The one you like best. I know what I do.
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First you need to say what format of digital you are mainly using. Are you mainly going to use PCM Redbook 16/44, 24/96 or DXD download? Or are you mainly going to use DSD streaming? This will decide on what type of conversion technique within the dac will be the best for what you are mainly going to play. Cheers George |
While better 411 would help get the right answer, strongly consider a Audio GD R2R dac. Now available from Underwood HiFi https://www.underwoodhifi.com/products/audio-gd hth |
These Days or years for that mater big name audio started will guy a dream a passion to make good QT equipment the investors Corporate kills the Dream i make poor Quilty gear keeping the names you know & onced love yes maybe it time to stream my music BUT to $ 3 $ 4 K 7 up is B/S story ill buy from the underdog making a good product & at a FAIR price Doing the Same Thing Over & Over spending Big Buck & expecting a change YOU Know What They Call That !!!!!!!!!!! |
I have owned or tested in my system almost all DACs mentioned here: Audio GD, Orchid, Lampizator Big7, Bricasti, Trubadour. Most of them are fine DACs, very resolving, precise, musical and overall pleasing. However my personal preference goes to Audio Note 4.1, EAR Yoshino DAC 4 and SW1X DAC 3 which can be found on S/H market in your budget. You will notice that almost all DACs mentioned here are R2R DACs with Philips TDA1541 chip. This is not a coincidence. Many audiophiles appreciate R2R DACs and that particular Philips chip. |
erastof, I know that you asked for the best DAC up to $5,000. My personal favorite is the Chord Hugo TT2 which I have in my headphone system now. Yes it does retail at $5,495, but I was able to get mine for a very good price, and they are widely available at a discount if one only takes the time to investigate. The strength of the TT2 is in the amount of detail retrieval it achieves and in the musicality of how this DAC sounds when compared to other products at a similar price pont. |
on a somewhat more serious note i would point out that primary hp listeners will value different qualities and attributes of various dacs rather differently than those using conventional systems with speakers in space trying to produce a palpable stereo image and dealing with room interactions once again, poster who ask, and posters who reply, without proper contextual information about the listening conditions and system information are pretty much wasting bandwidth |
The OP needs to remedy the paucity of his system solution information. Found this in a 12/20 posting "My PS Audio system is the following: PerfectWave DS DAC, Stellar 1200 amplifiers, Direct Stream Power Plant 12, AudioArt interconnects and speaker cables, Triode Labs and Essence Reference II (Essential Sound Products) power cables. My system is located in my master room (crazy location-just moved to a small apartment). I mostly listen to jazz (trios quartets), acoustic music (piano and guitar) and vocals. My speakers sound great (they are close to the rear wall-14"). Will like to improve the mids, soundstage and deeper tighter bass" Given the system described, his DAC is unlikely to be an issue butthe digital source solution is unnamed and quite often not on par withthe PS Audio gear. Would expect to see an Aurender, Innuos or Antipodes server in use before thinking about a next DAC. |
The Audio GD R7 HE with power regeneration is a incredible dac I heard this with a pass labs amp ,with 4 Big R core transformers the most comprehensive R2R ladder dac I have heard to date and being in a tri state audio club I have heard very good products from top Denafrips, Holo springs May KTE , and briscati ,and this dac uses FPGA and a firmware upgrade port ,and external 10 MHz for top master clock future add on upgrade , It literally has 7 true sonics choices 4 non over sampling including a vinyl mode, and 3 over sampling .I have never seen any dac this extensive And truly Taylor’s the sonics to your system and taste ,and the first power regeneration I have ever seen in a dac ,or any gear for That Matter. I bought their Excellent G8 mk2 dac, for this year did not have $5 k this year maybe next year though. |
The Holo May KTE dac is absolutely a unicorn at its price. I've owned Border Patrol, Benchmark, Denafrips Terminator, Rockna Wavelight, Mojo Audio Mystique Evo, and spent time with Bricasti M1SE, Dave+Mscaler, Berkeley Alpha Ref 2, Lampizator Pacific, MSB Select II and DCS Vivaldi Stack. The Holo May KTE is has a timing correctness and spooky real tonal quality that reminds me of the MSB Select II which is the best digital I've ever heard at any price. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't come to the Select II, but for its price it comes a hell of a lot closer than anything else. |
There is a huge tradeoff between DACs in this price class in terms of soundstage vs. detail. It really depends on what you want and what you prioritize. I have been doing a boatload of DAC testing recently and I would put the Rockna Wavelight and Audiobyte HydraVox as my favorites sub $5k. TT2 and M3 are $6K and $5.5K respectively. The Rockna is soundstage centric while the Audiobyte is more detailed. There are a ton of notes in this thread https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/dac-shootout-starts-this-weekend In the end, system matching to achieve your taste preference is what is most important. You can select the "best" and it may not be to your liking due to a mismatch or just that it is not your preference. |
