DAC Selection
I listen to vinyl mostly, but with my recent speakers upgrade I found digital sounding quite good and have been thinking to invest in a better DAC. I use tube gear - tube preamp, SET mono blocks, etc. I am using big full range 3-way speakers, highly efficient, very dynamic, going almost flat down to 20Hz. Most of the gear I use is either DIY or highly upgraded commercial products with exotic parts. The DIY products are all built by me, either from kits or from well-known simple and good sounding schematics. Listen to all kind of music but mostly jazz and blues.
Looking to get the best DAC I can for my system. My budget is $6K. I can try building one myself, buy a kit, or get a commercial product. Besides building one myself, three DACs have caught my eye:
I have listened to several DACs and found the Analogue Devices chips to sound more musical in my system than the newer Sabre chips. But that could be due to the DAC implementation rather than the chip itself... Never heard an FPGA DAC like the one from PS Audio. The Audio Note Kit looks great in terms of design, components, and quality, but I would never know how it sounds until I build it, so can’t really audition and return if I don’t like it like I can do with the other products on my list.
Another idea going through my head is to try building one myself - get the cleanest regulated power, the best digital section I can find, and a high-quality analog section with the best components available. And I might end up with a very high-end DAC. But again, you invest a lot of money, not knowing what the end result would be.
Some days I wish I could not solder. With all the choices we have, it is already so difficult to make decisions, and when you add DIY in the picture you make the decision making process a lot worse. And when you open a commercial product that costs $5,000 and find parts for $450, that makes you think really hard if you spent your hard-earned money the best possible way. But let’s not go there… I am happy to spend $6K for a PS Audio DirectStream DAC if I am convinced that’s my best option. And I will certainly audition that
Any comments, suggestions, recommendations?
The Audio Note DACs have a near universal reputation for a natural sound quality as opposed to a hifi/electronic character. Supposedly the SW1X Audio Designs is cut from very similar cloth. A direct comparison would be interesting. In terms of philosophy, design, circuit and implementation they have much in common. I suspect that both are very good in providing the crucial emotional connection while listening to music. IMO a mandatory requirement. Charles |
Hi Charles, I'm not familiar with that company, but I'm going to look it up out of curiosity. Thanks. At this time, there are so very many companies making DACs, and the technologies are interesting, but they can also be overwhelming to read about. I am sure that probably the majority of audiophiles who are buying the Myteks and all of the other latest brands have never even considered an Audio Note DAC. For myself, after having gone through several good players back in the day, and then a couple of supposedly good DACs, the Reiymo 777 comes to mind, and being very disappointed, I have no intention of ever going with another brand. I will go up the ladder when funds permit. I know that they are the opposite of high-tech, and they don't measure well, but I am not ashamed to say that I buy into the whole non-oversampling philosophy. They just sound great. |
@ nenon I own a SW1X DAC II STD and it’s an outstanding R2R/NOS DAC and has beat AN in a head-to-head review. See my review I posted on this site a few months ago: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/sw1x-audio-design-dac-ii-absolute-top-tier-ref-nos-dac Head-to Head review with AN 2.1X: http://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/review/digital-reviews/spdif-dac-reviews/sw1x-dac-ii-special/ For the price range you are looking at, the SW1X DAC III STD would be a timeless DAC that would rival analogue playback and you wouldn’t have to send it back for upgrades unless you wanted more uber expensive Audio Note and Black Gate caps installed every where but you could get that done initially with the Signature or Special Edition... http://sw1xad.co.uk/product/sw1x-dac-iii/ Wig |
Hi John, If you were to upgrade to an Audio Note 3.1 DAC my guess is that you'll be thrilled. I believe that Audiogon member Jond has this model and loves it. Again I think both of these companies (AN and SWIX Audio Designs ) focus predominantly on music reproduction and care little about measured perfection. Charles |
