Please help me find perfect dac for me


Hello,

I am looking for a new dac, and i hope you can give me some suggestions. I find dac world is so competitive, and moving so fast... It is difficult to know where to "start"

Here are my constraints
- Budget : ~2K Euros - 2.5K USD
- No tube
- Pure dac, no preamp 
- Silver color
- Bonus : small form factor, 10" width (25cm) max would be ideal but not mandatory

Now for sonic, i want something that sound live, not too much analytical (i don't like when i heard too many details), large soundstage in width and depth, with neutral tonality
Here is a list of what i have heard / owned and what i did not like. (Unfortunaly each listen was with different system, so my judgment may be biased)

- Audio research DAC 9 : i love this dac, probably my favorite I heard, but way much out of budget. If you have cheaper alternative which sound like it and without tube i would like to know !
- Audio GD (don't remember which one 7) : Sound is too smooth and slow.
- Mytek DSD : sound is too bright and dry. maybe pro stuff is not for me
- McIntosh D100 : sound is flat. I just find it boring
- Lampizator DSD (currently owning): details retrieval is perfect, I really like the sound of this dac, except i find soundstage too narrow. higher model (atlantic, lite 7...) are out of budget. Besides i want to get rid of tube in my dac

I read lot of good thing about yggy, but i am affraid it may be too clinical for me, and seems hard to get. HOLO is black so i have to pass on this one ...

Any suggestions ?

Thanks :)




sphilia
BTW the BorderPatrol DAC sounds really great IMO. High value--but as previously mentioned it does have a tube.

I just completed the latest upgrades for an SE from a customer in China.  Sounds stellar.  This is music.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

hi,
was busy these days, i could not check the thread earlier
I think i will go for chord, as it is easily available (and resellable in future) in Europe !

@twoch I am agree, it move so fast... that why i don't like to spend a lot on DAC (it depreciates too much over time)

I do have a question (little bit off topic)
I do have linear power supply for my PC server, but much overpowered (12V - 200w, but pc does not need that much, 100w at the most)
Can i power DAC and PC with juste one power supply ? what type of cable would be needed in this case ?