Looking for a Solidly good inexpensive DAC



this notion likely gets beaten to death, BUT

I'm thinking about a DAC for use with some mid fi components, and my PC so as to incorporate some greater ease and variety.

Because my system is all holow state, I am also figuring it needs to be SS. Yes? No?

A good sounding overachiever that won't break the bank will likely do fine. something in the $300 - $600 range. Give or take a bit... no pun intended.

Any experience or thoughts or any slam dunk DAC ideas would be appreciated tremendously.

Thanks.

blindjim
Thanks Jim for the terrific review! You should be a reviewer for one of the on line magazines.

Gmood1

Thanks much... there was far more to say about each, but there's the gist of it... and so much for budgets.

Still there are yet more worth checking out for sure... for now however my systems performance is again improved upon.
Very nice thread - I guess I should put my impressions down on paper as well (as soon as I have some more time). Over the last few months I have been comparing the following DACs:

- Lavry DA10
- Wavelength Brick v2
- Benchmark DAC1 USB
- MHDT Paradisea (just arrived today)

Also some DACs I compared directly:
- Musical Fidelity A3 24/192 (modded)
- Monarchy M24
- Museatex Bitstream
- Slimdevices Transporter

Without going into details, I would say the modded Musical Fidelity and Benchmark USB were my favorites so far. More on the a comparsion and in particular the Paradisea soon.

The Channel Islands Audio VDA 2 DAC is an awesome DAC for the money ($599), I can not imagine better sound for the $$$. I can listen to it for hours on end.