I second the Schiit Loki Mini+ tone control....It's amazing for adjusting the sound just the way you like it without adding distortion like many EQ's do. DAC wise, No other DAC under a grand sounds more analog and gets more positive rave reviews than the Denafrips Ares 2....Wide open , musical and I love the phase button that gives you that " I am there" feel. Most DACS don't offer that feature. Definitely an R2R DAC for analog sound.....
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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Last year we had a severe thunderstorm that fried some of my audio equipment. This last summer I took the plunge and bought several new pieces of equipment (including stuff for sound diffusion, noise filters, vinyl playback, cd playback and plain old fm radio), and I'm really happy with the results so far. (I had settled for listening through my computer until this last summer.) One piece of equipment that exceeded any expectations I might have had was the Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M ($500). IT IS NOT A TUBE DAC, but if you're open to exploring a less expensive option, it's worth your time. I can't say enough positive things about this DAC. It's astounding to hear it in action - like night and day compared to the old system I had. I use it with a much better CD transport and coax cables now, and absolutely everything has improved (the DAC itself has separate chips for left and right channels, and I think that's made a major difference for some reason). I'm also ripping my CDs to flacs to create a "poor man's music server", using a Sony blu-ray player with a USB input and a coax output. Same incredible results in high fidelity, but now it comes from flac files on a USB SSD running through the blu-ray player into the DacMagic 200M. I'm much happier these days. https://www.cambridgeaudio.com/usa/en/products/hi-fi/dacmagic/dacmagic-200m |
- 33 posts total