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Thinking about getting a R2R DAC

Dear community,

I currently have a chord qutest DAC. I like it a lot, very full sound, accurate detailed and exciting.  However, whenever I go back to vinyl (with a well-recorded nice pressing) I find the sound so much more satisfying.  There is a warmth, yes, but there is a presence, a 'there-ness' that I just don't get with the digital.  I'm wondering if an R2R DAC would get me closer to that?  my budget would be around the same as the qutest.  I was looking at the MHDT Orchid or the Border Patrol.  Don't get me wrong, I really like the Qutest.  I am thinking of putting it in the upstairs system to pair with the Node2i I have up there.  Any thoughts?  Will analog always just be a different animal than digital?

Currently in the main system I have a Sonore uRendu feeding the Qutest which is going to a LTA MZ2 going to a Pass XA 30.5

thanks!
adam8179
cygnus_859
20 posts
 
I am looking for a DAC for a while too. R2R came to my mind. Orchid, Audio Mirror and Lampizator, etc. I considered Lampi first, then Lampi changed from R2R to DS and Amber III has very good review. Even their flagship has DS chip. I am confused, is Amber III (DS) better then their old R2R Atlantic? 
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jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,612 posts
 
@cygnus_859

don’t focus solely on the dac chip... the chip affects the sound, but no more than several other factors in what is in a certain dac

mhdt dacs are famous for this... they make 7-8 nos r2r dacs with different r2r chips but you swap output buffer tubes in any of them, you can make all of them sound different or alike from each other (not to mention parts upgrades)
alexberger
892 posts
 
Hi @adam8179 ,

I also use Chord Qutest for couple of years. I like it very much. It is a huge step compared to my old Care 303 CD player that use 1704 DAC chip. 
I improved the SQ of  Qutest significantly when I changed BNC digital socket to Audio Note silver RCA and started using NBS Signature cable. Thank a lot to @zipost suggested me to do it. Now CDs sound competitive to my vinyl setup. But vinyl still wons in terms of tone and microdynamics. But CD at least as good in presentation, soundstage, separation and other audiophile attributes.
Did you compared your network streamer to good CD transport with SPDIF cable?

Regards,
Alex.
decooney
1,947 posts
 
@hilde45 The Pagoda has a tube. Is there much debate about tubes needing break in? Mine definitely changed over first 40 hrs.  


To add on to your point - 
It's not just the stock supplied tubes that take time settle in, the new caps inside need to settle in as well. My MHDT Orchid is very 3-dimensional, and deep soundstage. Upgraded it again after the first year, even better now once I upgraded the coupling capacitors inside to high $ silver-gold-oil Mundorf caps with Cardas silver soldering, and went with an ever better NOS Tesla tube to replace the decent stock tube. It now challenges DACs at 2-3x the price. Same can be done to the Pagoda.  My buddy uses a Pagoda in a mastering studio.  
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