A good DAC for under $500

Take the Schiit.

 

As much as $40!!!! Anything priced like that had better be mastered by our gracious host, or other similarly talented people.

 

Smart man.

 

I just got a Meridian Explorer here on the forum classifieds and like it quite a lot, it's my first external DAC. Today I played a rip from the CD of Florence and the Machine's first album and that's when I knew the Meridian was a marvelous little device. For the first time while listening to this album off my computer it finally sounded like music, not a brash roar.

 

If you need to go wireless, consider Audioengine D2. My computer is not adjacent to my system, so this is a necessity. It has it's own frequency so it won't tie up your wifi. It may exceed the OP's budget by about $100 though.

 

Billy Budapest has a really great and relevant quote in his profile:
It’s far better to buy a wonderful audio component at a fair price than a fair component at a wonderful price.--Jeff Fritz / Warren Buffett

Taken from an article here:
http://www.ultraaudio.com/opinion/20100401.htm

 

Today...Just got the FiioE10K ....So far wonderful for 75 dollars.
Got it for the imac and my headphones/ATHm50's are sounding better and better....

 

I think there are great values to be had in "old" DACs. My Theta Chroma 396 with HDCD sounds terrific, and I think I bought it for $300.

 

The iFi Micro iDSD, looks to be a really good design, can play back just about anything out there including True Native Octa-DSD512, as well as PCM768 & Double DXD. It may very well be one of the most cutting edge DACs out there at this point in its price range.

I'm not sure if it's shipping yet, but should be soon and $499 at Music Direct. If I was looking for a sub $500 DAC this would be the one. Long thread on Head-Fi.

 

I should have one in about a week and can report on sound quality.

They will next release a Mini DAC for around $1K.

 

Well, it's over your budget but my Gungnir absolutely sounds great.

 

Is the Mini a larger form factor than the Micro series?

 

DAC synergy with the rest of the system hasn't been something I've had to be too concerned with. My gear wasn't that picky. My main concerns were more along the lines of is the DAC competent rather than with the finer details of synergy. But I've recently upped my game in the headphone amp department and synergy now matters and will be revealed. This level of synergy matching for a DAC is going to be new for me. Hope I don't make too many mistakes along the way. I don't know for sure where this part of the journey will lead.

 

According to TEAC this unit automatically upsamples all input to 192K. I wonder if it is possible to defeat the automatic upsampling, as can be done on the UD-301, which is basically the same, plus DSD capability. The Burr-Brown 1795 DACs are the same. Anyone who has one want to hold down the input selector button for 5 seconds and try?

Manual for the UD-301 detailing this procedure: http://www.teac.com/content/downloads/products/915/ud-301_om_efs_va.pdf
Under "Upconversion function".

If this is doable, the UD-H01 might just be a sleeper of a deal for those that don't need DSD, but want flexibility in choosing native or upconverted PCM.

 

FYI, I have both an iFi Nano iDSD and Micro iDSD coming in tomorrow.

I also just got the SOtM sHP-100 DAC. Really nice sound right out of the box!

 

I've had one for a week now and don't plan on returning it. I have it plugged into my system and using JRiver MC software, I can opt to stream any resolution PCM files as DSD X 4 (DSD256) to the Nano. Nano supports all PCM up to 384khz, DXD and DSDX1,2,4 all natively.

If you get a chance to try this, I'd be curious as to what you think of PCM 16/44 streamed to Nano as DSD X 4.

 

Yes, ... from big('r) to small('r).

Mini
Micro
Nano

The Mini should be better than the Micro, with more room for a better analog stage, etc. AMR is the upper echelon of the companies and their stuff is on a better build level than iFi, but also way more expensive ~ I think the same engineers though.

 

I will be waiting to hear your thoughts about this one for sure!

 

Yes.

 

Will be looking forward to your thoughts on these units as well!

 

Same engineer, Thorsten Loesch.

 

Nice! I didn't know they had plans for larger components.

This info doesn't make my DAC shopping any easier.