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DAC upgrade

Greetings,

I am currently using a Jolida Tube DAC. I'm quite happy with it but as we all know, unknown temptations are as luring as known ones.

So, the question is this: what DACs would you suggest as a noticeable/audible upgrade for no more than, say, USD3000?

The DAC is fed from a ProJect transport and a dedicated pc, holding a few thousand uncompressed CDs and SACDs; and it feeds into an Ayon Triton III amp, driving Focal Be speakers. The cables are at the level of the and the speakers. I'm only mentioning these components to give an idea of the possible constraints on "audible difference".

One more thing: while it is interesting but of little help to know that DAC x, y or z is very good - I know that there are many good components out there. What would be useful if people familiar with both the Jolida and the possible upgrade (used in the same system) could offer some advice, possibly explaining the actual difference they could hear.

Last: I'm not in a hurry and will be happy to listen to opinions advising against replacing the DAC as long as other components remain the same.

With thanks,


Csaba

128x128malacka
yakbob
469 posts
 
I wonder if you even need to spend your full budget to achieve hapiness.

I was searching for a tubed DAC to add to my solid state system over the last few months and considered the Jolida for its attractive price. While reading some of the other forums, I came across many positive reviews for the Musical Paradise MP-D2.
They were just getting ready to release the MK3 version and had a really great Black Friday deal on the MK2 model, so I jumped on it. 

The beauty of the design (if you have the rack space for it) is that it's offered with a choice of 3 dac chips, is tube rectified, and has 4 tubes in the analog output stage. Output caps are also hand swappable since they're connected with binding posts.

All of this variability will allow for a lot of tuning (if you're into tweaking). If you're a set and forget type, this might not be the DAC for you. But, the ability to tune with tube and cap upgrades could be less expensive then riding on the DAC merry go round.

I landed at the AKM4497 chip, NOS BEL E88CC tubes, and Psvane 5U4G rectifier for an all in price around $1100.  The stock tubes are pretty terrible...I would consider aftermarket tubes a neccesity.

If you're dead set on spending the full budget a used Lampizator would be worth looking into.
melm
1,076 posts
 
Tube DACs aside, IMO the best values in quality DACs are those available by direct import from Asia.  If you're interested you need to take time to do a lot of research on many forums as well as this one.  The information is out there.
astelmaszek
125 posts
 
@mzkmxcv What in the world are you talking about? Denafrips Terminator is a custom board R2R DAC and doesn't use a chip for D to A conversion. It uses a FPGA chip for up sampling.
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,141 posts
 
Benchmark very cool sound8ng,non forgiving the new Denafrips 
pontus much more natural sounding with exceptional musical balance ., the new one with the new processor board is better still 
as of March 2020 I also head the Brooklyn + , sold both the latest Schiit yggs ,as well as Lampi 3 dac 
mgrif104
344 posts
 
I’m going to suggest a different route.  While I’m not familiar w/ the Jolida DAC, I suspect that the project transport might be a weaker link overall and I’d suggest demoing upgrades to that piece of the chain to see what your DAC might actually be capable of. 

Do you still spin discs, play files, or stream?  There are lots of good options.  While not all agree, I experienced a greater increase in performance from changing the source going into the DAC than from the DAC itself.  Of course, YMMV.

Best,  
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