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Looking for a vinylesk sounding DAC

I cannot say I wasn’t satisfied with my system.

Laptop (Quobuz Studio) - > Schiit Bifrost 2 - > Ocellia Reference RCA - > Werner Acoustics, Selene (active tube preamp using two VT-231 from RCA) - > passive preamp - > Ocellia Reference RCA - > First Watt F6 dual mono custom built - > HEDD Audio’s "Heddphone" / Hifiman HE 4

From the beginning I started to built it I had a quite concrete idea of what it should sound like in the end: vinylesk without using vinyl. It took me a while to get there and now I really thought I got it: Due to the F6 the outcome is brutally powerful and incredibly fast while the tube stage adds lots of body, depth and a rich organic undertone. Finally the RCA’s from Ocellia were adding the fine raffinement and a nice holographic soundstage. Nothing smears, in just every situation everything stays transparent, well controlled/articulated and the separation is just excellent.

BUT when listening to streamed vinyl I still feel the need for action - I just want EVERY track from quobuz to sound like this. Please take just some seconds and listen to this:

https://musicandvinyl.blogspot.com/2020/08/haruomi-hosono-from-aegean-sea.html?m=1

There is just MORE elasticity, MORE tonal density, MORE plankton, MORE concentration to the point, MORE light-footedness and MORE palpability (compared to a "disdainful" quobuz stream). Do you know what I mean?

I still think and hope a new dac could be the nirvana-solution. But which one would manage the job to sound just like vinyl (99% would be ok...)?

Happy to hear your suggestions!
barrista0611
barrista0611 OP
26 posts
 
All those suggestions are great people, thank you!! 

I already own an R2R DAC, so now I'll be looking at

- NOS R2R 
- Reconstruction filter
- superior clocking

As my budget is around 2,5k I will definitely have an eye on the Lapizator TDA1541 NOS, Tubadour MK III SE, Audio Note 2.1 and the new Soekris DAC 2541.

Still open to other options of course! 



johnss
569 posts
 
you really also need to look at what you are converting analog to digital with as well as the reverse conversion.
You may want to consider the Denafrips line of DACs; great bang for the buck.
djones51
4,947 posts
 
Since you're open to other options get  a Topping DX7 Pro , ditch everything else and implement some software filters on your computer to give vinyl sound. I can't believe all this pile of components for headphones. 
mesch
3,469 posts
 
I own the AMTubadour III with resistor and cap upgrade. Use it into a Aric Audio 6sn7 tube preamp driving a SS amp. Tubes are the way to go with digital.
gregm
3,405 posts
 
Hi @barrista 0611
Streaming means you're ultiamtely limited to the quality of the stream. That said, my experience comparing my own TT (Simon Yorke S4+arm) to my dacs (MSB Select-II & Ideon Ayazi) using an external HDD rarely yielded comparable sonic results -- and, going against the grain here, both DACs came close.
In this regard, either my Ayazi, or a Benchmark or similar could do the trick within your budget limit.

My brief experience: I wanted  natural-sounding instruments, clarity, and explosive dynamcis. No compression on large passages - classical orchestra for example.
R2R: I think that many R2Rs offer a romantic sound (i.e. naturalness coupled with a drop at frequency extremes) unless you go for the top of the line which are very expensive. IMO they will not satisfy your requirements. (My MSB probably would and you could even use its inbuilt pre as well--but at an exhorbitant price).
A well-designed, chip-based DAC like the ones I mentioned (there are many others of course) along with one reclocker or two (daisy-chained) will offer surprisingly good sound.
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