big greg - thanks
how good does it sound? Some folks gauge sq by price... a dual ak4497 dac on paper is nearly impossible to beat IMHO. Of course.. the dual ak4499 could outclass it on paper, but at this level we’re down to splitting hairs and total subjectivity. Anyone being objective would come to the same conclusion.
This nt505 has every component required to compete without the ultra luxury brand names. This thing checks every box I required minus the wanted color screen (see cary audio).
There is no way in heck the cary audio dual ak4497 streaming dac with color screen is worth almost triple the price of this.
I streamed our dsd rips via the oppo205 for a long while.. sounds great, but the nt505 is on another level. I totally understand why industry people reference the ak dacs as warm and velvety vs the ex9038pro being harsh.
My wife calls the nt505 mightymax.
My initial requirements: DSD512 via network (im not interested in assembling yet another pc to stream music whilst having a massive home NAS), Color screen, MQA, dual balanced dac, spotify (for my wife), tidal, qobuz. Amazon and yahoo music would be a net plus, but unnecessary. The dsd via network seems to be a difficult feature for whatever reason and very few streaming dacs have it.
I’m not much of a reviewer, but I’m a realist and a professional civil engineer. For me - it is what it is. Minus the hiccup I had being an early adopter with whatever problem the usb/network board acquired ... teac replaced it nearly free and even out of warranty. I can’t complain and this does everything I wanted it to.
I researched OCD style and nearly purchased a pioneer elite streamer from overseas until i stumbled upon the nt505. After stumbling upon a few other streamers - ifi something with dsd1024, cary audio, etc, etc.. i kept coming back to this nt505.
As it turns out .. mqa blows (subjective I guess) and the color screen is really unnecessary when using an ipad or smartphone as a controller.
I'd recommend it to anyone.
