Best DAC you ever heard?

Only ever bought one - Fiio Taishan that cost about £20. Probably cant be beaten on cost to audio quality.

 

I would like to hear from those who have heard the Vertex Aletheia 1.5 and the Nagra HD dacs.

 

I stopped chasing digital some time ago but I still love my wright tweaked musetex bidat fed through a siltech cable from a cec tl 1. Its very smooth and life like. I haven't sought out anything else. But I far and away prefer my vinyl rig.

 

How much do you have to pay in digital equipment to equal a turntable. This is a question I am wrestling with. Do I continue to invest in digital hardware and software that will be old in a few years like we saw the home theater surround sound processors faced. Or go with a turntable and food phono amp.

 

Divide the cost of your turntable by three.

 

The thing about apples-to-oranges concepts is no amount of apples are fungible to even a single orange. People that really enjoy analog often prefer a modest rig to a very expensive DAC and vice-versa.

In terms of digital and obsolescence, as you say this is only an issue with surround sound (and even there is probably only an issue if you want it to be).

 

I don't know about the turntable. What's equal depends on what you're listening for and what you're satisfied with.

I don't view true DACs as something that will go obsolete in a few years. As long as the DAC can operate fully with just a standard S/PDIF or AES3 connection and doesn't require USB or special drivers then the DAC isn't going to go obsolete. So splurge on the DAC. You'll get to keep it a while and use it a while. The other digital related equipment like something to let you stream to the DAC, media servers, hard drive storage, and things like that will go obsolete. So budget accordingly for upgrades and replacements as necessary as technology changes.

 

Best all-around DAC I've ever heard is the Chord DAVE - but this is with cans, straight from the DAVE's headphone output. Your only limitation here is the coloration of the headphone wire and the cans, themselves.

Best DAC for speakers, though, is the Lampizator Golden Gate, simply because the powers of the DAVE are lost once you start adding a lot to the chain.

The Lampi is more forgiving and by adding in some 2nd order harmonics, with tubes, it makes for a more musical presentation via loudspeakers.

 

Wow, how times have changed!

The best DAC for cans is still the Chord DAVE, but the best DAC for speakers, since I've moved away from antiquated USB (and all the little boxes that entails), is the Linn KDS/3, which is straight Ethernet into the back of the box. Hardcore vinyl lovers have praised how analog this unit sounds.

I believe it's finally at the point where the best digital can sound like the best analogue...but it comes at a price.

 

I doubt any DAC would ever equal a good turntable.
I also doubt any turntable would ever equal a good DAC.

 

That's a very diplomatic answer. I like it.
Yet remember: the shortest distance between two points is still a straight line.

 

Unless you can fold the paper.

 

I couldn't afford DAVE so I settled for the Hugo 2. Some who own both say it is a sort of "Little DAVE"... I listen with the Beyerdynamic T1 (2nd gen) and am amazed when listening to songs I have known since boyhood.

Listening to hi res "Blood on the Tracks" has the sense of sitting in the recording studio, out among the instruments, being played live.

 

Schiit Yggdrasil for PCM files.

 

Sonic Frontiers SFD-2.

Staggeringly beautiful music maker. If this were food it'd be a giant block of Haagen Dazs ice cream.


Many years ago I was running an Alpine 3900 DAC (mobile application) at home (very nice too)
Interestingly, the Alpine 3900 was introduced around the time of the Luxman DA-07 and uses the same FLUENCY theory technology. DA-07 is still on my long-wanted list...

 

Thanks for all these great DAC suggestions.

 

Lampizator Atlantic plus, don't think I'll ever buy another dac, unless I win the lottery .

 

M

care to explain? Other wise...it makes no sense....does not compute!

 

Don't have one, don't need one!

 

"Needs" got nothing to do with it.....

 

Cary 100TS. It makes digital sound organic and the most 'analog' sounding of any DAC I have used. I have side by side comparos with a Denon 3910 and the Cambridge DAC Magic Plus in my Cambridge CD player and it blew both away.

The choice of SS or tubes (I use Ciftie's) is ear opening which is what TS stands for.

 

I use an HRT iStreamer between my iPod 160GB Classic and my home stereo system. Nice sound, as good as cds (imo).

 

I'm going to chime in here despite being a relatively old thread - I own the Chord Mojo and various other nice DACs - the JKenny ISO-DAC (battery design - USB only) is a very musical and impressive sounding DAC that shocked me because the Mojo just didn't have any Mojo when compared against the JKenny. Sorry I thought I would contribute because I was was that impressed. I haven't compared this was a DAVE or any ultra expensive hi-end designs but, this thing sings and it's not much money. Superb! - especially with the highs and the total lack of digital glare and hardness which at first I attributed to room acoustics, knowing now that was not the cause!

Hook it up to a simple little Auralic Mini and away you go!

 

Chord Dave.

 

The original Chord Hugo. I bought Hugo 2 and whilst it had better detail, it kind of left me cold and uninvolved with the music. Bought a Hugo again! The Hugo makes music flow and groove in a very similar way to a high quality vinyl setup, something many mentioned at the time. You can buy them used for very fair prices now.