2. digital
  3. 180863-2019

Neutral Dac?

I’m curious to see people’s opinions on what they believe is the most uncolored dac? Every dac I’ve tried seems to be a flavor that deviates from neutrality in some way (smooths things over, too bright, too soft on transients, lacks bass etc...). Is there a dac that people believe gets all the fundamentals correct with leaving very little sonic footprint? What is the cost threshold needed to achieve it? I’m surprised at my own findings recently but really curious if anyone else has been searching for a fundamentally uncolored dac and what they’ve found.

   I realize the most obvious answer is "the dac with impeccable measurements" but I have also found some of them to sound unnatural (dry/bright).

schw06
oddiofyl's avatar
oddiofyl
3,797 posts
 

Natural.   Yes.  Some DACs can sound more

like analog and less like digital.  Or bad digital anyway.   
 

If no one remembers the Sony CDP 101 is was only capable of 14 bit resolution.  The fact that it didn’t skip (usually) or have surface noise were it’s best attributes

I was playing mostly records at the time because there were only about a half a dozen rock CDs when it first came out.  They came out slowly, Classical music was getting released big time and pop / rock slowly followed 

we are definitely lucky to be able to buy great digital gear that most people can afford.   Maybe sacrifice here or there but see the value in a really good DAC.  The price / performance ratio has never been higher. 

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,906 posts
 

@schw06 there are multiple discussions you can read and learn from.

 

 

jjss49's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
jjss49
6,612 posts
 

what is neutral as the op defines it?

Ag insider logo xs@2x
jallan
295 posts
 

I am very happy with my Yggdrasil. Music has life and drive. So, I disagree with those that say the entry point is $5K or above. I’ve heard those too.

schw06 OP
88 posts
 

@jjss49  good question. For me uncolored is a dac that has an even tonal balance(not tilted up or rolled off on either end, has proper tone saturation(not stark and clinical or overly saturated and vivid), and one that has proper dynamics with both leading edge attack and decay that is similar to live music. Other criteria like soundstaging and black background are of less importance to me. 

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