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What DAC upgrade made you say “DAMN, that sounds SO MUCH better than my last DAC”?

As the title suggests, what was your overall system and DAC at the point where you bought only a new DAC and said “DAMN, that sounds SO MUCH better than my last DAC”?

I’m a novice and so many people talk about improvements from new equipment as if they were only listening to varying degrees of static until they bought more and more new equipment which added up to them finally being presented with music. It’s like Salome and the seven veils. But when does the last veil get peeled away? 

So what system did you have and what DAC did you swap in that made you say “DAMN!!!!”?

I guess I’m looking for night and day differences, not gradual progressions……


pip_helix
essrand
293 posts
 
Went from Bricasti M12 to the Nagra Tube DAC. I am done.

Stand out in my journey was AMR DP-777, wish I still had that to compare to the 10X in price Nagra DAC. 
spatialking's avatar
spatialking
610 posts
 
Wyred 4 Sound, their high end DAC with the Fempto clock option.  Blew me away for sure.
rsf507
2,222 posts
 
@essrand is the Nagra tubed dac worth almost twice the Bricasti M12? What did you find in improvements? What was Bricasti lacking? Reason I'm curious is I have the M1 but have heard the M12 and it's what my dreams are made of.
ddafoe
235 posts
 
Mojo Audio Mystique V3 Balanced NOS R2R.

My favorite (by a decently wide margin) over all my previous DACs  (Bryston BDA2, Berkeley Alpha v2,   SimAudio 380DSD,  Bricasti M3, Topping D90 MQA,  RME ADI 2FS).
essrand
293 posts
 
@rsf507 
M12 is only worth it if you have Bricasti amps. Its built-in that is not bypassable pre did not match well with other amps I tried.

If you are set on Bricasti please get the M21 instead. At that level a separate pre is a must.

The Nagra tube DAC is something different, everything I was wanting in my system suddenly was there, and I am no longer scouring audio sites for my next purchase. There was soul and there was resolution, violins for the first time sounded just right.

Is it worth 2X the price?
Yes, because your search for a DAC ends. Tube DACs are where it's at, IMO. But do try cheaper ones like Brinkmann Nyquist dac before jumping to the Nagra. I didn't do that, but should have, it's the only regret I have. Also please note, Nagra doesn't sound tubey at all, you wouldn't know there were tubes if it weren't for the name.


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