Dac recommendations for computer audio

Houston,

You say that you want "analog-like and organic presentation... killer midrange with female vocals, a large soundstage and clearly defined instrument separation".

Before shelling out $3K on a new DAC, you already have a well-regarded DAC that embodies many of these qualities. I own an Alpha. Perhaps the most cost-effective upgrade could be new tubes for the Alpha. I personally found the NOS Sylvania 5751's to be my favorite.

That said, I got an Audio Horizons DAC that bests the Alpha in many areas, although the Alpha definitely sits on the warmer side and is well-suited for music that benefits from that. The Audio Horizons satisfies your "clearly defined instrument separation" better. At half your maximum price closeout, the Audio Horizons would be a good possibility.

Yes, DAC's have come a long way over the years, but the Alpha remains a solid contender with the right tubes and associated equipment.

Just my 2 cents.

Michael

@Kaplandesign: The VanDeHul and WireWorld glass optical cables have custom polished mini terminations. They sound great and are very well built. The "mini toslink" connector is standardized and has been widely used by Apple and Sony for several years.

There are also some great glass mini toslink optical cables starting to be made by companies using them in medical applications. I might even argue that the mini toslink connector is better than the standard toslink. The mini can have a tighter fit.

Michael,

I agree... My 16 bit version of the Alpha is extremely musical. By the way, I have Sylvania 5751 Gold Pins in my Alpha as well! I want my next dac to provide a similar sense of sheer musicality while providing a bit more inner detail to the music. I'm not great at conveying this in words, but hopefully that makes sense. I will definitely take a look at the Audio Horizons Dac. In the meantime, I might benefit from grabbing a better toslink to mini toslink cable than I am currently using... a cheapo cable from Micro Center. I may take a look at the WireWorld cable since my interconnects are WireWorld Eclipse 6's.

Houstonjazzfan:

The earlier post about the "inferiority" of a Mac's Optical Out connection is not valid in my experience. The individual didn't even realize that numerous companies make very high end Toslink to Mini-Toslink polished glass cables just for Mac usage, so how could they have such an all-encompassing knowledge of that output's "inferiority"?

I've used both Toslink and USB out of my MAC mini, into very high quality DACS. I can tell you that Toslink holds it's own in the better built DACS I've employed.

As usual, opinions vary :)

I would use a monarchy dip to convert the toslink to aes/ebu and go for the Berkeley DAC. I'm sitting here listening to one and it definitely does all you are asking.