DAC It Out Shootout August 24th Saturday, 11-3pm Scottsdale, AZ



For all those curious about DACs, the Arizona AV Club is partnering with several manufacturers and dealers to produce a DAC shootout on Saturday August 24th 11am to 3pm.

The event will be held at Acoustic Designs 16074 N. 78th Street, Suite B104, Scottsdale, AZ 85260.

The following DACs will be present:

  • Schiit Yggdrasil
  • Chord Qutest
  • Benchmark DAC3
  • iFi Audio Pro iDSD
  • PS Audio DirectStream
  • Holo Audio Spring DAC2
  • Jolida Glass FX DAC 
  • NuPrime Evolution DAC
  • L.K.S. DAC MH-DA004
  • Line Magnetic

The DACs will be played in an acoustically treated room on a reference system consisting of Focal Maestro Utopia Evos driven by SAE and Acoustic Research gear.

If you have any interest in hearing well regarded DACs on a top tier system don't miss this event! There is a $10 entry fee. RSVPs are appreciated due to limited seating; multiple sessions will be available. There will also be a speaker from Chord present to talk about their technology.

More information here: www.AZAVCLUB.COM


gadios
This looks like it was a pretty cool shootout.  Very impressed with your audio club.  I enjoyed reading the review, thanks. 

Here is an excerpt from the review:

Take Aways: -Tube units faired better than solid state. -Ladder DACs did pretty well with the Schiit finishing in the top 4. The other Ladder was the Holo which some thought was "Darker". I found its clarity excellent. -The Chinese made DACs by Black Ice and Line Magnetic beat everyone else.  

I note that the preamp and amp were both solid state.  So I am not surprised that two DACs with tube gain stages won.  It is possible that the results may have been different if, say, there was a tube preamp in the shootout. 

The preamp and amp used in the shootout are terrific.  Many people, including myself, think that injecting tube goodness somewhere in the system makes sense.  It can be in the DAC, or can be later in the chain.  If tubes are used later in the chain, a solid state DAC might score highly.