Which DAC? SFD-1 MKII/Bel Canto DAC1/MF A3.24

Well I sent an email to contact@audiomirror.com, I guess I will have to see what they say. I asked about the Audiogon $499 price too.

As for a transport I am using a modified Rotel 965BX. It has a trichord clock2 upgrade so it seems to be working alright as a transport when hooked up to my Sonic Frontiers TransDAC. It is an older DAC but the more I use it the more I like it.

Anyways, back on topic: I have read the Audio Note and Sakura Systems websites information on filterless DAC's and the argument does make sense. Unfortunatly Audio note stuff is way out of my budget. I was actually considering the Shugariki for a while, but eventually I dismissed it after reading a few reviews. Generally speaking most reviews find it good, but not great. The 'keep it simple' design philisophy behind it is quite convincing, and from what I can tell is well implemented in the unit. But $1250USD is also out of my price range. Stereophile said it best, I forget the reviewers name but he said he enjoyed it as a "thing" but not as much as a DAC. More a work of art to behold than a performance to listen to I guess.

Anyone have any other suggestions for DAC's around the $400-650 USD range? I am keen to hear (haw haw) :)

TTYL Evan.

Evan,

Trust me, I had the same reaction to Audio Note and Shigaraki from a price and performance perspective, but the research and concepts they presented convinced me that the non-upsampling filterless design was the way to go. That is how I ended up with Audio Mirror. You get the right design at the right price. Now, Scott Nixon and I believe Ack also offer this design in the same price range so you may want to check them out as well.

Vlad usually takes about 2 days to respond, lots of people trying to contact him. Be patient with him.

Evan,

Trust me, I had the same reaction to Audio Note and Shigaraki from a price and performance perspective, but the research and concepts they presented convinced me that the non-upsampling filterless design was the way to go. That is how I ended up with Audio Mirror. You get the right design at the right price. Now, Scott Nixon and I believe Ack also offer this design in the same price range so you may want to check them out as well.

Vlad usually takes about 2 days to respond, lots of people trying to contact him. Be patient with him.

It's rather unfortunate, a Museatex Bitstream was just sold hours ago after only being listed for $300, it was unmodded. Even with getting John to mod it you could have probably have paid $600 for a DAC that would have destroyed the ones mentioned in this thread. Keep your eyes open if your still in the market.

I will have to keep an eye out for another Museatex. Do you have any information on the unit and or brand?

As for the Audio Mirror D1, it appears that the price has gone up due to demand. I was willing to take a chance for $499 but not "$700.00 ~ $800". Might as well get a SFD-1 for that kind of money. Ah well I guess the search continues. THanks for the idea though Clio, I will keep an eye out for a used one :).

Anyone else have some suggestions?