My Aries Cerat Helene is the best sounding DAC I have owned and, to me, the Tambaqui wasn’t even close to the natural musicality of the Helene in my system. That said, I also have a solid state Merason DAC 1 MkII that sounds quite good to my ears. Soon, I will be able to try another higher level solid state DAC in my system, Merason’s Mountain DAC. Although I would like to have an all solid state system, I will only keep the Mountain if it directly competes with the AC Helene in naturalness, tonal density, full-sounding bass, and overall dynamics. I considered trying a TotalDAC (d1 bi- or tri-unity) but decided to give the Merason a try first. I plan to reinitiate my 6 DAC Comparison thread as I compare the Mountain to the Helene and DAC 1 MkII. Unfortunately, the only Lampi I have owned was an Amber years ago.
End Game Dac reccomendations
Hello all! The following is my current audio system, I think my DAC is the weakest link, the rest of it I am fairly confident is reference grade. Would love some opinions on what DACS would voice well with my system, thanks!.
From router: Lumin N1 -> Lumin U2X (clocks synched) -> Denafrips Gaia -> Denafrips Terminator Plus (clocks synched) -> ARC REF 10 -> ARC REF 160S -> Focal Scala Utopia Evo and Rel 31. Power conditioning with Niagara 7000, Furutech NCFR wall outlet, isoacoustics isopucks under all componenets and gaia 1 neo underneath speakers. Thunderbird power cables and bi-wire speaker cables, AQ Diamond USB from U2X to Gaia, Dragon 48 from gaia to terminator plus, thunderbird xlr as interconnects.
My short list of DACs I think would be a great fit are Lampizator poseidon, horizon, or genya, Allnic Audio D10000/D15000, or some variation of an MSB discreet. Please give me your thoughts though. I would love peace of mind knowing my DAC is up to the class of components of the rest of my system.
I would love to upgrade my dac to improve soundstage size and holography without reducing the micro detail and blackness from my current denafrips stack. Would love to hear your opininions! open to trades and offers for sales if you have something that would fit my bill to, cheers!
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@tp802 I'm also very interested in the Allnic Audio D15000. I have a chance to home demo one and plan on doing that soon. The Aries Cerat DAC's are just too heavy for my taste. I'm also just not a fan of the looks of the Lampizator DAC's but I hear they are very good. |
Hello @tp802 , Nice system. With the tubes you already have, I would consider a non tube SS DAC. For me, this is the Master Fidelity Nadac C and Nadac D. I am all SS, and this DAC is the most lifelike and musical, without distortion, that I have heard. I upgraded from a Tambaqui. |
- 48 posts total