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Little Giant NOS DAC mini review

I bought this dac a few months ago from Aliexpress. It is a 47 Labs clone with a Philips TD1387 chip in non-oversampling mode.

It also employs a variant of the Pass output buffer, and utilizes a sole S/PDIF coaxial input.

When using this dac with my computer, differing levels of digital distortion were clearly present, with the best digital files having the least. The results were good to terrible.

But when I use my Carver MV5 cd player as a transport, I get much different and improved results.

Not only is the distortion reduced to a tolerable level, the sound is warmer and smoother, with a good soundstage and imaging.

I would also say that it is closer to analog than my old Micromega Stage 3, while providing more air and apparent resolution.

soundmann
soundmann OP
17 posts
 

Digital is plagued with audible distortion!

DAC's that can keep it in the neglegible range are special indeed, especially when they employ no filters.

soix
8,715 posts
 

Digital is plagued with audible distortion!

I’d submit that streaming music from your computer is the source of the problem — computers are the noisiest digital source you could possibly use. I’d suggest investing in something like an iFi Zen Stream ($399) streamer that will bring your streaming performance to an entirely different level that will likely rival and possibly surpass your CD player (it did mine), especially if you subscribe to something like Qobuz as a music source.

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,063 posts
 

“Digital is plagued with audible distortion!”

Did you really hoped to achieve digital nirvana from a Chinese clone and PC?

baylinor's avatar
baylinor
1,210 posts
 

There will always be the 5 digits crowds and the 3 digits one. Who is to say who is smarter. Good for you soundmann.

ghdprentice
6,389 posts
 

Thank you for your comments on the Little Giant. Good to hear you are happy with it.

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