To DAC or not to DAC ?

@mceljo I have upgraded the tube to a Western Electric 396A that I paid about $90, but I don’t think that I can hear a definitive difference from the GE tube that it replaced.

By chance have you tried using better digi-coax cables? The GE and Tesla tubes sound notably more transparent compared to the WE396/2C51 tubes in my own MDHT Labs Orchid DAC. The WE is much less transparent, a bit more veiled over in some systems, and so much so that I really cannot use it in my all-tube system. Maybe yes with a more detailed SS amp/preamp setups like I had years ago. I’ve tried four different digi-coax (Cardas, Analysis Plus, Audioquest, others) and was suprised to hear a difference with DAC tubes after advancing to better Digi-Coax. Ended up with an OCC copper digi-coax cable for the stremer to DAC, and OCC interconnect cables again from the DAC to my preamp. Now i notice every single tube change in my DAC for better or worse.

Tubes will make a difference. But the don't generally make a dramatic imnprovement.

Here are 2 DACs that will make a significant difference in the price range.

1) Topping D90SE. Maybe the best mesauring DAC and it sounds so clean and detailed. I love this DAC with my warm CODA amp. It costs $900 new. This one uses the ESS chip while the D90 uses the chip which had the factory fire (forgot the name)

2) The Gustard X26 Pro. I just sold it for $925 last week. It is on sale today for $1275

GUSTARD X26 PRO Full Decoding ES9038Pro*2 Chip DSD512 Bluetooth 5.0 X (shenzhenaudio.com)

This is a warmer DAC and not as detaieed as the Topping D90SE or Benchmark DAC3B, but pretty close. It also has NOS | OS mode with 4 filters for each mode. The sound does change with the filters. This is a great DAC for the price. I sold it to buy the Musetec 005 which is also on sale today for $2969. So that is a big jump in price.

@fullers If you are also considering preamps that have no sound to them, the Topping pre90 ($600) sounds like the Benchmark LA4 ($2600). Both are like wore with gain and do not seem to add to the sound. They measure the same and sound the same. However, the LA4 works great with every amp I had while the pre90 has only worked properly (the volume) with my Benchmark AHB2 amp and Parsound A21+ amp. Not so with a CODA #8 or a few Class D amps I have now sold.

There are a few people on ASR website using the pre90 as their preamp, such as a Stereophile reviewer. He dumped his Benchmarlk LA4 for the pre90. I plan on dumping my pre90 and keeping my LA4.

This is just a very low cost suggestion to get a reference level nuetral sounding preamp. If you want warmth then these 2 preamps are not the correct choices.

Have you ever thought about a used PS Audio Direct Stream DAC and Bridge 11 combination. They can be had quite cheaply now if you scout round then you could have Streamer, DAC and Preamp all in one and have a piece of hardware more comensurate with your other equiptment and also get some money for your other stuff into the bargain.