what is neutral as the op defines it?
Neutral Dac?
I’m curious to see people’s opinions on what they believe is the most uncolored dac? Every dac I’ve tried seems to be a flavor that deviates from neutrality in some way (smooths things over, too bright, too soft on transients, lacks bass etc...). Is there a dac that people believe gets all the fundamentals correct with leaving very little sonic footprint? What is the cost threshold needed to achieve it? I’m surprised at my own findings recently but really curious if anyone else has been searching for a fundamentally uncolored dac and what they’ve found.
I realize the most obvious answer is "the dac with impeccable measurements" but I have also found some of them to sound unnatural (dry/bright).
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@jjss49 good question. For me uncolored is a dac that has an even tonal balance(not tilted up or rolled off on either end, has proper tone saturation(not stark and clinical or overly saturated and vivid), and one that has proper dynamics with both leading edge attack and decay that is similar to live music. Other criteria like soundstaging and black background are of less importance to me. |
It’s somewhere north of $3K that DACs start to differentiate themselves from the pack.
“ ,,,, the BDA-3 still has an immediately engaging sound to listen to, with a propulsive presentation, bold dynamics, big bass, and a very natural tonality,,,Add to this its neutral yet colorful delivery, totally convincing timbre and the total absence of any hardness or grain and the BDA-3 becomes quite the proposition.”
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- 69 posts total