I haven’t owned any five figure DACs, but I wouldn’t trade my WiiM Ultra (I use the internal DAC) for any other I’ve heard/owned below $6K.
Then there’s the fact that most speakers are unworthy of anything pricier than a Chi-Fi DAC.
What about all those Chinese DACs?
It seems like everywhere I look, there are DACs from China that have these amazing specs on paper. SNR: >133 dB; THD: 0.000004%;
Dynamic Range: 124dB. If you really think about it, these were specs that almost didn't exist outside of pro-audio gear. A lot of these units have chips from ESS, Cirrus Logic, Texas Instruments and very sophisticated conversion circuitry.
So, my question is, what do you all think?
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I've had the Denafrips Terminator-Plus for nearly 5 years now and it's been terrific. Now that Denafrips has a repair facility in TX., I won't be concerned about getting it repaired if for some reason down the line, it fails. I also have a WiiM Ultra, which is a streamer/DAC and it sounds really good, but can't sonically beat the Terminator-Plus. The Terminator-Plus was more than 10X the price of the WiiM Ultra and IMHO, isn't 10X the better, sonically. The differences while noticeable are subtle. Chi-Fi has come a long way in the last 5 years... |
@helomech I recently purchased a nice conrad-johnson tube amp and Vandersteen speakers. I didn't have an extra dac or streamer, so I ordered a Wiim Ultra for $279 instead of robbing from my main system to test the amp. I'm pretty amazed at the sound quality. I have it connected directly to the amp and I'm using the volume control on the Wiim. The preamps that I have in storage are old and I doubt they'd sound good. I haven't compared the Wiim directly with anything, but on its own, it sounds really good. I told my wife that an inexpensive piece of gear like the Wiim probably doesn't often get paired with a high quality amp like my conrad-johnson. |
I read about the Wiim ultra... Interesting.... I dont need an upgrade.... But it seems the audiophile is not dead in me completely...
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I agree. And I posit that most who’ve tried a WiiM Ultra haven’t used one in a system with top tier speakers, which are the anchor of a high end system, because speakers dictate the level of audible distortion in modern systems. Ever since building my Satori Helios speakers and making some slight tweaks to the design, my audiophile neurosis has been cured. I no longer yearn for the type of performance I’ve encountered from the likes of $50K^ systems, despite my total investment now amounting to ≈ $10K.
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