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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
hudsonhawk OP
137 posts
 
Which is to say, it's a new product that just recently became available. When you emailed they didn't yet know they would be carrying them.

Sorry meant to put that in my post too, but it got lost in the shuffle.
gmood1
1,251 posts
 
Great Bombaywalla !.. sounds like you got a terrific deal on this DAC. I'm glad you have the upgraded power supply.
LOL... yes bad recordings still sound bad. ;-)

Good listening!
bombaywalla's avatar
bombaywalla
1,958 posts
 
Undertow,
just to clarify - the non-oversampling DAC that I have is a Scott Nixon Saru DAC+. It has nothing to do w/ the DAC-AH that Hudsonhawk is speaking about.
mre2007
90 posts
 
I'd like to throw out the possibility of the older Museatex DACs, namely the Bidat and the Bitstream (if you can find them). I have really fallen in love with my Bitstream and it really has the charm of vinyl woven into its sound... I believe this unit helps digital "get it right".
holderlin
20 posts
 
I've just ordered a non-modded Dac Ah from Pacific Valve. For some reason I didn't see the modded version offered. Now I'm wondering about getting the modded version. It looks like the only difference is the op amps used. The unmodded just lists a generic Burr Brown, the modded lists Burr Brown OPA27M. What do people think of the difference? (I notice that the RAM mod includes the Select OPA627BP op amp.)

Thanks,
Bob
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