Thank you for the tip on the Parasound ZDAC. I picked one up from Audio Advisor along with a Schiit Sys passive preamp and this thing sounds fantastic for the money. I was looking for a DAC for a second system and was also considering the Nuforce DAC9 which usually goes for around $1k used.
The ZDAC has excellent detail and has a nice substantive sound to it. By that I mean the images seem fairly well fleshed out and have body. The soundstage is a bit narrow, but then again my other DAC is a Tube Audio Design PreDAC which has a very large soundstage since it has a tube output stage.
All in all I'm very happy with the ZDAC and doubt there's a better value (new) for less than the $300 I paid from AA.
The ZDAC has excellent detail and has a nice substantive sound to it. By that I mean the images seem fairly well fleshed out and have body. The soundstage is a bit narrow, but then again my other DAC is a Tube Audio Design PreDAC which has a very large soundstage since it has a tube output stage.
All in all I'm very happy with the ZDAC and doubt there's a better value (new) for less than the $300 I paid from AA.