2. digital
  3. 155499-139155

Used DAC choice: Schiit modi 2u for $69 vs. Peachtree DAC-iT?

So… I have no DAC for my CD transport. It will take a while before I buy a very good DAC; I'll spare you the reasons.
Stuck in the house, I wanted a DAC to hold me over.
I'm going to play a Cambridge CXC transport and a Node 2i streamer through the DAC.

I wanted it to be cheap, so when I buy a much better DAC, I won't feel as if I've already spent that part of the budget.

I saw two deals pop up, used, at TMR Audio:
* Schiit modi 2u (several years old) for $69 (down from $149)
* Peachtree DAC-iT (7 years old) for $99 (down from $449)

I went with the Peachtree. Was that the smart move or not?

This is such a low-cost purchase, feel free to be blunt! Tell me your reasons. I'm going to be happy, anyway.

128x128hilde45

Showing 4 responses by djones51

djones51
4,947 posts
 
The Node2i has a built in dac, while not that good compared to newer dacs it’s probably as good as the preachtree dac if not better. Unlike a lot of others on the forum I have not been impressed with Schiit dacs so between the 2 I would have gone with the peachtree. 
djones51
4,947 posts
 
Like everything in this hobby better is subjective, I haven’t heard the peachtree just going by specs on the two, Node2i and peachtree, it will give you a chance to compare different chips implemented in different ways, Node2i uses Burr brown,  peachtree ESS. IMO unless the DAC is intended to have a sound signature, i.e. tube dacs, R2R dacs, filters implemented, I have a hard time telling good neutral dacs apart. I doubt I could do better than chance in a blind test.
djones51
4,947 posts
 
Yeah you're not really comparing apples to apples try one of the streaming services at CD quality. They used to give a month or 15 days free to try out. It's  not surprising that you can't tell the difference with spotify. 
djones51
4,947 posts
 
If you play CDs you didn't buy it for nothing. In my personal experience I can stream the same file over Qobuz and the sound is as good as the CD so I don't bother with CDs anymore plus the ones I have are ripped to a HDD. I like listening to the whole album as well. Another personal experience is unless the DAC is designed to have a sound signature, NOS R2R, Tubes, etc.. I can't really tell much if any difference between well implemented modern DACs. For instance the two DACs you're using are both Delta Sigma DAC's and probably use similar output filters so I know I would have a hard time differentiating between them.
More to discover