To DAC or not to DAC

All of the options are just mind numbing. I do appreciate the responses.

Since my primary source these days has been my Sonos, I guess I'm gonna try to get that sounding better first. Then I'll get a good transport or CD player.

Stan, I'm glad that you had the positive comment about the V-Dac. I ordered a V-DAC II last night. It'll be here tomorrow. I had given some thought to the DacMagic, but something just made me pull the trigger on the V-DAC. Looking at the specs, the DacMagic should be the better unit, with twin dacs and all, but the V-DAC is going to be easier to integrate into my system.

In any case, I can get a DacMagic locally. I might go by my local shop and see if I can audition one and do an A/B comparison.

Of course, if they both sound better than the XDA-1, I might just sell it and keep the V-DAC and DacMagic.

Thanks again.

Just my experience, but I love my V-dac with my AppleTV. I sent a DacMagic back. V-dac is much warmer and is so smooth. Now running it with a Pyramid power supply and it has a higher level of solidity and balls.

Man, I debated on whether or not to get the Pyramid power supply. I didn't get it, because I read that it didn't make a difference and chose to stick with the convenience of the wall wart.

It looks like I have to order something else.

Your experience with the V-Dac is very similar to what I've read elsewhere and was the major reason that I went with the V-Dac instead of the Cambridge to start with, although I'm still going to go and see if I can audition the Cambridge today.

As it stands now, I hooked the V-Dac II up to my system this morning. I don't know if it needs any burning in, but so far I'm seeing more highs without it being bright or shrill, but the bass seems to be less prominent than it is with my XDA-1. I had to turn my sub up a couple of notches to compensate. Still, I do believe that it has an overall better sound than the XDA-1 does. No final verdict yet though. I still need to do some more listening.

I've been busy since this morning. I was able to get my hands on a Cambridge unit to try out as well.

I spent a couple of hours going back and forth listening to some of Cyndi Lauper's slower stuff. I like her voice, but it can be shrill sometimes and can wear on you. The selections that I listened to also have some nice bass in them.

In the end I found that the V-Dac is not for me. What I initially perceived as more highs turned out to be too much of a good thing and listening this afternoon proved the V-Dac to make long term listening a hard thing to do with this sort of material. I also found that using the V-Dac made the use of a sub woofer necessary. There was no way that I could do without it. The V-Dac just seemed to suck the low end out of my system.

The Cambridge just left me unimpressed. It was smoother than the V-Dac and the bass was better than the V-Dac, but in my system, it was kind of like the XDA-1, but less so.

With the XDA-1, I got no shrillness, no matter how loud I played it. It was just plain more comfortable to listen to. There is also the matter of the bass. I've heard the bass characteristics of the XDA-1 described as bloated. I don't find that to be the case. In my system, I find it to be where it needs to be and I've spent much of my time listening to my system with the sub turned off.

In the end, the XDA-1 just made music more fun to listen to, not to mention that it has six inputs and a remote. Apparently I'm going to have to spend a lot more money to get something better than the XDA-1 and up sampling isn't necessarily something that is needed.

For reference purposes, my system consists of:

NAD C162 pre
Emotiva XDA-1 DAC
Sonos
Sony CD
Aragon 2004 amp
System Audio SA505 speakers
REL T3 sub crossed over at 55 or so hz.
All Blue Jeans interconnects and speaker cables made of Canare 4S11 cable.

BTW, I've just gotta mention that I love the little SA505s. For a 10" tall speaker they eat up everything that the Aragon can pump to them and they make a lot of music. I don't miss my 685s at all.

Tony,

To get better sound quality than your current DAC, you're going to have to up the budget a good amount, as I'm assuming you just found out. I haven't heard your DAC, but I've heard a lot about it. I've heard the V-DAC and DACMagic many times. At this level, you'll get different, not better. Different can be better matched to your system, ears, etc., but there's going to be tradeoffs like you've mentioned.

If you want a solid improvement without tradeoffs (relative to what you've got), I'd look at the $1k new retail DACs. Used will cost you less than that, but I think you know the usual suspects - Rega, W4S, Eastern Electric, MDHT, etc.