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I am frustrated with the sound from my DAC

My DAC-IT by peachtree audio is sounding harsh in my rig now. I am comparing the sound of it to my Cambridge Audio DAC Magic plus with the two Wofson Chips inside it. The Cambridge Audio sounds good, smooth and nice. Anyone know what is inside the peachtree DAC IT. My Digital source is a cambridge audio DVD player. 540D. My next move will be to use my better sounding ARCAM CD player with the peachtee DAC and see if it is smoother sounding. My amplifier is Cambridge Audio. Sweet sounding one. Not a CX series, but sweet sounding. 
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taww's avatar
taww
128 posts
 
In general I haven’t loved the sound of the Sabre-based DACs I’ve heard, with the exception of Resonessence (former Sabre engineers I believe) and the Merging (studio grade and $$$$) which leads me to wonder if the chips just need a certain amount expertise and finesse in implementation to perform their best... As opposed to eg Wolfson which isn’t the most transparent chip by any means but has always sounded pretty good to me even in very inexpensive products. 
spenrock
24 posts
 
I agree with @taww, the Sabre chips are not an easy plug and play implementation to guarantee good sound. They do require some expertise and finesse.  

I have a Peachtree Nova (& used to have a Nova125), The DAC in the Nova is as others mentioned, somewhat harsh. For the system I'm using it now, it is macmini/USB out/Audiophilleo/Nova.  The Audiophilleo is converts my USB to Coax, which improves the sound out of the Nova DAC alot. Still not great, but much better.

I also use two Resonessence products: Concero HP and a Mirus.  The Mirus is a great sounding DAC, highly recommended. Probably unnecessary to search out anything better.  The Concero HP does a good job at its price point, and is a better sound than the Nova IMO.

My other main DAC is an NAD M2 Direct Digital amp.  Also does a fantastic job.  I haven't had a chance to compare the Mirus to the M2 since they are in different geographic locations and different systems.
jred
94 posts
 
I’m quite content with Schiitt Yggdrasil. 
Very warm detailed sound. 
I especially like the fact that you can upgrade it when new hardware becomes available. Prior dac was not R2R. Run it with a tube pre amp and Wow!!!

best luck

J
tybinski
17 posts
 
Buy yourself a benchmark DAC 1 for 400 -500 dollars on the used market and see where that takes you. You can run your CD player through that as a transport provided you have either optical or BNC digital outs. I find their products to be transparent to the recording but with a warm analog like sound. Their later models also have USB inputs. 
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captelee
43 posts
 
iFi Pro iDSD DAC, best on the planet with a select-able tube stage and killer headphone amp. I just bought my 2nd one for my office rig, used at half price of new.
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