Have some mention the Soekris 2541 as a candidate.
Neutral Dac?
I’m curious to see people’s opinions on what they believe is the most uncolored dac? Every dac I’ve tried seems to be a flavor that deviates from neutrality in some way (smooths things over, too bright, too soft on transients, lacks bass etc...). Is there a dac that people believe gets all the fundamentals correct with leaving very little sonic footprint? What is the cost threshold needed to achieve it? I’m surprised at my own findings recently but really curious if anyone else has been searching for a fundamentally uncolored dac and what they’ve found.
I realize the most obvious answer is "the dac with impeccable measurements" but I have also found some of them to sound unnatural (dry/bright).
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@audphile1 I appreciate your time and thought in your response and apologize if my response offended you…not my intent at all. I appreciate your advice about not seeking out absolute neutrality in system building. |
The two most uncolored components I’ve had in my system was a Bryston BP-6 stereo preamp and my current Musician Pegasus R2R DAC. The Pegasus does a superb job of maintaining tonality and fluidity but without truncating upper treble detail that some R2R DACs get accused of doing. I recently added a Denafrips Iris DDC to allow me to take advantage of the Pegasus’ i2S input and got yet another significant boost in transparency, detail, soundstage, and imaging. At $1100 I think it’s the epitome of not only a neutral but also a natural-sounding component that to me is the best of both worlds and is also a great value for the level of performance it provides. |
I am a big believer in synergy. I had a NAD m51. Sounded great in my system. Why I replaced it with the RME , I’ll never know. That’s not to say I didn’t like the RME , I did but the NAD has a more natural sound to me. The RME is what you would expect from a studio DAC , clean and clear. I have an all tube system, have for a while. Except the DAC. I have always said I would never buy a tube DAC. I guess my logic was that if it had tubes it would be colored and not true to the source. Then I put a LAB 12 DAC 1 Reference in the system and it’s like the best of body worlds. Plenty of detail, great tone , body, it just rocks…. |
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