How much $ for a "vinyl equivalent" sounding DAC?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by avanti1960, Jan 21, 2017.

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  1. richbdd01

    richbdd01 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Approximately 1 billion dollars
     
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  2. Sean Sandoval

    Sean Sandoval Senior Member

    Location:
    Sweden
    Sorry if this already is proposed, but I read good reviews of the Schiit Yggdrasil dac.
     
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  3. Ron Scubadiver

    Ron Scubadiver Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston TX
    12 pages, nothing resolved except that Schiit and Rega have some fans here.
     
  4. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    I did pick up the Sony HAP-Z1ES and it (much to my chagrin) sounds better than vinyl.
     
  5. Ron Scubadiver

    Ron Scubadiver Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston TX
    I read the review of that player over at Stereophile. It's an impressive unit. I wish I knew which DAC chips it uses. Congrats.
     
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  6. KT88

    KT88 Senior Member

    Where is the bitch-slap emoji when you need it?

    ...[​IMG] ... there it is.


    :winkgrin:
    -Bill
     
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  7. saturdayboy

    saturdayboy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    let's not forget the pcm1704
     
  8. Mr.Sneis

    Mr.Sneis Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phoenix, AZ
    Speak of the devil, I am dealing with a pcm1704 dac these days. It has not been a great experience so far and will cost me dearly for certain. To be fair it is not the dacs fault.
     
  9. delmonaco

    delmonaco Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sofia, Bulgaria
    I'm not sure if "smooth" is the right description for properly sounding vinyl set up. Mine (combined with the right LP of course) actually sounds more edgy, punchy and transparent compared to my digital rig. The digital sounds smoother (perhaps because the recent fashion in DAC''s and CD mastering is to emphasis the mid bass - I noted that the best result when listening to CDs is combining older player with modern CD master or vice-versa - otherwise it is ether too warm, smooth and bass heavy, or harsh, zingi-ling, and lacking in bass).
     
  10. saturdayboy

    saturdayboy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    which dac? what's the problem?
     
  11. saturdayboy

    saturdayboy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    i think that it's important to also consider the transport in the equation.
    in my experience, music from a computer (via usb) sounds best through a renderer or usb/spdif into a dac.
     
  12. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    Wow! Thank you sir may I not have another!
    But seriously it does sound great- but not all the time and neither does vinyl.
    However- listening to a nice clean, new Analog Productions pressing of Mile Davis "Someday my Prince Will Come" and man the sound is incredible. Vinyl will always be a main lead source for lots of recordings.
     
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  13. toddrhodes

    toddrhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Bend, IN
    I sometimes wish I could "re-hear" my custom PC i2s into my old Aqua La Voce S2 in my current setup :(

    This post isn't helping, lol.

    Glad you're in love, Tony!
     
  14. guitar sam

    guitar sam Well-Known Member

    Location:
    kansas city mo
    guitar sam here in kansas city usa & if your looking for a dac player that makes digital audio sound indistinguishable from it's vinyl counterpart might i suggest the dodcool hi-res player it's made in china & i paid $40 us dollers with free shipping to my front door & i still can't believe what im hearing?it uses the cortex dual core m3 dac chip & i don't even need to upsample the audio just import into player & you now have the equivalent to vintage vinyl sounding audio.i mean no disrespect to all the audiophiles spending $$$ to get that sound just saying if your on a budget & you still want that vinyl sound this is an amazing option & i became a member just so i could post this coment
     
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  15. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
  16. sturgus

    sturgus Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Louis Mo
    My old Cal Alpha with a pair of nos Mullard 12ax7's gets pretty close. In some way it's better than my $4000 Musicaldesign Platinum Dac.
     
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  17. enfield

    enfield Forum Resident

    Location:
    Essex UK
    About $40 on ebay for any vintage Philips CD player equipped with a TDA 1541 or 1543 DAC .Of course it won't be exactly the same as vinyl as there will be no inconsistency,crackle,hiss, or inner groove distortion.;)
     
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  18. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    So far the spread is $40 all the way up to $1B. Quite a spread.
     
  19. Mark broadhead

    Mark broadhead Forum Resident

    Location:
    Newcastle England
    I struggled with digital for years before I bought a Lampizator dac. i think as the rest of your system improves you really hear the limitations of recordings via both vinyl and digital. Compared to previous dacs and players the Lampizator sounds more fleshed out and on really good recordings you can suspend disbelief. However bad recordings sound just as bad, just as they do on a good vinyl rig.

    I am looking at an ANK kit at the moment, they seem very good value, the DAC 4 looks like a sweet spot. Having said that Peter Qvortrup of AN stated that even the Dac 5 was no match for a good vinyl system. Its kind of ironic that with all the technology we have today that we don't have an accurate medium as a source in either digital or analogue.
     
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  20. Sugar Man

    Sugar Man Forum Resident

    Dang, I only got $39 in the budget for digital.:crazy:
     
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  21. guitar sam

    guitar sam Well-Known Member

    Location:
    kansas city mo
    guitar sam here again & i thought i would upload some audio samples from my dropbox so you can hear what the dodocool dac player sounds like i paid $40 us dollers on sale from china & to my ears it makes cd audio sound just like vinyl.ive included the mfsl vinyl sample - the remastered cd sample - the same source remastered cd sample run through the dodocool dac dedicated line out to pc in + live stream recorded using sony soundforge pro 10. all three samples are mp3 320 peak normalized to 89DB. there is no upsampling with the dac just processing with the cortex duel core m3 dac chip. as i have no other experiences with other dacs i can only go on what im hearing here & as far as the live stream recording from the dac i found that listening from the headphone out live sounded even better than the livestream recording although this is a very good reprsentation of the sound from the dodocool dac. here is the link to my dropbox click on the son titles to play
    Dropbox - audio samples vinyl + cd + dodocool dac
     
  22. Higlander

    Higlander Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Florida, Central

    I am confused, but why would you want a CD to sound like a recordo_O

    Edit- I listen to both CD and Vinyl and find my best vinyl sounds more CD like.
    I do not get why one would want the noise, distortion and other built is quirks of records onto something that is close to pristine as is.

    I listened to your samples, and the CD one sounds better.
    The vinyl and the Other one seem to have a tubby heavy sounding bass.
    Also the CD Version seems to be about 1.5 db less overall.
     
    Last edited: Oct 23, 2017
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  23. crooner

    crooner Tube Marantzed

    The correct term would be to say one wants a DAC that can can convey music with the same smoothness and ease of listening than the best analog can provide, without the drawbacks (noise, wow/flutter, rumble, warps, tracking and inner groove distortion, etc.).
    An analog record is far from an ideal source. A good master tape would be....
     
  24. Higlander

    Higlander Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Florida, Central
    Unicorn Technologies, in other words:winkgrin:

    Sorry, I guess I just see analog as a semi-flawed experience, every rig colors the sound differently, adds distortion and frequency response errors.
    It can sound Fantastic, (really love some of my vinyl!!) but I think never because it "is analog", but simply a lot of care went into recording and mastering.

    I have some Frank Sinatra on CD that is just Fantastic sounding. A bit of tape hiss from the masters, but it sounds like he is right here in the room, it is uncanny.
     
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  25. crooner

    crooner Tube Marantzed

    So perhaps it all comes back to event itself. Analog has been deemed smooth and musical because in it's best form it can convey a sense of "being there". So, the ideal DAC, with a well engineered recording, should give us the same sense of "thereness" without any shrillness or electronic hash reminding you that it is a recording...
     
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