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The big DAC decision

One of the challenges of building an audio system is trying to make sure that all of the individual components of that system have equivalent and compatible technical specifications. For example, it doesn’t make sense to purchase speakers that are capable of producing sound in the 5Hz to 20kHz range if your amp is only capable of sending audio signals in the 30Hz to 15kHz range to these speakers. Unless, of course, you hope to upgrade your audio system such that it can properly drive these speakers someday.

In my desire to build an audio system that has the proper balance of individual component capabilities I’ve found myself struggling over the choice of a DAC. Basic technical specifications aren’t necessarily applicable here. The foundation of my system is a Woo Audio WA-33 headphone amp and Focal Utopia headphones. My music files consist of standard CD 16bit/44kHz resolution to Hi-Res DSD files. What I’m struggling with is choosing a DAC that would allow me to get the most out of this amp and headphone pairing. From the research I’ve done so far it is clear that the $23k Meridian Audio Ultra DAC would bring out the best of any system it is connected to. But does it make sense to purchase a DAC of this quality (and price) for my humble headphone system? Or would it be more appropriate to get the Chord DAVE (setting the MQA format compatibility issue aside for this discussion)? I’m currently using an Oppo 105D as my DAC and the music sounds pretty decent, but I know my system can sound better.

So I was hoping to get some input from fellow audio enthusiasts out there to make what may be the most important decision of my system build. I’m also looking at getting a PS Audio DirectStream Power Plant 12 to power this system. Anyone out there have any suggestions or thoughts on this issue?


slvrsrfr
audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy
3,838 posts
 
Notubes there are a ton of dacs that offer the wamth of vinyl.

The Aquahifi line of dacs do, so does Metrum, Audio Note and many other dacs that are voiced musically.

The Nquist is a lovely dac and we are not saying either one of these dacs is better than the other.

Lumins products are also modular with separate power supplies as well as separate analog and dac boards, if Lumin chooses to their entire product can be upgraded easily.

We sell alot of dacs, lumin, Emm, Light Harmonic, NAIM, Mytek, T plus A, Aurender, Nad, M2 Tech, Cary Audio, and a few others.

Lumin makes an outstanding product that offers outstanding sound quality.

The Nquist is a very good product is it $5k better than the Lumin X1 or is it better at all that is the question.

Considering the X1 just lunched you will have to see one thing Lumin has is outstanding engineering that a division of a fortune 500 company can amply supply. 

Check Lumins track record every streamer they have built has received rave reviews and at the time of launch was rated as being one of the best sonding devices at their price point.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

naseltzer
7 posts
 
The plural of DAC is DACs. The plural of CD is CDs. Everyone please stop the apostrophe abuse. 
jay23
210 posts
 
@rbstehno 
If you compare dacs, the ps audio DS dacs are far superior than most of the typical dacs for a number of reasons, IMO of course.
i think a dac that uses FPGA technology is the future and both PSA DS dacs use FPGA.
A dac that uses a network bridge is the best connection to use compared to USB/toslink/coax.
The PSA DS dacs are highly rated along with a couple other dacs that are many times more expensive.

Here is my reasoning for FPGA type dacs:
I get a free upgrade to the dac every 6 months that sounds better than the prior release of the code.

The reasoning for your opinion is sound. IMO, the PS Audio DAC will never be the best, and at a certain point the sound has gone downhill with the updates.
in_shore's avatar
in_shore
596 posts
 
Slvrsrfr im not a headphone guy however I think you would be very happy with the Cord Dave dac with headphone input though expensive even used for what it is I would urge you to try it first with your Utopia headphone,
Or upgrade the sound quality of your Oppo 105 with trying out the Empirical Syncro Mesh Reclocker which transformed playback of my Modwright Oppo 205 and Denafrips Terminator dac.
redphu72's avatar
redphu72
78 posts
 
Hello all,

Thank you for the very informative discussion.  As far a DACs go, I'm trying to integrate digital music into my 2 channel Stereo/AV system.  Would I benefit from a good AV processor AND an external DAC that can handle the various file types like PCM, DSD, and MQA?  Whats the benefit if any of having both?  My current system consists of Krell 3 channel amp and Krell Phantom preamp.  I've tried plugging my MAC computer headphone jack to the RCA inputs of the Phantom playing Tidal tracks and that only sounds decent.  Can I get better with a dedicated DAC and/or processor such as the MX 160.  All this is new to me and I'd open for suggestions.  Thanks.
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