Thinking about getting a R2R DAC

Dollar for dollar vs. Delta Sigma, R2R DACs win all the time. They tend to have a much pleasant sound to the ear. Less fatiguing, and closer to well done analog. And don’t listen to the keyboard jockeys who tell us we cannot hear the difference. These are the same guys who always say we cannot hear a difference from anything.

Now.... they are R2R DACs and R2R DACs. They are not created equal. To my ears, MSB DACs are the best sounding. They don’t often come for sale in used market, if at all, other than previous generations from a decade ago.

I’ve got the BlueSound Node2. About 2 weeks ago I purchased the MHDT Orchid. I use Tidal Hi-Fi exclusively. The Node2 does all of the MQA unfolding and then sends it to the Orchid via digital coax. I opted for the upgraded Tung-Sol 2C51 tube that Linear Tube offers (total of $1,300). I couldn’t be happier with my choice. I’m into musical much more than analytical. I listen to music literally all day long every day and the last thing I want is ear fatigue. Before purchasing I spoke to Nicholas with Linear Tube Audio, Jiun the main designer of the Orchid and Terry, the 6Moons reviewer whose review turned me onto the Orchid. They were all great and Terry provided me with many great tube options and sources. He’s tried everything under the sun. In his opinion, the Orchid is his favorite DAC at any price point. He’s reviewed many over the years, including very expensive units. Feel free to message me directly. I know everything you would want to know about the Orchid (as well as the balanced Pagoda if you are wanting balanced XLR for 2x the price of the Orchid). I also thoroughly researched the Border Patrol DAC which Linear Tube Audio also happens to sell (tube is on the power supply stage instead the analog stage like in the Orchid).

Well, OP, I just went from chord qutest to holo audio may (r2r). It’s a non oversampling dac, although it does oversample too if you want that. Wow, what an upgrade! Slightly less crisp, but warm, smooth, natural, wonderful deep rich soundstage. There's more "air" in the music now, as herb reichert talked about in stereophile. The 2 DACs are not equally priced, so it’s not entirely fair, but I am thrilled with the change. The r2r part is key, but power supply, clocking, and quality of output stage all contribute. Go NOS r2r and don’t look back.

@parker65310

just a point of clarification re your posted comments on the bs node 2 unfolding mqa... if feeding an outboard dac, the streamer function in the node will only do 1 of the 3 total ’unfolds’ for full mqa rendering, an mqa-capable dac would need to do the 2 remaining steps for full mqa rendering... this being said, many believe (and i concur based on my own listening) that you get a lion’s share of the sq benefit of mqa with the first unfold (to 96k), remaining two unfolds adds a touch more ’air,’ but rather minimal difference i can hear

@hilde45

haha well i am still kinda old school when it comes to note taking, so i have a spiral notebook and handwritten jottings on each - it has been fun... since the covid shut in in february i finally stopped procrastinating and dove head first into streaming... the SQ was so impressive and beyond my expectations that i decided to go whole hog and run through any and all of the leading suspects to build my ideal streaming front end, to go along with the cdp and turntable

@snatex

jolida tube dac is a good one... for the money it is a real steal... it does not have quite the ease of presentation of the better ones but it images big, wide and deep, has a sweet luscious midrange, but with a little more sizzle up top than you would expect in a tube output dac - i have tried to tube roll some but it is still more in the clear and punchy school compared to most the others - this may be due its being based on a DS dac chip, or may just be the output stage implementation

i am not a headphone guy so much so i cannot comment much on the sq of the headphone jack on it, but for the money it is pretty feature laden, with headphone out and volume control for outputs

finally on your wanting summary blurbs, my evaluations are still a work in process... one day i may try to collectively summarize ... the caveat of course is it is only my system, my tastes, my network - if you or others have specific questions i will share my thoughts if my experience is relevant - i do have firm reasons for selling off the ones i decided to move on from, those i can speak to more definitively

@jjss49 

How would you rank the Black Ice, Qutest (w/o MScaler), Codex and Orchid? Any others under $2k with a small footprint that stand out?