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What's the greatest bargain in DAC's these days?

Hi, Gang,
I am currently running my Music Hall CD 25.2 CD player as a transport through my Musical Fidelity M1 DAC. I also have the Musical Fidelity V-Link 192 for playing hi-res files from the USB port on my laptop.
DAC's are such a fast-moving market segment that I started to wonder whether there was a "stupid good" DAC, even better than the MF M1 DAC, that could be had for well under $1000.
I started a thread in the Amps/Preamps forum called "What's The Greatest Bargain in SET These Days" that yielded tons of great info. I hope this thread does, as well!
rebbi
tune_man's avatar
tune_man
70 posts
 
With the introduction of the Rega DAC-R at $1200 it is now possible to find good deals on used Rega DAC (first version that sold for $1000).
They are selling for about $500 used and are supposed to be very analog sounding. May be a good choice for your needs.
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,319 posts
 
Hi Rebbi - good luck in your search. Can't give you a direct comparison vs all your options. Previously I was using a Gen 1 V-DAC w/V-Link. I went to a Gungnir with V-Link 192. I was playing some CDs I'd copied to hard drive yesterday and was marveling at the sound...especially as just the day before my lengthy listening session was to vinyl. The Gungnir/V-Link/MBA combo sounded great...very mellow and full in what to me resembles what I like from vinyl "sound". Worth noting is I purchased a USB cable with split power/signal runs and use this from MBA into V-Link. ALSO - have recently switched to Morrow Audio MA4s ICs (w/Eichmann Silver RCAs) going from Gungnir to pre-amp. Not saying you'd go wrong with your other options but the V-Link/Gungnir combo is working for me. As someone else will undoubtedly say (I'm sure you know this) best way to find what works for you is to audition.
thaluza's avatar
thaluza
286 posts
 
Yamamoto YDA-02. $350 plus $30 shipping from 2Juki. It only plays up to 96kHz, no dsd. It only has a usb input.

I bought one a couple months ago. I'm using it with a Mac Mini. It is my first foray into computer audio. I have no other experience with any other dac, so take this with a grain of salt. That said, I find the YDA-02 to be imminently listenable, plenty detailed but not harsh at all. It is engaging and very easy to listen to for hours at a time.

It sounds a little less "you are there" than my Sony XS5400ES cd/sacd player, but the the YDA-02 is a great value I think at $350. I think the YDA-02 can be tweaked to sound even better, perhaps by using an outboard linear power supply like the TeraDak or using something like the MF V-Link converter like you have.
coli
291 posts
 
Ross Martin, you can get a 8 channel DAC for $800. Top of the line chip too.
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