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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
audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,805 posts
 

Well it’s all you. You kept at it and didn’t give up. 

And yes, streamers make a difference. 

The Canare 4s11 speaker cables aren’t terrible. I own a pair. They’re not resolution champs but they also don’t sound harsh. 

Work on room acoustics next. Treating first reflection point (side walls) usually does wonders to tame harshness. Bass traps behind speakers help as well - the bass is more focused and controlled which will help balance out the mids and highs and with better bass the sound will be fuller and not as brittle. 

Once you’re done with room acoustics I strongly recommend Acoustic Zen Satori over Zavfino. I owned pretty much all AZ cables and I can tell you they sound natural, don’t have the sibilance in vocals and have excellent details and warmth. On a used market they’re a bargain. 
Zavfino is just OK. I tried their interconnects and they were mediocre at best. A friend of mine had their speaker cables and didn’t like them. 
Don’t get too hung up on OCC. it isn’t a guarantee of perfect sound. Keep the neotech when it arrives but focus on good room then speaker cables.
 

zimwig's avatar
zimwig
61 posts
 

The Sonnet Morpheus is a great R2R analog sounding DAC with very nice built in preamp.

nwres's avatar
nwres
223 posts
 

+1 on adding a better power supply to the Node. This should help with the sibilance, tame harshness and add more clarity. I highly recommend Fidelity Audio in UK. Their Reference interface board and LPS make an exceptional difference. But the Teddy Pardo and PD Creative options are also good, and less $$.

bpoletti
1,551 posts
 

DAC for phonophilers?  Good luck with that.

papafrgog
102 posts
 

Glad you isolated the difference the room can make. It can transform the sound of any system, typically at a lower expense (and significantly less risk) than new electronic gear. Good acoustics will allow you to accurately assess your system and adjust it to your listening preferences. 

To your original question, I settled in on the Asthetix Romulus Eclipse CD/DAC unit. Being a tube hybrid, I was able adjust the top-end harshness of digital to my smoother "analog" preference by rolling the tubes to NOS Telefunken and Amperex Bugle Boy, and I found the process to be fun and educational. 

FWIW, my streamer source is a Lumin U-1 and interconnects are Synergistic USB and Transparent XLR,   

Good luck.

 

  

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