$2000 Dac


I have kept my eyes on the Dac comparisons. What I'd like to know is what Dac can I buy new or used for under $2000? I am looking for examples that don't throw the voices so far in front. Yes, I like the detail. I am coming from a Luxman dac that was very good, but I just felt the voices were too close, often pianos felt the same. Sometimes almost feeling a little glare as well. So, I am searching for a detailed dac with a little more laid back mids for under 2 grand, new or used. thanks

dpm2340

Thanks @t_ramey,

I know about dacs that use tubes and the Lampizator brand were ones I came to admire a lot. And what I’ve learned is it can be a costly proposition especially if you have tubes in other parts of your rig like the phono preamplifier and your preamplifier. Not to mention the fact that each piece of gear will have any number of multiple tubes. So I made the decision when I next upgrade my dac it won’t have tubes. And then I found out about R2R dacs. I see we’re on some of on the same pages. Cool stuff here.

i have my Divinity on a Star Sound ( Now Live Vibe ) Apprentice platform with a Hijiri Nagomi power cable. I haven’t heard any of the Denafrips dacs or others like Gustard or Holo so I can’t comment on how they compare but with the Divinity I find myself listening for long sessions and just feel wrapped up in the music. I’m very happy with my decision. Good luck with your audio pursuit.

I also have a full loom of Hijiri HCI interconnects and Hijiri HCS speaker cable too which has had a profound impact on my rigs sound.

My lived experience with the Gustard R26 is just "meh.". For an R2R it sounded to much like a Delta/Sigma dac. I'm enjoying my Pontus 15th very much. 

Thank God i dont need a new dac...

But sometimes and probably very often  the problem is not the dac so much but the way we optimize it or not...try to optimize before throwing money...

Anyway  i cannot gave any informed opinion about dac brand names  S.Q. / value... I love too much mine which serves my needs well... I tried to upgrade it once and i lost money...

For sure i cannot put on a low cost system a very costly dac especially if i cannot fault my low cost one...And no,  my system is not acoustically  low grade at all, low cost yes ....

smiley