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
tomcarr
1,688 posts
 

@elangley01 I would bet it does. My Topping Pre90 sounds fabulous too.

elangley01
93 posts
 

@tomcarr I have them paired together with Hypex NC400 and BMR Monitors the sound is pristine.

I’m awaiting delivery on a Purifi amp from Buckeye.

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,791 posts
 

@schw06
+1 on Bricasti M1SE and Tron recommendations. Both of these DAC’s are outstanding. I would have recommended to check out Merging Technologies +player (DAC+Roon player) but it’s out of your price range. When you speak to Colin about Tron, ask him about the +player. With Merging +player, you don’t need external ROON device like Nucleus or Laptop to run Core.

erik_squires
16,845 posts
 

Well, by all means try a Topping.  I wont' say it gets any fundamental right, but if you want a neutral presenter it's an inexpensive experiment.

yage
401 posts
 

@schw06

From my personal experience, if you listen to DACs with excellent measurements and find them dry / bright, then there’s something else in your playback chain that’s causing this.

 

Judging from your past posts on speakers, you seem to gravitate towards a brighter overall sound (Klipsch Cornwall / Forte). If you want to pursue neutrality with your electronics, you probably have to consider changing out your speakers.

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