DAC Question: Delta-Sigma vs R2R

Those highly raved entry level DACs, including Topping E30, SMSL Sanskrit 10th Mk II and Loxjie D30, indeed have very good measurements and appealing to the ears.

I think a lot of folks that are budget-minded refuse to believe that there's more to how something sounds than how it measures, most likely due to lack of exposure to better sounding gear or convincing themselves that they can get the "best" at a fraction of the real cost of entry. 

Whatever we start with probably sounds good to us until we have an opportunity to hear better equipment/rooms/setup.  That's when we can open our minds and our ears and wallets and strive for better sound. 

If you're happy with a certain level of sound, there's nothing wrong with that either.  I have heard systems that make mine sound "bad" in comparison, but the cost of entry is more than an order of magnitude more than my budget allows.  I appreciate and enjoy what my system can do, but also recognize and accept its limitations.

I've tried numerous DACs and they all have their own sound signature.  There are some relative bargains (I thought the Schiit Bifrost was quite good for its price) and some over-priced DACs that may not perform as well as others, but like most things in life, you get what you pay for most of the time.

@big_greg 

+1

@big_greg I largely agree with everything but would qualify the second part of your first sentence

most likely due to lack of exposure to better sounding gear or convincing themselves that they can get the "best" at a fraction of the real cost of entry.

Lets forget this notion of *best* for the moment.  Yes, you wisely put that word in apostrophes too.

What is surprising is that is that in fact some exceptionally good DACs are indeed available for the budget minded. @lanx0003 mentioned a couple - the Topping and especially the SMSL. A few hundred bucks new.

The R2Rs that I and others have mentioned are perhaps 5 to 10 (how long is a piece of string? "the cost of entry is more than an order of magnitude more than my budget allows" yeah.) times the price of an exceptional sigma delta DAC..

For the well known declining incremental sound quality, and even that may be psycho acoustic at the levels we are talking about.. Depending on the supplied aliasing filter chosen, frequency curves are generally pencil flat in the audible range. 

Barely perceptible noise floor given that THD and noise is usually below audible hearing at < -120db, sometimes < -140db. Blackness.

Any sound signature is possibly the presence of audible harmonics slipping through (hello R2R!). Other things like connections (people who use USB sometimes have questions here, for example) and other hardware stuff, I dunno.

I’ve the new SMSL VMV D2 in my setup, replacing my Benchmark Dac3 HGA, both delta sigma but with very different implementations of differing chip sets.  Both r really good music makers with enough features to keep the serious hobbiest happy.  Both can act as excellent preamps on their own, a real plus in a minimalist system, SMSLs 4499 implementation offers the opportunity to add a ddc with its I2S input and a clock frequency selection and input, so the new generation of disaggregated components at affordable prices can be utilized to squeeze out additional performance on an already sweetly voiced dac.  Good stuff.  The Dac3 remains a ‘stud’ offering up plenty of muscle if not quiet the refinement.  Benchmark stacks just sound right and the older ESS implementation still sounds terrific on cd quality material.  Like choosing vanilla or chocolate ya gotta get the fundamentals right for the longer term utilization and for me that means features and flexibility.  
I’ve also both Hestia and Athena Denafrips preamps in my rig cause there is more than one way to get class A body and tone into an audio rig.  So far, I wouldn’t change a thing…(-; 

Hi All,

First off thanks to everybody who took the time to provide me feedback/advice, this was invaluable and I have researched everything sent my way. Especially thanks to fellow tinnitus folks. Getting quality advice about my specific situation was important and I don't know of anywhere else I could have receive that input.

Based on these discussions and what I learned from researching I think my path is:

1) I really needed to do more critical listening to my system to understand strengths and weaknesses, I am not a critical listener, I just melt into the music. I am not sure I am in a good position to do this right now as I've been listening to the same system for a long time. I think getting a different DAC in will lead me to learn much more about my system.

2) I need to have a better understanding of what is important to me. Been doing this since the thought first started rolling in and I have learned I am not a detail hound. I have learned that what really excites me is having natural tones and depth of tone to my music which puts me in a realistic setting. That combined with a broad and well defined sound stage to paint the picture. Those are 1 and 2, all else is great icing on the cake.

3) I have created a short list of components to try based on what I heard here and learned from my research. I am looking to try the following as they seem to fit my budget, system cost and unanimous praise:

• MHDT Labs Orchid
• Merason Frerot
• Border Patrol
• Denafrips Ares II
• Shiit Gungnir

The challenge is finding ones to listen to. I basically live 100+ miles away from quality audio stores and the cost to drive there and back, the lost day, and then not hearing it in my system, not in my room, and all that is probably not optimal. If I can get a fair deal, I listen to one for 2-3 months if I like it and then resell it and probably will cost me less than a tank of gas and provide me a relevant experience. It also allows other to move up the food chain while I nibble at the bottom.

What I think makes sense is to just pick up the next good deal used and see what it does, and then for some of the items such as the Schiit or Denafrips, if I really dig it it could lead me upstream. So take the path of opportunity.

So honestly, this may all sound like an obvious path, but this discussion has given me the confidence to take it.

Thanks and Ill probably chime back in soon for more advice once I learn more.

Much appreciated