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Best Bang for your Buck DAC ?

I just realized I’m in the market for a DAC , I don’t want to spend a fortune on a DAC either . I picked up a drangonfly cobalt a while back and am unimpressed  so I moved it to my CPU and sounds really good on my system there which when I bought it figured I would do anyway since it was my first DAC purchase . There are so many DACs I have no clue , how high up on the returns chart can I go at say $1,000 before I run into heavy Diminished returns resistance. I’m open to buying used . I was thinking about a Schitt made in the states ? Anyone’s take on best bang for buck DACs? 
ngiordano
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bkeske's avatar
bkeske
5,597 posts
 
Another vote for the Denafrips Ares. 
stuartk
2,728 posts
 
Seems to me you first need to clarify what type of sound you're after. Do you favor resolution? Neutrality? Musicality? I'd suggest you find a way to demo a few different DACs in your system before settling on anything. The differences can be fairly dramatic. 
dsper
663 posts
 
Jjss49

I appreciated your informative post about the rme and musical paradise DACs.

Can you please share what preamp, amp, and speakers you were using?

Thanks for listening.

Dsper
jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,612 posts
 
@dsper

iirc - last spring when i was playing with the rme (before i sold it to a friend and hp listener), my setup was bluesound node 2i or innuos zen mini 3 as streamers, linestages c-j et5 or carver lightstar passive reference into hegel h20 ss or audio research vt100-2 tube amps driving proac response d30r or harbeth shl5+
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