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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
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 

ryder
DAC That Punches Above Its Price Point


That will most definitely be one of the discrete R2R ladder dac from Soekris Engineering from Denmark in the Audiophile line or the DIY line..
http://www.soekris.dk/products.html

US agent.
https://soekris.modhouseaudio.com/soekris-audiophile-line

Cheers George

Post removed 
apogeum
34 posts
 

Finally the Soekris DAC has been mentioned. But it cannot be compared to all the rest because the owner can set/chose/compare  its digital filters. This adjustment can change SQ  far beyond any cable, speakers, amps, DAC changes and its still very subtle. It's kind of comparable to the filters which can be set in HQPlayer (with upsampling) but that would need a relatively powerful PC at the beginning of the chain.

Over the years CD players and DACs have offered these kind of different selectable filters but the SQ improvement was rather questionable IMO.

There must be almost hundred different filters, in the meantime written by DIY audio members which can be downloaded from DIYaudio. The DAC itself comes with 4 different filters.

For people who really want to  tweak their DAC with some understanding of the details of what they are doing   there is also a long thread which explains how to do it. So IMO this DAC has an incredible potential which no other DAC can offer.

nutty
2,668 posts
 

The 2GO/HUGO2 combo ($4290 retail - Black or Silver finish) is a superb solution for a high quality network bridge/streaming DAC package. Perfect for systems where space is at a premium.

 

Rega makes great CD players that perform well as stand-alone's but feed the Chords for greater fidelity. 

dsper
658 posts
 

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 @mryder 

If you are enjoying the Chord ($5,000 give or take?), my personal opinion is that you may not be content with any $500 DAC.

I worked my way through all sorts of delta sigmas, and until I heard an R2R, I was not happy with my system. My first R2R was a Theta DS ProBasic III and I loved it. The sterile and analytical sound was mostly gone.Cost me like $500 a couple of years ago and retailed for about $2500 when new. 

I decided to explore R2R a bit more and bought a Sorekris single ended just to try it. In my system, it is more detailed and analytical, while the Theta is more full and organic. 

My most recent DAC purchase was a Mojo Audio EVO 3 ($3000 used) and it is a definite large step above both the Theta and Soekris. A general comment would be that it provides the detail of the Soekris and the body of the EVO. I can hear emotion in vocals better than before and no treble sterility. 

I am waiting on a new Mojo Audio Mystique B4B and am counting on the higher quality parts and stronger power supply to get me closer to my version of nirvana. 

While I am waiting on the new DAC, guess what I am listening to in the meantime? The Theta.

FWIW and YMMV

Thanks for listening, 

Dsper



 

 

 

 

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