2. digital
  3. 134895-111110

DAC recommendation

Doing a lot streaming with Spotify thru the parasound halo p5 DAC. I am noticing a difference in sound quality when listening to cds with my old rotel player and was thinking of upgrading to a stand alone DAC for better quality. My budget is about $1500 max used. Like wyred 4 sound but I’ve read some good things about schiit on some other threads. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated, thx. 
klerxst

Showing 1 response by 1graber2

1graber2's avatar
1graber2
303 posts
 
You have a lot of great options for under $1500.
I agree with the Schiit, MyTek, Ayre, and the Bel Canto.

Personally, I have owned the Bel Canto DAC 2.5 for the last 5 years. 
In fact, I bought it new for $2200 (a rarity for me), then had to sell it during hard times, then bought another unit when I got back on my feet. 
They sell for under $1000 and this is a joke compared to the quality. 
Highly resolving with a Burr-Brown DAC chip and Class D power supply. Dont knock the Class D, you cant even tell. Multiple ins/out, and can also has analog input for a pair of RCAs, then goes to the A to D converter, then the D to A converted, then to the amp. The signal to noise is still like 110 for the AD converter!

Bel Canto units sell cheaper on the used market b/c Bel Canto does not do a lot of advertising, they put $$ into R and D. And just some history, Bel Canto used to produced only tube equipment, then switched to Class D. The point is that they 'voice' hteir equipment to match that of a mild tube sound, but again great dynamics from top to bottom and wonderful midrange vocals. Think about it. 
More to discover