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dac recommendations for turntable listener?

hi everyone, kindly asking for your dac suggestions. im almost 100% a turntable listener, but recently picked up a DirectStream Dac for those times I cant find the vinyl, its too expensive, or it simply doesn't exist. im looking for suggestions as im not happy with the DirectStream dac, its just not to my liking. its too sharp up top, too thin in the lower midrange, other than that everything else is pretty great. id like to get, if possible, a dac that sounds more like my turntable. I feel like I would get mostly there if the midrange was fuller, and the top end was softer. 

my current system is marantz tt15 , dynavector 20x2, icon audio ps3 mk ii, primaluna prologue premium, and elysian 4 speakers. 

the current dacs I was looking to switch to were lab 12 dac, primaluna evo 100 dac, lampizators entry model, or Merason DAC 1. does anyone have experience with these and can recommend them? 

thanks a lot! 

Anthony 

128x128palutena
merland100
14 posts
 

I do not think an entry-level DAC and streamer or even a step above that will get you close to vinyl.  I have a Simaudio Moon 780dV2 with an outboard Moon 820s power supply which is driven by the Roon Nucleus+, and the sound it produces is excellent and rivals vinyl, and the convenience is amazing.  One of the newer Moon North integrated systems that includes a DAC and Streamer would be worth looking into or the dCS Linea or Bartok.  You will need a budget of roughly $10,000 - $20,000 new or used to get what you are looking for.

sls883
440 posts
 

I recently upgraded my streamer to a Innuos Zen Mk3. I'm using it with a Gustard R26 r2r dac. I'm quite happy with it. I think the Gustard is excellent for the money.

My vinyl playback is decent, but not crazy expensive. Marantz TT-15S1 turntable, Hana ML moving coil cartridge, and Sutherland TZ Vibe phono stage. It sounds really good, but I mostly stream now. 

I had been playing cds and SACD through my Denon DCD-1700NE, but now that I have the Innuos streamer, I'm not using it much. 

dhungana's avatar
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dhungana
36 posts
 

Check out Audio Mirror Toubadour V. Sounds as good as a lampizator pacific for a lot less. I have had one for several months and it’s been very analog sounding. It also has some DDC technology within (similar to if you added a Denafrips DDC to the chain for example). 
 

I also have the merason DAC 1 MKII and has a different sound from the Toubadour V. I think I prefer the AM Toubadour V by a shade. 

palutena's avatar
palutena OP
22 posts
 

@audphile1 @soix im currently using the ac5 power cord, I have swapped with the generic power cord and admittedly I don't hear much of a difference, I think the ac5 is airier, even though its subtle im pretty confident I would pass a blind test. 

currently using skw optical cable and bluejeans rca's to the integrated. 

I have a pair of occ neotech rca's on the way hopefully they arrive next week. and looking into getting a good usb or coax to go from node to dsd. 

 

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
5,292 posts
 

Blue jeans are decent cables (I keep a set of RCAs as a spare) but you can improve upon them.
So my recommendation is…You have to start from the amp/speakers and work your way upstream. 

I would tackle the speaker cables first. For the horns I’d try something from Cardas or Acoustic Zen Satori. Smooth and detailed - no brittleness in the mids or highs. 
Then interconnects from DAC to amp. Then USB from Node to DAC. 

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