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DAC That Punches Above Its Price Point

I’ll make it short. I’ve spent some hours reading the DAC threads on this forum. I am aware quality of digital matters as superior DACs usually the costlier ones will sound better than cheap DACs, making music sound more analog, lifelike, real, believable with all the soundstage and detail etc. All the good things. There are some who thought it’s the music that matters, and although different DACs may sound different it’s the music that makes the most difference. In other words, the differences that exist between DACs are not that important as it's all about the music. I can see the point that people are trying to make.

Back to the topic. I’ve read great things on the Denafrips Ares II and Pontus II, and other costlier high-end DACs. I’ve read about the Chord DAVE. I personally own a Chord QBD76 and have no urge to replace it with anything else since it sounds splendid in my system, for the money. I may be setting up another system and was wondering if there is a DAC in the lower price bracket that punches way above its price point, sounding close to if not better than the costlier designs.

I presume the Audioquest Black, Red or Cobalt are not worthy of consideration and sound noticeably inferior to the costlier options? FWIW I tried the Musical Fidelity M1 DAC and this one really sounded poor to my ears. Very digital sound and I stopped listening to it after a while. The Chord sounds a lot more analog, lifelike and real to my ears.

I would appreciate any advice. Thanks.


ryder
mceljo
1,351 posts
 
Based on my recent experience, I believe that the Maverick TubeMagic D2 DAC with the op amps upgraded with Sparkos dual discrete op amps results in a DAC that performs well above its $500ish price point.  I think the DAC can be had for about $200 and Sparks accepted an offer for $65 (ea.) for three of the op amps.  Because the DAC has parallel solid state and tube outputs, you are likely to find something you like and the tube can also be rolled.

The Sparkos dual discrete op amps made a significant improvement compared to the burr-brown op amps that were the "upgrade" from Maverick Audio.  The DAC chip wasn't changed, so this was really an upgrade of the analog output portion of the DAC.
googoogjoob
84 posts
 
i cant begin to tell you my affection for my PS Audio DirectStream DAC.
julie_priest
131 posts
 
I find the difference between Schitt Modius and their much more expensive stuff to be marginal. Use Dynaudio speakers. 
Generally though it depends on your overall kit. The likes of Hegel 190 already have a DAC built in, and modern streamers like Lumin T2 have stellar equipment inside. A standalone DAC is truly becoming a thing of the past.
lemonhaze
410 posts
 
@westcoast, I am not sure, beyond your fixation on measurements, what you are trying to do here. Your placatory lecture by way of circumlocution is missing the point.

Lets look at the capacitor.  We are talking audio here, not radio frequency. As an engineer I assume you know the difference. The ESR you mention is a non-issue so perhaps you need to educate yourself some more. The formula for capacitive reactance is: Xc = 1/ 2Pi.f.c  This is a fact and as an engineer you know this, or should.  There is no 'R' in the equation and therefore ESR is not a factor.

Go to some of the speaker gurus like Joe D'apallito, Vance Dickerson or Sigfried Linkwitz of Linkwitz/Riley fame. Not they nor any others take ESR into consideration, why would they? it's NOT in the formula.

You also throw out the resonant frequency of a cap. It will resonate mechanically, everything has a resonant frequency, but it will only resonate, electrically speaking, if in circuit with say an inductor, and behaves according to the parameters of the components and the results are well understood.

The series cap in a loudspeaker XO and assuming a first-order filter will create a 6dB attenuation slope dependent upon its value. Take 3 very different caps, paper-in-oil cap, teflon film and a bipolar electrolytic of same value and the plots will be exactly the same, meaning... they measure the same,  but now have the audacity to actually listen. Yes to be clear have a listen which is not an unreasonable concept seeing as it's audio.

Your bloviating away about a recording studio and coffee breaks is not germane to the discussion. But cheer up old chap, old engineer, you have been promoted to the top of my ignore list.


herman
2,215 posts
 
The formula for capacitive reactance is: Xc = 1/ 2Pi.f.c This is a fact and as an engineer you know this, or should. There is no 'R' in the equation and therefore ESR is not a factor.
Mr. Lemon, this puts you at the top of my ignore list. Just because R is not a factor in the equation for reactance does not mean it does not exist and certainly does not mean it will not have an effect on how a circuit behaves.

For a filter the cutoff frequency = 1 / (2 pi R C)

ESR is a very real part of that R

Maybe it turns out the ESR is so small that it is swamped out by other R in the circuit, but ignoring a very real, very measurable parameter that affects a circuit's performance just  because it isn't part of a particular formula you have chosen is a rookie designer mistake.




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