A DAC that can make digital sound analog?


Hi All,

I have a ModWright Oppo 105D. It’s excellent....but it sure don’t sound like vinyl or tape.

What DACs have you heard that really work like magic on digital audio files? 

I am interested in DACs that kill that digital glare/blare, that gives you that sense of ‘blackness’ or ‘darkness’ to the audio soundscape, really letting you hear into the mix...ya know that layering, space and depth that is very evident on tape.

Very curious to hear your thoughts.

Thanks!
128x128brettmcee
Denafrips DACs do it for me.
I have the Pontus and rate it very highly for its density and, at the same time its delicacy.
I use it with Roon and Tidal via an Antipodes DS server/streamer and am continally amazed at the amount of information on a CD that is just waiting for the right equipment with which to reveal it.
Every ModWright I have heard sounds like Sony with more space.  Not analogue at all.  The Oppo is not a very good sounding CD transport like most universal transports.  Example is that if you burn your CD's to a thumb drive it will sound better than the disc spinner.

Because of this, the ModWright may not be what you use with an outboard DAC because you are not even using the mods you paid for.

Best for CD playback is a native Red Book transport not a universal. It takes big bucks for the universal to start sounding good because of the engineering fixes the manufacturers do to optimize the transport.

The most analogue sounding I have heard while not just darkening the info and coloring it is from Aesthetix.
@audiobunker thanks for your thoughts and opinions!!!

Any thoughts on a SONY NS9100ES CD SACD Player as transport, as a player?

Anyone actually like digital glare and noisy dacs that do not sound good? Anyone?
@brettmcee I've been following this thread to try and get a better understanding of exactly what you're looking for, but I'm still not sure I have a good picture of it.

I notice some people have mentioned the Lumin DACs with transformer-coupled outputs. I agree that they might fit your criteria as being very close to what you'd hear from an actual turntable setup. The Neko Audio D100 DAC that I designed also uses transformer-coupled outputs and I would put it in similar company.

But sometimes people looking for an analog sounding DAC aren't looking for what sounds like a turntable setup, but rather something that sounds a bit less dry and instead more engaging and warm. Or just something that doesn't sound like there's some veil or hash in the high frequencies while everything else being the same.