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Maybe it IS all in the DAC chips

I’ve often pushed back against the idea of purchasing any piece of audio gear based on the parts contained, especially DAC’s.  While the Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) itself is the key component, so much goes into making a good sounding product,  like stream buffers/jittter removal, power supplies and analog output stage that I thought this could lead buyers astray.

Still, having done that, and still thinking that I correctly warned others to avoid buying just on DAC brands alone, I have found myself after many years, returning again to vintage Burr Brown based DACs and home theater processors.  

Color me changed with experience. 

erik_squires
erik_squires OP
17,608 posts
 

Well I've just "downgraded" to the AVM 50 and I have to say I like the sound better.  It's very hard to make an apple to apple comparison as I'm going from an AVR with mixed use of the preamp outputs to a processor with fully external amps.  I'm also using Neo6 for 2 channel audio.

While the AVM 50 is a gigantic PITA to use and configure, the audio quality is much better and it gives me back a pure analog input, allowing me to bring my Mytek DAC back into the mix. 

wspohn's avatar
wspohn
654 posts
 

I have found the DACs to be very hard to predict vis a vis sound quality. I run a Hegel HD12,  Moon 280D, and a Classe DAC1 in various systems and have an original Arcam Black Box somewhere and have found it difficult to assess them even swapped into the same system.

jacupmakeup
38 posts
 

I recently found my soul mate T+A DAC 200 and use the PCM side, which uses Burr Brown 1795 chips. It's so good. 

polkalover
177 posts
 

Keep chipping away at what sounds good.👍 

earthbound
302 posts
 

Interesting. Me too. My dac uses 4 Burr Brown PCM1704 chips. One of my other dacs also used older versions of Burr Brown. To me, they sound very natural compared to some others. 

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