Out of curiosity, what are your thoughts on the old Channel Island DAC? It seems to sell for under $300 these days, which is pretty hard to argue with. How did it compare to the other DACs on your list?
Small form factor, budget DACs?
I'm trying to restore the musicality to my system, piece by piece. A few years ago my Jolida JD-602A CD player finally died and I've never really found a good replacement. I think really I've been mourning the loss and lacked the funds to get something of equal quality (since it was sort of a giant killer).
So, what can I get for < $400? Used is fine, but it has to be a compact form factor - I don't have room for another full-sized component. I think the 1/2 size form factor that Channel Islands, Musical Fidelity and Creek use is about as big as I could go.
24/96 is a plus since I have a bit of DVD-A stuff but not a necessity. I don't really have an opinion for or against oversampling, or regarding filterless DACs.
Here are the DACs that have popped up in my search so far:
$175 - Lite Audio filterless DAC
$250-400 - Ack! Dac
$200? - Creek OBH-14 - I'd have gotten one by now but I have yet to see one pop up on the used market. Probably a good sign.
$300-400? - Musical Fidelity X-24K - older DAC (circa 2000), but it looks nice and let's me stay with the appealing X-component form factor (I have an X-ACT and X-LPS now). Maybe a little overpriced - I can't help but think that for that money I could get something better
$400-600 - Channel Islands DAC - undoubtedly the best DAC on the list, but also the most expensive, so it would take the longest for me to save up the coinage.
Anything I'm missing from the list?
So, what can I get for < $400? Used is fine, but it has to be a compact form factor - I don't have room for another full-sized component. I think the 1/2 size form factor that Channel Islands, Musical Fidelity and Creek use is about as big as I could go.
24/96 is a plus since I have a bit of DVD-A stuff but not a necessity. I don't really have an opinion for or against oversampling, or regarding filterless DACs.
Here are the DACs that have popped up in my search so far:
$175 - Lite Audio filterless DAC
$250-400 - Ack! Dac
$200? - Creek OBH-14 - I'd have gotten one by now but I have yet to see one pop up on the used market. Probably a good sign.
$300-400? - Musical Fidelity X-24K - older DAC (circa 2000), but it looks nice and let's me stay with the appealing X-component form factor (I have an X-ACT and X-LPS now). Maybe a little overpriced - I can't help but think that for that money I could get something better
$400-600 - Channel Islands DAC - undoubtedly the best DAC on the list, but also the most expensive, so it would take the longest for me to save up the coinage.
Anything I'm missing from the list?
Showing 12 responses by hudsonhawk
Gmood, The non-filtering, non-oversampling DACs are definitely something I've been keeping a close eye on, and reading as much as I can about them. I hadn't heard of the Audio Sector or Audio Note units before - they are both very sharp-looking units. I had been thinking about the Scott Nixon Chibi Dac with power supply in addition to the Lite Audio and Ack! Dac's mentioned in my first post. Unfortunately, I can't find a lot of info comparing them to the other DACs in my price range, or even to each other - they seem to kind of have a dedicated following outside the scope of "normal" high-end. There's lots of very positive reviews of the Audio Mirror, which is a souped up Dac-Ah - that's the main reason I was looking at that one. It's something I'm very interested in however. I'm a recovering tube addict who would love to get some analog-ness back into his system, and that seems to be the good word on these. The Dac-Ah seems like a no-brainer gamble at the price in fact. It's my top choice right now, though Mwilson's words on the older CI dac makes me think it might fit well in my system. And then maybe in a year or so I can save up for that Bel Canto or Birdland DAC. |
Brooks, A good point and well made. I'm definitely not afraid to buy / sell / start over until I find what I'm looking for. That said, I really value the input and experience of the community and plan to use that as a starting point. That's why I'm starting my search by soliciting opinions about where to start. If it wasn't for the AG forums, in fact, I wouldn't know about any of these new breed of DACs. But I trust my ears over everything else. If something doesn't work in my system, I'll be the first one to kick it to the curb :) |
Thanks for the tip! Well timed in fact, as I was just mulling over power cord options for it. I just got a custom made power cord for my amp here on Audiogon (from member Synsurd - a definite bargain) and was thinking about new cords for my preamp and the Dac-ah. I may look into something a little more extravagent for the Dac-Ah. |
Hmm, I found their upgraded Dac-Ah here, which I found through google - but now that I'm looking closer at their website, they don't link to this page from the index any more so I'm not sure what the story is. I asked them about the availability of the upgraded unit when I emailed them and they confirmed it - though maybe I got the last one. They did volunteer that they had an upgraded Dac-60 (the tube dac) as well. I'll let you know when I get mine. Obviously, whatever they say by email is probably the definitive answer. |
Looks like they just updated their website. They've also listed the modded Dac-Ah here on Audiogon. I'll post impressions of the modded Dac-ah when I get it, but I won't have a basis for comparison to the unmodded one. If your order hasn't shipped yet, you might contact them and see about upgrading; I'm sure either way you'll end up with a great sounding DAC. |
So, for those curious, I received my modded Dac-Ah and broke it in. All I have to say is, people aren't kidding when they talk this thing up. This is a genuinely musical, dynamic piece. It has a sweet, smooth midrange which does vocals exceptionally well; the imaging is "3-d" in a way I've only heard on higher-end pieces. It's funny, I made a similar note when listening that Bombaywalla did while listening to his Nixon DAC - bad CD's sound *bad*. I've got two theories about this - I wonder if either these CD's have digital noise that's actually in the master, or these DACs are particularly jitter-prone. Obviously I can't compare it to the unmodded version of the DAC, but I can definitely say that these things are the genuine article. It's the most impressed I've been with a piece of budget digital gear since the original Rega Planet. |
Long-dead thread, but since there was some question as to the difference between the two versions of the DAC-AH (the stock one and Pacific Valve's modded version) I thought I'd let people know that I wrote a review / comparison between the two models. Pacific Valve was kind enough to let me borrow the stock one for comparison. |