What would you buy Sub $350 Firewire/USB DAC

I posted earlier about the Valab Dac that I had problems with and have to say Kevin from Valab provided excellent customer service in taking care of the situation. Valab has settled in on the parts used for current production and are now using a 1ppm clock. The sound is excellent, shockingly good for a $180.00 Dac with USB, coax and toslink. If you can try one that is broken in you may be very suprised, no piece of equipment is all things to all people but I would put the Valab on the short list for Dacs to try.

Prof,

Congrats, I'm confident that you'll be happily surprised at how good this thing sounds.

Perhaps due to a brief brain cramp, I said I use the DACMagic with a Mac on my piano & that's wrong. It's a PC - the DACMagic is not an approved "MAC compatable" device. Just wanted to be sure I didn't provide bad info.

Marty

I thought about buying the Valab DAC from the Pacific Valve Company as I heard so many good things about it. Ultimately, the rave reviews and the versatility of the dacMagic won me over. Were I to take the NOS route, I definitely would have purchased one of the Scott Nixon DACs.

I won't be able to see my gift before February 1st, but once I get it, I'll be sure to post.

Best,

MP

I just received my Giga Lab Moon NOS USB DAC from Pacific Valve yesterday. A 200% improvemnt over my tiny, $30 Behringer USB/headphone thing.

I was also in the price range of $200 - $500. I chose the Moon becuase:
> wanted US service (Pacific Valve is great, I sent them 3 e-mails w/ questions and they answered all of them within 1 hour).
> I wanted NOS becuase of reports that it had a "tube sound" And it does, slightly.
> no headphone crap.
> no inputs that I didn't need (has USB,coax and optical in)
> looked well-built - and it is.

I decided to go low end on my budget because in the future I intend to upgrade to something in the $2500 area from Wavelenght or Emprical.

Based on their reputation, I was serously considering the Cambridge MagiDac, but it had too much stuff that I don't need.

USB cable:
> cheap: Belkin 2.0 - $14 for 6' @ JR.com (I have one on the way)
> not cheap: Kimber B Bus - $65 for 2m @ needledoctor.com
Cryo Parts - 6' for $70
> unaffordable: Locus Design Axis - 3' for $549 (!)

Hope you enjoy the MagiDac.

My wife couldn't bear to make me wait. I've received my unit in black and am breaking it in now.

Details:

Speakers: B&W DM 610s
Amplifier: Musical Fidelity B1
Sound files: .flac
Software: JRiver Media Player / ASIO4All

Upon opening the box, I had three thoughts:

1) The unit seems reasonably well built. The case and controls feel solid
2) It comes with a wall wart--I wonder if this results in less interference by having the power supply away from the unit or if that was a cost-cutting measure
3) I don't believe that I've ever seen such a cheap USB cable in my life.

So, I connected the unit with a better USB cable, and played the Dead Can Dance Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove. I was floored by the imaging and sound stage. The latter exceeded the dimensions of my listening room. Next, I played the Chemical Brothers Setting Sun. With both of these excerpts, I was very impressed with tight controlled bass.

Before listening to more demanding music, I created a play list of very eclectic music and let the DAC run for about 36 hours. I played a number of excerpts (William Grant Still's Afro-American Symphony, Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, CPE Bach's Symphonia, & etc.) and was disappointed in the somewhat harsh nature of the highs. The bass continued to be extraordinarily well behaved, and the mids were quite warm.

I let the unit play for another 30 hours or so, and while the highs still seem a touch harsh, they seem to be mellowing somewhat. I am hoping that trend will continue.

I'll keep you posted,