What DAC to buy?


Under $1000.

I’ve been out of the DAC buying mode for 5 years. My Project Pre Box S2 sounded good enough. It seems to be dying...something in the output stage is scratchy and distorted sounding. Time to move on. I can buy something of equal or better sound quality, but I don’t have an audiophile system, so I doubt I’d get the full value out of a high end DAC.

Make a suggestion...lets keep it under $1000.

Here’s some specifics. I don’t need a combination DAC + Preamp. My Adcom GFP 750 pre got a refresh with Nicholson capacitors a couple years ago, its fine for me, even if its old school. I stream in CD quality...I gave Tidal a try, MQA sounded good to me, but plenty of CD recordings in the last 30 years are also pretty good, so, I don’t need to do MQA moving forward. So I stream via Amazon music for the most part, occasionally movies, and occasionally use my old CDs. That’s it. I don’t need upsampling, I don’t need any features really, no headphone option needed..just accurate sound, a USB port and a digital audio port. Maybe a Schitt Modi Plus?

I also have an Adcom 565 GMA amp that I refreshed with new capacitors and Tyler Acoustic speakers. Let me know your thoughts. I stream through a PC, not MAC. Don't even need bluetooth functionality in the DAC.  Many thanks.

philtangerine

Thanks everyone who's commented so far. Sounds like Denafips and Toppings have support here, so I'll look into them a bit. I hadn't thought of it, but I suppose I can look into streamers (and stop using the PC + Dac approach) as has been suggested. I'll leave the thread up for a couple more days. 

you would be better off having your CDP upgraded then to buy a $1K DAC.  You would get much better sound.

MHDT Orchid has to be considered, you can pick them up under $1000. I still miss that dac and the MHDT Havana,  they were just enjoyable to listen too, and only one tube to roll, the 6sn7 adapter was nice, just a fun dac. 

If I understand correctly you don’t have a separate streamer. So buying a new DAC only unit will help you how exactly?

If you need a streamer/DAC combo, look for a used Lumin D1. Here’s a good one with linear power supply

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650011970-lumin-d1-with-sbooster/