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A Newcomer to Digital Looking to Upgrade My Dac, Tubes? Ideas?

Being a relative newcomer to digital downloads and playback, I love the convenience when I am looking for a short music session and don't feel like going through my vinyl. I find the digital quality pretty good, but looking to upgrade my dac to get some additional warmth into my playback, I'm thinking maybe a tube dac, not sure what I should spend but cost wise was thinking of $ 2,000.00 as a budget. Not sure if such a dac exists, or if you have suggestions. I have built up a pretty good collection of both PCM and DSD HD music, mostly copies of what I have on vinyl but the vinyl has seen better days. Currently I am using a TEAC UD-501, tube preamp- (Schiit Mjolnir 2), Amp.- (Adcom 555se), Balanced throughout usually through my PC but I also use my portable through the coax to the dac. Speakers are Wilson Benesch Square 2. Unfortunately I have an L shaped listening room, which seconds as our living room, typical of what you find in a condo, volume levels are generally low to medium, to spare the neighbours, and I split my time between the speakers and headphones.
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jallan
253 posts
 
+1 for Yggdrasil, far better than vinyl for equivalent price in my experience 
shooter41
60 posts
 
+1 more for Yggdrasil, in particular the new "Less-Is-More" variant. It's an absolute revelation. I had a Gungnir Multi-bit, itself no slouch, and this new Yggy has provided the biggest improvement in sound for me that I have yet experienced in my front-end. According to many pro reviews there's nothing even 3-4 times it's price that can touch it. How it handles less than stellar recordings must be heard. Their Unison USB interface is also fan-freakin'-tastic. The guys at Schiit know their....stuff. There's a 6-8 week wait for this new version, for good reason.
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jjss49
6,601 posts
 
op

your compromised room notwithstanding, your wilson benesch speakers are quite resolving and you already have a tube pre feeding a solid state power amp, so you have a reasonable system tonal balance i would guess (although my experience with adcom amps is they do tend to sound quite typically solid state)

i would suggest you try a denafrips pontus, which is quite middle of the road tonally (not too sharp/lean or too overtly tubey), a better soekris r2r dac, or if you can spend a bit more, a doge 7, which has a tubed output stage, but is also very middle of road in tonal balance

all are excellent at their respective price points, and iirc they all can handle dsd
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infection
805 posts
 
jb52 - you're the new ***t.
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hilde45
4,778 posts
 
I'm thinking maybe a tube dac, not sure what I should spend but cost wise was thinking of $ 2,000.00 as a budget. Not sure if such a dac exists

Have you searched this forum or the internet? Really, you cannot assert to be at square one on this question with any kind of earnestness. 
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