about once a month, every month, a new 'what is a good, natural sounding dac' thread comes up... obviously, this is ground that has been previously covered...
i did a 30-dac shootout earlier this year and in prior threads i reported the following -- i repost these 2 comments i made in the past couple months for the benefit of newcomers who don't search back to slightly older threads covering the same subject matter
remember the search bar above is your friend...
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of the dacs mentioned so far which i have tried i would break into the following groupings - for your benefit in system matching for tonality
smoothest/most analog/warmest mids-midbass: mhdt, audio mirror, a-n - bear in mind these dacs can have tonality tuned with tube choice as well
slightly brighter: denafrips, schiit mb (gumby and yggy)
brightest/leanest/’fastest’: rme adi2, mytek bb
others to consider which are exceptionally natural sounding and great sq for $ -- metrum and ayre codex (fitting in 1st group), ava valve dacs (second group)
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i won’t say which is my favorite, it so depends on rest of system and synergies desired - but here is what i have kept vs gone (have 3 systems across couple homes so lots of duplicate gear)
kept:
audiomirror tubador 3 se
sonnet morpheus
metrum jade and amethyst
mhdt orchid stockholm paradisea istanbul w mods
chord m scaler and hugo tt2 mojo
van alstine fet topp/hybrid dac
jolida black ice glass fx (upgraded)
dena pontus
auris d1d
ayre codex
sold:
chord 2qute qutest
neko d100-2
schiit bifrost mb gumby yggy
border patrol se-i
psa directstream
topping d90
rme adi 2
dena ares 2, term
metrum octave
mytek brooklyn
benchmark dac2
w4s dac 2-2
smsl vmv d1
many of the dacs sold are good, just didn't work for me tonally, or didn’t seem better to me than less expensive ’relatives’ or alternatives for a similar sound signature
a few others out there i will try over time, like a holo, a lampizator... not in a hurry, as the ones i have all clear the bar for being very listenable with the tonality and resolution i seek to enjoy streaming and files served