DAC for Olive musica

Some good reviews on the Attraction DAC, but charging close to $1600 for one of the worst DACs, the TDA1543 ($2 a chip) with it's high distortion and low resolution, seems a bit much. I know he did some proprietary work, but this is something you can put together for a hundred bucks in parts cost with some soldering skill. Don't get me wrong - I like the sound of the TDA1543 myself with it's immediate, live sound but I think it's due to disortion akin to the classic tube sound. But it's still over priced IMO. If like that sound, it doesn't matter I guess.

Gmood, you make a good point - I have not heard the DAC. I was not commenting on the actual sound of the unit, but the the unit's cost relative the cost of its parts. Yes, for those who spend $15k on a CDP, this is peanuts. But then again someone who spends that much on a CDP needs his head examined. BTW, for all the bells and whistles, the Attraction DAC is close to $1600 as reviewed on PFO.

"No one else can claim their digital playback equipment does what this DAC does..not even the most expensive cd players or DACs in the world." Based on the website, his proprietary work is not revolutionary. And yes, it's only a "claim", and it doesn't necessarily make a DAC better or worse. They're are DIYers out there who are just as innovative, if not more, who go against the conventional hype in high end. I'm not trying to discredit this DAC - but when there is too much hype attached to a unit, it usually just that "hype". My 20+ years in highend audio has taught me that. So like all things in high end, it's all a matter of taste. One man's treasure is another man's junk.

If this DAC lives up to its hype, I wish all the success.

Sorry James, did not mean to stray from the subject. Try looking into Scott Nixon's tube DAC, Ack! DAC, various DACs from LiTe Audio - they are all reasonably priced from $200-700.

BTW, the Monarchy M24 DAC is a rebadged, modified DAC from LiTe Audio. The unmodded LiTe Audio DAC is close to half the price. You'd be surprised how many US manufacturers do mods to a Chinese unit and rebadge and sell it for significantly higher price - one of the worst culprit being Red Rose Music and their rebadged Dusson units from China.

The point of the transport on the Olive is to make a copy of your CD onto the hard drive, not to play CDs directly from the transport. Using hard drive, in theory, is much better than a CD transport in terms of noise. HD proponents claim that it is better than any CD transport out there, no matter the cost. For us that's the most important aspect of HD based music servers, besides the unbridled convenience of accessing all of your CD collection in a matter of seconds. Long as your DAC has a USB connection, you can play directly from the HD. "That's all I have to say about that." - Forest Gump.