2. digital
  3. 1142631423

Small form factor, budget DACs?

I'm trying to restore the musicality to my system, piece by piece. A few years ago my Jolida JD-602A CD player finally died and I've never really found a good replacement. I think really I've been mourning the loss and lacked the funds to get something of equal quality (since it was sort of a giant killer).

So, what can I get for < $400? Used is fine, but it has to be a compact form factor - I don't have room for another full-sized component. I think the 1/2 size form factor that Channel Islands, Musical Fidelity and Creek use is about as big as I could go.

24/96 is a plus since I have a bit of DVD-A stuff but not a necessity. I don't really have an opinion for or against oversampling, or regarding filterless DACs.

Here are the DACs that have popped up in my search so far:

$175 - Lite Audio filterless DAC
$250-400 - Ack! Dac
$200? - Creek OBH-14 - I'd have gotten one by now but I have yet to see one pop up on the used market. Probably a good sign.
$300-400? - Musical Fidelity X-24K - older DAC (circa 2000), but it looks nice and let's me stay with the appealing X-component form factor (I have an X-ACT and X-LPS now). Maybe a little overpriced - I can't help but think that for that money I could get something better
$400-600 - Channel Islands DAC - undoubtedly the best DAC on the list, but also the most expensive, so it would take the longest for me to save up the coinage.

Anything I'm missing from the list?
hudsonhawk
fishwater
178 posts
 
There seems to be quite a few battery powered designs out there. I think it is something I need to investigate a little further myself to replace my Benchmark.
undertow
1,033 posts
 
As a matter of fact on the power cord, We had 2 of the DAC-AH's stock and set up parallel into one preamp, one on the auxilary input, one on the CD input, A-B testing on the fly at the touch of a button all the same cables and transport, and trust me between 3 people doing the Testing (listening at the same time) we all determined the biggest direct tweak you can do was to use a good thick power cable, the Bass completly went to a much higher resolution level, far more detail, with the stock cord it sounded good, but was totally like a 1 note bass in comparison to the better cable...Soundstage might have expanded a little too which added to the deeper effect? We actually took it a step further and made sure to use both STOCK cables one on each dac and hear that they were the same in the first place and that the better power on either unit would improve it, and it did! we came to the conclusion there was a 20% solid enhancement with the power cord.

We then decided screw it lets pull out some left over deadner material for the panels and cover this sucker, and see what happens vs. the stock, well again a SMALLER but different sound difference, it just seemed a bit smoother sounding or more control with cleaner but nicer rolled off sound.. not sure what really accounted for this.
gmood1
1,251 posts
 
Undertow, I noticed the same thing when I changed from the basic 18 gauge PC over to a Belden 14 gauge PC on my DAC. I also heard an improvement when I plugged the unit directly in the wall verses into a power conditioner.

I'm not a huge believer in the PC thing..but I did hear a difference for the better going with the 14 gauge Belden verses stock PC. A friend and I also tested the Belden against a TICE power cord which was something like 8 Gauge. Again the Belden was the better of the two PCs to our ears.
The key is a good PC..not necessarily an expensive one though.
bombaywalla's avatar
bombaywalla
1,958 posts
 
Gmood1,
this particular DAC is the DAC+ version implying that it comes w/ a 4Amp AC power supply. The power supply is heavier + bigger than the DAC itself! It's got a fixed power cord. This DAC is NOT bass-shy - plenty of good quality bass & very good sound given its diminutive size.

Hey Spencer,
if I compare it'll be against the 861. I have NOT done that just yet - too many other domestic commitments + I'm being a bit lazy too (!). In & off itself, the DAC has a very good sound to it. Hard to describe what I'm hearing but if I had to use a few adjectives I'd say "natural"- the sound seems to be unhyped & "accurate"-badly recorded CDs still sound like sh** thru it.
I'll share more info as & when it becomes available. Thanks!
undertow
1,033 posts
 
I have to ask? Where are you guys finding the DAC + or whatever for 220.00? I ordered these Dac's for me and 2 friends of mine just about 1 month ago, and emailed PacificValve.us directly and actually asked them about what they think audiomirror and others have done different over the stock DAC? They emailed me back saying they are not sure what the upgrade details are on their units but that pacific are not selling any upgraded versions themselves and just deal with the stock version... Also I cannot find this version anywhere on the website, or is there another pacific valve distributor on another website? Thanks
More to discover