Emotiva XDA-1 or HRT Streamer II+

GO with the Emotiva XDA-1 I have one in one off my systems also have a first generation HRT Streamer,for $250.00 the Emotiva is very hard to beat.

I have the second generation HRT Streamer the 150.00 one, sounds great with my Merlin TSMXe speakers. I like it, the Emotiva may have more options though..........

I have the Musicstreamer ii (not II+) and it is very musical with sweet tone and an open quality

The Emotiva must be very good

Check out the Darko Dac Index/Digital Audio News for reviews.

For a cheap dac I would recommend the XDA-1 if you prefer neutral sound and a remote and the Maverick Audio/Grant Fidelity tube dac if you want some "flavor". I currently use the Emotiva with a Sansui 919 and Paradigm speakers and LOVE the sound. A friend of mine has the Grant Fidelity and it also sounds excellent for the money....

I'll give another plug for the XDA-1. So far, I've compared it to a few others in the price range, like the V-Dac II, rDAC and DacMagic and have stuck with the Emotiva because it sounded the best in my system. With all of these lower price DACs, I really don't think that any one is head and shoulders above the rest.

What I've been wanting to try is the Schiit Bifrost. The specs look really good on paper and at $350 (I don't need USB) it's begging for a test drive. The only thing holding me back is that I've read a couple of reviews by users saying that it's just a different flavor of inexpensive DAC that isn't a significant improvement over other inexpensive DACs, if any improvement at all. Just more of the usual stuff being a "great bang for the buck" as are all of the other DACs that have already been mentioned.

Personally, I consider the XDA-1 to be a heck of a deal at $250, shipped. Really, I could have paid $400+ for it and would have felt that I got my money's worth. My little mid-fi system still surprises me sometimes when I get my hands on a really good recording.

As many have said, you really don't see a significant improvement in sound quality until you get into the $1K+ range of DACs.

As food for thought, I will mention that the Peachtree DAC It is on computeraudiophile's list of recommended DACs and they comment that it's the lowest priced DAC that has ever made the list.

One issue that has not been brought up is that the USB input on the XDA-1 is limited to 16/48, if that's an issue for anyone. I'm pretty sure the HRT will accept a broader range of sampling rates over USB. My collection is CD only right now, but I want to get into high-res eventually, so I'd have to buy a S/PDIF converter and place that before the XDA-1pm the signal path.

Thanks for the info on this thread. It helped me choose the Emotovia. I think it is now being dicountinued since it is being sold for $199.

I plan to use it as a desktop office DAC mainly for streamed music from MOG.com