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Suggest Best DAC under $1500 for "Elac Navis ARB-51" Active speaker.

I am a newbie in HiFi Audio but a Music Lover since childhood. I was looking for Best designed speakers under $2000 and purchased "Elac Navis ARB-51" speaker. KEF LS50W was in my mind but chose Elac Navis as it can scale well with external DACs. Another Main reason for choosing Elac Navis over KEF LS50W is Navis speakers are said to be more Warm & non fatiguing. I don't want my choice of DAC to make it sound brighter or too analytical. I prefer a DAC/Preamp combo under $1500 and need XLR outputs. From researching on most of the forums, below are the DACs I think would be a good match. Kindly provide your valuable suggestions. 

1. RME ADI-2 DAC ==> Many users reported that it is excellent DAC but too digital.
2. Topping D90
3. Cambridge Audio CXN V2 (I know DAC couldn't compete with rest but its a 3 in 1 combo).
4. Denafrips Ares II  (Needs a Preamp)
5. Schiit Gungnir Multibit (Costs >$2000 with a preamp)
sathtom

Showing 2 responses by jjss49

jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,612 posts
 
RME ADI2 is a very nice DAC, but not, I repeat, NOT warm.

Topping D90 very very close to sound of the RME... same family DAC chip, slightly different implementation, a little more sheen, a little less focus than the RME... but very very close.
jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,612 posts
 
you want warm tonality with very good resolution - suggest neko audio d100 mk2, reasonably priced, very very musical dac
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