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DAC's Made in the USA

I am shopping for my very first dac and the sheer number of product available is bewildering.Unlike many members, I have never owned an outboard dac for a 2 channel system, my budget is extremely limited and my technical knowledge of the product is low.
Further I am committed to purchase a dac made in the USA, or at least a friendly democratic country. 
You can see by my equipment list that I have nothing of any great quality or renown and much of this inventory is likely to be sold to partially pay for the dac. 
I am 80 years old, wear hearing aids and I am pretty satisfied with the sounds I presently hear and really wonder if I can enhance the sound quality of my CD collection (Jazz, blues and classical). 
Would appreciate it if I can get some real help, i.e., people who have actually used their recommendation/not read about it.  Also please remember my spending limitation, more is impossible.
Many thanks 

New (not used)
Made in the USA 
Ideally less than $1500 
Headphone jack is not necessary
Two channel analog output 
Optical and digital coaxial input 

Accuphase E-202, 
Adcom GFA 555, 
McCormack TLC-1, 
Pioneer SA-9500II,
McIntosh MA-6100
Sony DVP S9000ES (DVD, CD, SACD),ADS 910,Klipsch Forte II
stebut
clifffff
7 posts
 



philgo016 posts12-27-2020 12:46pmI do think Schiit is your best bet.. But Schiit does not support DSD and your SACD (SACD LAYER) will not work with any of these DACs due to copyright implementation back in the day.  I think the only way you can use an external DAC with SACDs (SACD layer) is IIS (usually via HDMI type of connector) and even that is a bit of a wild card and I don't have any experience with using external DACs for SACD layer.  

Another possibility is PS Audio's DAC that support SACDs (DSD) I think but that is north of $6K.

There is also several R2R DACs (vs Delta Sigma) that supposedly sounds amazing per reports and one of the most popular one is sadly, Made in China (Denafrips) but sold by a Singapore dealer exclusively (Vinshine Audio).  Vinshine's owner Alvin has confirmed that Denafrips have no Chinese Communist Government ownership, rather, it is owned by a single proprietor. So...  

I too have the same objective of sticking to Made in USA, (but in my case, with the constraint of "without breaking the bank").  So I ended up with Schiit Mani (phono) and Modi3  (DAC).  My integrated amp is 100% made in USA tube class A (and happens to cost 3X comparable China made ones).  My speakers are Klipsch Cornwalls.  But alas, my CD/SACD players/Streamer are either Japan or Malaysia or China.   Not much I can do there without shelling out much much more $$$.

DAC technology changes a lot too so that's another point to consider in as far as how disposable they are.

AND then,  I started questioning myself if my MADE in USA objective truly accomplishes what I want.... which is not to support governments that are not our allies or more importantly, hostile to us.  I concluded that I don't know... as if I truly want to send a message to Chinese government  (and frankly, American companies that decided to set up shop there), we should also shy away from 99% of Apple products, 99% of HP/IBM/Lenovo/Dell products, just about all smart phones etc..  AND, I don't see that happening at all as I don't know what practical alternatives we have with these devices... .And I highly doubt is the Chinese government has much interest in DAC companies which is more like a cottage industry compared to Huawei / Alibaba etc.

Our beloved world of hi-fi audio is rather minuscule  as compared to Apple / HP / Dell's operations in China.
As the world turns !!!  
Let me get this straight, you actually contacted the guy who distributes Denafrips products in Singapore to ask weather the Chinese Communist Party had a stake in  Denafrips?

...and he actually replied, assuring you that it didn't? 
rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano
2,654 posts
 
Benchmark DACs are made in the U.S. and support DSD.
ssmaudio
71 posts
 
Exasound e38.  Made in Canada. Isn’t that the same as US?  😂

 seriously. I use it for stereo, multi channel.  FLAC, DSD, and everything else. Plus their sigma streamer is fabulous to stream from your local NAS. 
That’s all I use nowadays.   They have a newer model I think. Around $3k
tweak1
3,655 posts
 
sheps
I had the Stellar GC Dac/pre with the M700s. I found the dac/pre lacking in authority. I replaced it with a Audio Alchemy DDP-1 which was a bit better, until I finally was able to find a seller of the matching optional PS 5 outboard power supply. The improvement was HUGE
robert864
13 posts
 
Try to buy a used Ayre or used PS Audio.  Both made in Colorado.  Stretch your budget as much as possible as at this price range the slope of improvement/cost is steep.  Mytec is well regarded, and love Schitt.
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