lot, if I were to do it again, I'd stick to Bel Canto or CI, and if the Creek came up cheap, I'd consider giving it a try. I know very little about the Ack!, but it might be battery-only. |
