+1 @oddiofyl First, thanks for the incredibly comprehensive and impressive list! Obviously they all have their inherent strengths/weaknesses as they pertain to your system and tastes, but can you list the top choice — or at least the top three — and explain what puts it/them there? Curious minds wanna hear your very valuable thoughts/experience.
dacs that I have had in my system - a listing
i comment quite a bit on threads about digital/analog converters, as i have tried many since the covid period in early 2020, when i recommitted to my hifi and getting streaming and a truly modern digital front end implemented in my main home system
i have had questions on what dacs i have actually tried -- so last week when i was sleepless on a long transcontinental flight home from a holiday, i made a listing, which i post below
almost all dacs below have been owned, and spent extensive time (at least 2-3 months) in my system, obviously there have been changes in my system over this time, and not all dacs were owned at the same time
i post this here so others can refer to this here - i looked, but i could not find a way to post this on my 'system' page
the asterisk-ed entries are still in hand, currently:
2020
topping d90 mqa
ayre codex
mhdt stockholm
mhdt orchid
mhdt istanbul
denafrips pontus original
musical paradise mpd1
ps audio d link iii modded cullen
bs node 2i
2021
denafrips ares 2
denafrips pontus 2
denafrips terminator
auris d1d vu
audio mirror tubador 3 se
van alstine fet topp*
van alstine fet hybrid
rme adi 2 (akm)
schiit modius
schiit gumby
schiit yggy*
sonnet morpheus
border patrol se i
metrum jade
metrum octave
metrum hex
metrum adagio
musical fidelity trivista 21 (modded)*
weiss 501* (now 4ch)
2022
chord 2qute
chord qutest
chord m scaler* hugo tt2*
mhdt orchid modded*
audio note kits dac4 pro
msb analog w powerbase*
denafrips venus 2*
denafrips pontus 12
audio gd master 7
musetec 005
bs node n130
bricasti m1se mdx
doge 7
hegel h90 190 390 590* (internal)
2023
gustard r26*
eversolo dmp a6 master*
mhdt toucan
orchard pecan pi*
cambridge audio cxn2 modwright modded tubed*
Showing 3 responses by soix
@jjss49 Well my friend you certainly stepped in it this time! I’m sure you knew making this post would be a little like having a kid — it never ends. Thanks again for sharing all this extremely valuable, helpful, and insightful hands-on info, and RIP to your free time. Heh heh. |
I honestly don’t think speaker choice is the most important thing here although using the very transparent Maggies seems to be a very good choice. In these comparisons the most interesting info to me are the relative differences between the DACs rather than the absolute strengths that may shine in one speaker type or another, and I think that this was born out when @jjss49 intermittently introduced other very different speakers and the relative differences still prevailed and were largely speaker agnostic. This is what makes this thread and feedback so powerful — you can reasonably expect the same relative strengths in your system between DACs regardless of your speakers or even your system. Very valuable stuff indeed! |