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Does a Tube Dac make sense?


I’m  in the market for a dac since I bought a Musical Paradise MP701MKII Tube Preamp few months back, does it make sense to buy a tube dac? The seller Garry is suggesting to get the Musical Paradise MP D2 MKIII which is a tube dac with a AK4490 but can be upgraded to AK4499 but I’m leaning towards the RME ADI2 which is almost the same price as the MP tube dac. I’m finding it hard to justify a $1k dac but I have read a lot of forums that suggests the RME or the SMSL M400 and Denafrips Ares II but I’m a sucker for vu meters and spectrum analyzers but if the MP tube dac is a good match for my MP tube preamp I’m willing to give it a go.
stibin
mesch
3,527 posts
 
There is no more reason to discount a DAC having a tube output stage than a tube pre or a tube amp. In some regards less so. 

DACs often have fewer tubes than preamps, tubes are of lower output and less costly than preamps or amps. They are often used at far less than rated output so last longer. A great way to introduce tubes into a system. Especially at the budget under discussion here.
djones51
4,947 posts
 
The question was, do tube dacs make sense, not can I buy a dac with a tube to distort the sound to my liking. The whole engineering concept of a DAC is to convert the digital to analog as precise without distortion as possible. From that perspective adding tubes and other filters to mess with the output makes no sense. If you want colorations, to me it makes more sense to buy a transparent dac for $200 and do the signal degradation with preamps or amps or EQ. It’s cheaper and in the OPs case it makes even less sense he's already using a tube preamp.
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
This is why when discussing an audio product the final arbiter is "how does it sound" and do I like it. Tube colorations? Sure, either that or one may prefer transistor coloration. Both active devices have their inherent distortion profile and character. Either one used thoughtfully in a well designed analogue output stage of a DAC can be successful. The listener decides which device distortion characteristics they are more pleased with.
Charles
djones51
4,947 posts
 
In properly designed DACs there is no audible inherent distortion profile. 
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jjss49
6,612 posts
 
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