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Standalone DAC upgrade from onboard integrated

It’s about time I posted, I’ve been following long enough. I want to bypass the onboard DAC (Burr Brown) in my new Musical Fidelity M6si integrated with a standalone DAC to drive my Magnepan 1.7x’s. Budget is $1-2k. First issue: can I realize an appreciable improvement over the onboard DAC in the M6 with a unit in that price range? Second issue: I love the detail, clarity and imaging I get from the Maggies, but I don’t want them to get too clinical with a new DAC. Hence, I’ve been looking mostly at R2R typology to keep the “musicality”, perhaps at the expense of some precision. My listening tastes are mostly jazz, classical, with some vocals thrown in. Sources are about 50% streaming, 30% vinyl and 20% CD. Other components include Blusound Node, Marantz TT-15/Clearaudio Virtuoso and a 5 year old Marantz CD player. All insights or suggestions welcome.

phydo
rivington66's avatar
rivington66
86 posts
 

I love my Denafrips Pontus 15th - I run it through a McIntosh Mx110z and Mc240 (Eversolo A6 streamer) - I A/B it with my Clearaudio TT and Heed Quasar phono stage often  and It sounds pretty darn good to my ears.

swaudiofan
48 posts
 

I am using the Denafrips Pontus II with older Magnepan MG12’s.  Really nice and quite revealing.  I can imagine the 1.7x!  Only thing to consider is crap in/crap out with regard to recording and engineering quality.

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
5,928 posts
 

@phydo 

I did the same thing. I have a Hegel H390, which has a meh DAC built in and a Node N130, which has a better DAC, but still not great.  I went with a Denafrips Pontus ll R2R DAC and I still like it. Denafrips is up to the Pontus 15th. I’ve been looking to upgrade, but other than moving up the Denafrips line, I haven’t found much that interests me. Denafrips also makes the Aries, that’s below your low end price. DAC.  So my suggestion, is to look for a new or used Denafrips DAC.

audiostick
124 posts
 

I own the Music Fidelity M6si as well.  I've never really considered the USB port that accepts an asynchronous data stream up to 24/96 as a DAC, but I guess it is.  I've never even tried it.  I'm using mine with a LAiV Harmony which is above your price range new, but available used for around $2k.

Regarding the Node, I experienced a WOW moment this week.  After budgeting for a couple years, I replaced my Bluesound Vault with an Aurender N200.  It is everything I had hoped for.  Spectacular.

macg19
1,320 posts
 

I’ve been happy with this <$2K set up for a couple of years:

 

NODE N130 $500 

LHY LPS $300

BlackIce Tube DAC $900

NOS Tubes $200

Sounds great to me and I have a pretty decent vinyl source as a comparison.

Or try the newer ICON for $1200 on a 30 day trial and if you like it add a better DAC later.

At some point point I’ll upgrade my digital but higher priorities are a new rack (arriving soon) and acoustics (work in progress)

Full system listed in my profile 

 

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