2. digital
  3. 132029-90127

Best DAC for my situation...Read on!

So thoughts and opinions please.
What I have and my idea.
Oppo 105D and Bluesound Vault 2 feeding into McIntosh C48 preamp.
I chose the C48 because it is a nice complete all in one box solution, headphone amp, mm and mc phono amp, lots of analog inputs with 2 sets of xlr inputs AND 5 total digital inputs.
Now I have both the Oppo and the vault connected by analog and digital inputs to the C48 so I can compare modes pretty instantly and I have to admit both cases the analog sounds better.
Which makes me wonder if the C48, although a great all in one solution may be the hold up as far as the DAC performance is concerned.

What I was considering as a trial is a seperate DAC that can handle the digital signals from the units and then output the analog signal via xlr preferably, back to the C48.
At this stage I have no intention of getting rid of the C48 as I really like the analog signal SQ as well as the headphone performance.

Any good suggestions in the range of $2000 used or am I really not going to see much improvement at that price range over the C48 capability?
128x128uberwaltz

Showing 4 responses by hgeifman

hgeifman
2,110 posts
 
@uberwaltz

Your are correct that the Ayre Codex DAC does not include a digital coax input (it should but does not).  The Ayre Codex DAC specs are:
Input
USB : PCM 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz, 192 kHz, 352.8 kHz, 384 kHz (up to 24 bits), DSD64, DSD128 

Optical input (Toslink)
hgeifman
2,110 posts
 
@uberwaltz

What about the Mytek Brooklyn DAC?

DIGITAL INPUTS: USB2 Class2 (OSX, Linux driverless, all formats), AES/EBU (PCM up to 192k, up to DSD64 DOP), 2x S/PDIF (PCM up to 192k, up to DSD64 DOP), Toslink/ADAT 2x S/PDIF (PCM up to 192k, up to DSD64 DOP), SDIF3 DSD up to DSD256. 

If not, Google DAC with two digital inputs. 

Sent from my iPhone 7
hgeifman
2,110 posts
 
+1 Ayre Codex DAC.   I own the Ayre Codex DAC and it is outstanding and highly recommended (new or used).  It has great performance and can be used as either a preamp/DAC or DAC only. Please see:

https://www.ayre.com/codex.htm
hgeifman
2,110 posts
 
You might also look at Play Back Designs DAC’s.   See:

http://www.playbackdesigns.com

i believe they have the connections you are looking for but I do not know their price.  It is certainly worth a look.  
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