Best DAC for pcm files

Yes gpgr4blu
Keith Johnson is the master of PCM recordings "Reference Recordings" and a firm believer in HDCD.

The Spectral Pro Dac which is their only dac used 

"DACs are four UltraAnalog  D20400A 20-bit types with HDCD filter chips, made of discrete and monolithic components encapsulated in a potted module, in a balanced configuration (left +, left -, right +, right -) "    Which are R2R Ladder Multibit Dacs

The current CD player which you say you have not listened to carefully is

The  Spectral SDR-4000SL which is a cd player, uses the cheaper  AD1853 multi-bit Sigma/Delta DAC in it.

Cheers George

maxboy00
+1 for the Modwright Elyse DAC, very fine and resolving DAC.

Yes this AMR DP-777 has two dac chips inside, a "Classic" R2R Ladder Multibit and a "HD" Delta Sigma based one (for dsd replay), they can be switched on the fly while listening, everything else is the same. Here is what a reviewer said when he compared the sound of both of them when he played RedBook cd and PCM files through them.

"16/44 sources replay using the HD DAC"
 If the sources are 16/44, the sound from the HD DAC is quite “HiFi”, seems to have more air and the treble energy is stronger. There is more siblings sound for the female vocal. But after a while, we can sense that it is missing some warmth in the mid range and the vocal is thinner than it should. The sound stage is quite shallow and the rise and fall of each music note is not as clear cut, the rhythm and pace is also less accurate, and finally the “musicality” of the DAC is reduced.

"16/44sources replay using the Classic DAC"
 Now playing the 16/44 sources using the Classic DAC, the sound is a lot more natural, the 3D sound stage is back, there is plenty of space one can sense between the instruments, the vocal and instruments move back a few meters as there is now sound stage depth to take about, the rise and fall of each music note is much more clearly defined."

I remember reading somewhere Thorsten Losche (AMR’s designer) was asked why did you  put in a Delta Sigma dac. As a token gesture for the HD crew, or similar was his answer.

Cheers George 
  

Overdrive SE. Won a shootout here on Audiogon.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/absolute-top-tier-dac-for-standard-res-redbook-cd

There is one that can be updated to SE on sale at audiocircle.com trading post-digital/sources

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=138238.0

The SE beats much more expensive DACs, in the 15K+ range.

I wouldn’t say won, This is the AudioStream comparison to the MSB R2R Ladder Multibit chipped dac, make you own mind up on this quote

" Comparisons with Other DACs
The MSB Technology Analog DAC at $6995 welcomes comparison with the $5999 Overdrive SE. These two DACs sound quite different from each other. The Analog DAC is bigger sounding with a less forward presence to its sound. The Overdrive SE is faster sounding, particularly in the low end. The Analog DAC has a more “relaxed sound” overall compared to the Overdrive SE."

Cheers George

hi,

with due respect to all A'gon members above, aren't we forgot one important point? we should first analyse what georgelfre music taste preference is i.e forward sounding(in a small club) or relax sound(chamber music?) and the genre of music he listens to.

I guess this way, we can gather our experience from different DACs which performs great with certain audio characteristics, i.e MSB dac is characterize for smoothness, relax, very analog & rounded which may suit music that sound harsh (use as a form of remedy) and great for country\acoustic genre? to capitalize on MSB strength ?

just my 2 cent

-phil