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I am checking out these DAC's for my system

I am building a system and all I have left to get is the DAC and maybe a streamer.  I really an at a loss on which DAC to get.  I am wanting to stream music and also use my system for watching movies.  My equipment currently is SMC audio tic-2 GT24 preamp and DNA.5 GT24 amp with GR Research NX-otica's and Open Baffle subs.  The DAC's that interest me are

Mojo Audio Mystique X SE- I will have to purchase used and I will need to use and adapter to connect to my TV because it doesn't have toslink.  

Mojo Audio Mystique Y-  It only has a USB connection so I am not sure how to connect to my TV.  Mojo audio DAC's have really good reviews but If they only had toslink.  I am really intrigued with the choke in the power supply.  I think there might be something to that.  

Holo Audio May KTE-  People say the mojo sounds better more natural but this DAC still holds a pretty good price used and doesn't last long on the used market.

Musetec mh-da006-  This DAC is interesting but I am afraid it will be fatiguing.

Audio Mirror Tubadour v-  This just seemed interesting but afraid tubes won't last very long if I watch a bunch of movies etc.

Denafrips terminator plus- These are always for sale used which make me nervous.  

If you have any of these DAC's or have listened them let me know from your favorite on down.  

128x128brbrock
shmeet
7 posts
 

 @@dbb  -   my tube pre amp is made by response audio / musical Bella ( formerly purity audio)  the engineer or builder Bill Baker was/is working for Raven and build his own stuff.   The foundation preamp the he built me came stock with a solid state rectifier I Bill if he can make it with a 5ar4 rectifier,  so he built a separate chassis that power the rectifier and also installed a 12v and 5v Lp into it to power a streamer or Dac.  The foundation preamp is very quite, smooth and  picks up alot of detail.  I'm feeding the the preamp from the puritain 156 with Aq hurricane high current.  Feeding to the Gallion TS A20 power amp  ( also a very good peice of Kit)

Currently using wathan cyro treated rectifier and 6922tubes great results.

Now to the mustec preamp  with 200 hrs of burn  in.  Fantastic,  sounds like a tube preamp,  when I hit the 500 hrs recommend burn time of the preamp I will report back , I also want to AB the two preamps.

shmeet
7 posts
 

@dbb also I have been streaming directly from my laptop to the mustec 006 Dac with a 15 f6 AQ usb cable from YouTube music ( i know it's temporary)  putting in an order for their innuos pulsar and network switch .

scp
49 posts
 

I have the Audio Mirror Tubadour V and was drawn to it because of the tubes. I dont have any experience with any of the others but the Holo Audio May KTE was on my short list as well. After reading about the tubadour..it just tripped my trigger. Vlad the owner is very accessable and answered my questions and was a dream to work with. I am sure if you reach out to him...you will be impressed...he knows about other dacs and may be able to answer comparisons on some of them. 

What impressed me was the quality of parts used.  Lundahl  transformers, Vishay resistors,GAIA isolation feet, Furutech gold IEC inlet, built-in USB re-clocker..just a lot of attention to detail. 

Needless to say I am a very happy camper.

ghdprentice
7,262 posts
 

OP, 

Yes you want to keep the preamp. Only in very few and specific systems does a preamp not significantly improve the sound. Great preamps are a part of nearly all great systems. 

brbrock's avatar
brbrock OP
78 posts
 

@ghdprentice I am definitely keeping the preamp.  The amp is a decendent of the SMC Audio VRE-1.  

@scp I am really interested in the Audio Mirror DAC and one of the Mojo Audio DAC's.  The Mojo Audio DAC's don't have TOSLINK.  Both have excellent parts and great reviews. 

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