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DAC Selection

I listen to vinyl mostly, but with my recent speakers upgrade I found digital sounding quite good and have been thinking to invest in a better DAC. I use tube gear - tube preamp, SET mono blocks, etc. I am using big full range 3-way speakers, highly efficient, very dynamic, going almost flat down to 20Hz. Most of the gear I use is either DIY or highly upgraded commercial products with exotic parts. The DIY products are all built by me, either from kits or from well-known simple and good sounding schematics. Listen to all kind of music but mostly jazz and blues. 

Looking to get the best DAC I can for my system. My budget is $6K. I can try building one myself, buy a kit, or get a commercial product. Besides building one myself, three DACs have caught my eye:

  • PS Audio DirectStream DAC
  • Schiit Audio Yggdrasil 
  • Audio Note Kits DAC 5.1

I have listened to several DACs and found the Analogue Devices chips to sound more musical in my system than the newer Sabre chips. But that could be due to the DAC implementation rather than the chip itself... Never heard an FPGA DAC like the one from PS Audio. The Audio Note Kit looks great in terms of design, components, and quality, but I would never know how it sounds until I build it, so can’t really audition and return if I don’t like it like I can do with the other products on my list. 

Another idea going through my head is to try building one myself - get the cleanest regulated power, the best digital section I can find, and a high-quality analog section with the best components available. And I might end up with a very high-end DAC. But again, you invest a lot of money, not knowing what the end result would be.

Some days I wish I could not solder. With all the choices we have, it is already so difficult to make decisions, and when you add DIY in the picture you make the decision making process a lot worse. And when you open a commercial product that costs $5,000 and find parts for $450, that makes you think really hard if you spent your hard-earned money the best possible way. But let’s not go there… I am happy to spend $6K for a PS Audio DirectStream DAC if I am convinced that’s my best option. And I will certainly audition that 


Any comments, suggestions, recommendations? 


nenon
wig's avatar
wig
1,210 posts
 
@ nenon

I own a SW1X DAC II STD and it’s an outstanding R2R/NOS DAC and has beat AN in a head-to-head review. See my review I posted on this site a few months ago:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/sw1x-audio-design-dac-ii-absolute-top-tier-ref-nos-dac

Head-to Head review with AN 2.1X:

http://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/review/digital-reviews/spdif-dac-reviews/sw1x-dac-ii-special/

For the price range you are looking at, the SW1X DAC III STD would be a timeless DAC that would rival analogue playback and you wouldn’t have to send it back for upgrades unless you wanted more uber expensive Audio Note and Black Gate caps installed every where but you could get that done initially with the Signature or Special Edition...

http://sw1xad.co.uk/product/sw1x-dac-iii/

Wig

charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,236 posts
 
Hi John,
If you were to upgrade to an Audio Note 3.1 DAC  my guess is that you'll be thrilled. I believe that Audiogon member Jond has this model and loves it. Again I think both of these companies (AN and SWIX Audio Designs ) focus predominantly  on music reproduction and care little about measured perfection. 
Charles 
nenon OP
28 posts
 
That's a good feedback on the SW1X DAC. The review above says that it was better than AN 2.1, not better than the AN 4.1, but there are also additional upgrades that could be made to the SW1X DAC. Are you suggesting it could be better than the Audio Note Kits DAC 5.1 then? I do like the AD1865NK used in the ANK 5.1. Will do some more research on the SW1X...
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,236 posts
 
AN 5.1 DAC versus an upper tier upgraded SW1X DAC is only going to be a purely subjective determination. No doubt opinions will be all over the spectrum. Each brand offers such a broad range of choices and pathways. This is clearly a situation that requires individual listening. The main distinction I recognize is that SW1X Audio Designs has a more approachable pricing structure for their upper level signature DACs that would likely compete with AN 4.1 level and above. SW1X offers a custom (specific request only) level 4 DAC. Interesting choices from both brands.
Charles
wig's avatar
wig
1,210 posts
 
@ nenon

It's going to be very subjective but you would be very happy with either of them. The SW1X DAC II Sig was not embarrassed by the AN 4.1X which cost $10K more and the DAC III Sig or the upcoming DAC IV could meet or exceed the AN SQ and save you a ton of money.

You would have ultimate analogue sound quality with either.

Wig
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