2. digital
  3. 132029-90127

Best DAC for my situation...Read on!

So thoughts and opinions please.
What I have and my idea.
Oppo 105D and Bluesound Vault 2 feeding into McIntosh C48 preamp.
I chose the C48 because it is a nice complete all in one box solution, headphone amp, mm and mc phono amp, lots of analog inputs with 2 sets of xlr inputs AND 5 total digital inputs.
Now I have both the Oppo and the vault connected by analog and digital inputs to the C48 so I can compare modes pretty instantly and I have to admit both cases the analog sounds better.
Which makes me wonder if the C48, although a great all in one solution may be the hold up as far as the DAC performance is concerned.

What I was considering as a trial is a seperate DAC that can handle the digital signals from the units and then output the analog signal via xlr preferably, back to the C48.
At this stage I have no intention of getting rid of the C48 as I really like the analog signal SQ as well as the headphone performance.

Any good suggestions in the range of $2000 used or am I really not going to see much improvement at that price range over the C48 capability?
128x128uberwaltz
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
@mesch 
Absolutely none at all
Every single one including some pretty old well played ones.
Only "issue" was about 4 cds of very old and obscure British issue nature did not get correct metadata.
Easily and quickly fixed by accessing the vault hard drive from my pc and using mp3tag to fix.
That's it, takes about 7 minutes average to rip a CD to flac or wav files.
For my requirements it was the best solution and the sq via coax digital output with a Nordost silver shadow cable is better than the original CD.
I can give the unit a solid 100% recommendation.
mesch
3,500 posts
 
Thanks uberwaltz!
ptss
1,964 posts
 
More than 80% of digital component(perhaps all components in a refined system) performance is isolation and noise elimination. I recommend BEfore upgrading, audition an Equitech 2Q for about $2400 used. A permanent extreme value improvement. Good luck. Pete
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
@ptss 
A little on the late side now....lol
Had the Exogal for a couple weeks now and very content indeed so far.
But thank you for the recommendations!
audioengr
3,282 posts
 

So presumably you also dispute certain manufacturers claims and test results and also Stereophile independent test results on several DACs. Do you still sell reclocking jitter reduction solutions?

I have not heard every DAC, but have yet to hear one that sounds the same with a cheap cable versus an expensive cable, USB or S/PDIF, or when using different sources. Some other manufacturers also claim zero jitter. This is impossible.


I intentionally designed my own Overdrive SE/SX so it does not reclock the data coming in on I2S or S/PDIF. This allows me to hear the effects of lower jitter sources. Critical to designing outboard network Renderers like my Interchange or outboard USB converters like my Off-Ramp.


I still sell the Synchro-Mesh reclocker and it’s even improved now. Interestingly, I am not able to change the sonics with the Synchro-Mesh with different sources or cables. It does appear to be immune to incoming jitter, so I know it’s possible given the right design and implementation.


Steve N.’

Empirical Audio

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