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Best budget DAC

Hi all,

I'm considering a DAC for my system and I have to keep the expenditure very reasonable (under $300).

DACS considered: Audioengine D1, Audioquest Dragonfly, Cambridge Audio DACMagic XS & Azur DacMagic 100, Musical Fidelity - V90-DAC,  Schiit Modi,

Any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated, especially if you have actually heard or compared the DACs above, or others.

Also, if I do get a DAC, is there any advantage to ripping a CD and then playing the FLAC/WAV file through the DAC? Keep in mind that the DAC chip in my CD Player is listed as a "24/192 Cirrus Logic Delta/Sigma", but no specific chip number.

I haven't seen any comparisons of CD's to ripping and playing the file through an outboard DAC, so if you have seen such a comparison, your link to it would be greatly appreciated.

These are the components in my system:
Speakers - Elac B6
Subwoofer - Elac S10
CD Player - NAD C 516BEE CD Player
Preamplifier - Parasound Halo P5
Power Amplifier - Rotel RB-1080

 Thanks. Your help will be greatly appreciated.

128x128edincleve
rsa's avatar
rsa
114 posts
 
I had the Emotiva DAC, the Peachtree DAC  and ended up with the Schitt Bifrost. I found it to be better from top to bottom. Not to be self serving I am selling a Bifrost as I bought a Theta off a friend ($2,000). Don't waste your money like I did, get a Bifrost. Check out there reviews!
edincleve's avatar
edincleve OP
27 posts
 
I want to thank everyone who responded to my question(s). It was all very helpful. I have a lot to digest and consider.

The response by wrm0325 was particularly helpful. If I could respond to you directly about a computer system, I would be very grateful.

Thanks again. You guys are so informative and helpful, and the reason I love this site so much.
213runnin
914 posts
 
Edincleve, perhaps you could mention why you are choosing to not employ the built in DAC of the P5.  Did you try it and not like it?  

I'd be cautious of the Emotiva products.  The DAC of their I had was not very good sounding in some applications.  Also their house sound tends to be somewhat bright, not organic.   The Schitt stuff is very well regarded for the money.
mesch
3,427 posts
 
+1 runnin, I have been wondering the same. Another poster asked the same and we haven’t heard back on this. I doubt any of the DACs mentioned would be better than the that in the P5. Different maybe. Would require an additional cable. Which one?

edincleve's avatar
edincleve OP
27 posts
 
Actually I have tried the built-in DAC of the Parasound P5 by connecting the digital output (coax) of the NAD  C516BEE cd player to it.  I found the P5 DAC to be slightly better sounding than the NAD DAC.

I think the P5 DAC is decent, but it is a DAC built into a good $1000 preamp. How much of that $1000 do you think is dedicated to the DAC. Since the sound of the preamp, and the quality in general, is pretty good, it's hard too believe that Parasound would expend much of their parts dollars to the DAC. I may be wrong, but that's my feeling.

I love the preamp, but that's why I thought I might be able to improve my system, without spending a lot of money, with a better DAC.

At this point though, I will probably wait until Elac/Andrew Jones introduces their new 3-way Uni-Fi speakers. They use an aluminum 5" woofer with a concentric mid/tweeter. Anyone hearing them at CES, liked or raved about them. The bookshelf will sell for $500/pair. I'm hoping that the weaknesses of the Elac B5 (high end roll-off and resolution of individual instruments) will be overcome by the UB5.
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