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DAC That Punches Above Its Price Point

I’ll make it short. I’ve spent some hours reading the DAC threads on this forum. I am aware quality of digital matters as superior DACs usually the costlier ones will sound better than cheap DACs, making music sound more analog, lifelike, real, believable with all the soundstage and detail etc. All the good things. There are some who thought it’s the music that matters, and although different DACs may sound different it’s the music that makes the most difference. In other words, the differences that exist between DACs are not that important as it's all about the music. I can see the point that people are trying to make.

Back to the topic. I’ve read great things on the Denafrips Ares II and Pontus II, and other costlier high-end DACs. I’ve read about the Chord DAVE. I personally own a Chord QBD76 and have no urge to replace it with anything else since it sounds splendid in my system, for the money. I may be setting up another system and was wondering if there is a DAC in the lower price bracket that punches way above its price point, sounding close to if not better than the costlier designs.

I presume the Audioquest Black, Red or Cobalt are not worthy of consideration and sound noticeably inferior to the costlier options? FWIW I tried the Musical Fidelity M1 DAC and this one really sounded poor to my ears. Very digital sound and I stopped listening to it after a while. The Chord sounds a lot more analog, lifelike and real to my ears.

I would appreciate any advice. Thanks.


ryder
herman
2,215 posts
 
In the audible frequencies for the example I provided, ESR is insignificant.

in your opinion it is insignificant.

You acknowledge that R is not a factor in the relevant equation
in your opinion this is the only relevant equation

your choice to ignore ESR therefore also ignores the fact that ESR is frequency-dependent, temperature-dependent, and changes as components age with some capacitors.

I never said your formula for Xc is incorrect, but filter calculations include R, not just Xc, yet all you quote is the formula for Xc while ignoring the formula for cutoff frequency of an RC filter.

I’m saying since you are deciding which factors and which equations are applicable while ignoring other factors and equations your conclusions seem correct ... to you.




divertiti
223 posts
 
If you have a half way resolving system, don't buy into the ASR garbage DACs like Topping or RME, they all sound like hot garbage.

There is no such thing a DAC that punches above its weight, you get what you pay for. The closest that comes to it is Denafrips Terminator and Holo May KTE.


ballhog
38 posts
 
Merason Frerot is an outstanding dac $1349 you can add their power supply too which takes the SQ to a much higher level. If you want to go higher up the food chain the Merason DAC1 is an incredibly musical and detailed dac for $5500. It has transformed the sound of my system and my brother has one too and said it added as much to his system as his Vinni Rossi L2i Signature integrated and his Antipodes K50 did! Pretty amazing
westcoastaudiophile
237 posts
 
"Take 3 very different caps, paper-in-oil cap, teflon film and a bipolar electrolytic of same value and the plots will be exactly the same, meaning... they measure the same”
not really, better capacitors always show better measurement results, if measured with usage conditions assumptions.

westcoastaudiophile
237 posts
 
herman, for many ppl here understanding “simple” critical for sound quality path capacitor and it’s electrical model behavior, including nonlinearities, frequency dependencies, aging, dielectric loss, etc., is beyond range.
pl ping me privately if you want to discuss sound engineering problem' specifics 
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