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Tubes or not

Currenty I have a Wadia Di22 . I'm thinking of replacing it with a tube dac. I'm tube upstream . I'm afraid a tube DAC will bust the bank for the improvement I would hear. I don't want to replace it because it's not tube. I think I I can get a better non tube DAC for the price of a good tube DAC if you don't have an idea that is less than $1500 don't ask me about my equipment. That's a quick filter on multiple levels. I just want to squeeze as much as I can from the signal as I can for best price.98% of the other time vinyl is playong
nikonnola
f917025
81 posts
 
 tubes! but only nos...
when i buy tube gear i think about what's the best nos tubes i can afford for it. i also try to get components with tube types that i know and like (12ax7 12au7 6v6 el34 for example) .ive recently added the ifi itube(tube buffer/preamp 100$ used ) to my system after the dac and i love it. you can get a fancier tube buffer or preamp for 1k and a nicer ss dac for 500 more and get a big improvement without losing the ability to upgrade only the dac in a few years time. 

rwortman's avatar
rwortman
42 posts
 
You can buy a completely transparent DAC for less than $500, in some cases much less.  Tubes are not required.
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,645 posts
 
Never required, but sometimes preferred.  
ghasley
2,543 posts
 
@georgehifi 


The latter badged Wadias are nothing like their predecessors. Not even close. The OP can almost throw a dart at a board with 10 popular current dacs on it and improve materially.
pkvintage's avatar
pkvintage
215 posts
 
Audio Note 1.1 Signature and 2. 1 tube dacs are extremely good value on the used market and within you price range. 

I went from a highly rated and enjoyed NAD M51, $2500.00 new and received a noticeable improvement in the musicality. 
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