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Best DACs under $7,000.00

I'm tentatively beginning the search for a DAC upgrade.  Currently, I have Innuos Zen MK3 as a streamer connected via USB to a Denafrips Iris DDC that is connected via I2S to a Denafrips Pontus II DAC.  The Pontus II is excellent but I feel it's the one point where I could gain incremental improvement toward that illusive natural, layered, analog end-of-the-rainbow.  I simply can't / won't spend above $5,000.00 - $7,000.00 on the DAC. The rest of my system:  top-of-line Prima Luna Evo 400 Integrated Amp and a set of Harbeth speakers.  Right now, I'm looking at Denafrips Terminator II or Holo Audio May DAC.  I've never seen an a/b comparison of these two, but both stand out and have a following.  Of course, the unsettling thing is DACs have evolved so much and are still in a blooming state technologically, making it a given that whatever we have today will probably be surpassed by better for less later, like electric vehicles. But that's the nature of the beast.  Does anyone have alternative suggestions in this current climate?

gregjacob
verdantaudio's avatar
verdantaudio
1,500 posts
 

@yyzsantabarbara i trust you too.  That is what surprised me about this.  I am very interested to see how your unit burns in.  

david_ten
5,480 posts
 

@verdantaudio  Scott,  Hmm.... believing in Santa... troubling. 

yyzsantabarbara
4,912 posts
 

Believing in Barbara is even more risky!

tonywinga's avatar
tonywinga
844 posts
 

I don’t get why the Ayon line of DACs are not mentioned more often.  The Stealth XS DAC sounds amazing.  Pair it with a high quality power cord and its sound is outstanding.  It is open and detailed which is why a good power cord is needed to keep the highs on some recordings from being too edgy.  It creates a giant soundstage, the decay goes on forever- more in most cases than on my vinyl recordings.  I close my eyes to listen and the soundstage goes wide and deep.  I open my eyes and suddenly walls are in the middle of the soundstage.  I love doing that, it works every time.  The detail and resolution in CDs with this DAC is way more than I ever thought possible from digital.  To me this DAC is the biggest open secret in audio.

I heard a couple of big name, big dollar DACs in November.  Came home even more satisfied with my Stealth XS.

jriggy's avatar
jriggy
564 posts
 

@tonywinga I have no doubt that the Ayon Stealth XS DAC is as good as you say it is. About a decade ago I had an Ayon Triton II KT-88 integrated amp that I LOVED the sonics of.
But I think you may not see as much as you’d like to see of Ayon in this forum, might be because of many individual issues over the years involving their CD players/transports, as well as a couple or few integrated models. Ayon or USA Tube didn’t always —or were unable to— fix the issues. More than a few ended up with a CD5s brick. These varying things over the last decade may of made people weary and simply look elsewhere. 

It’s nice to see that Ayon is still around and I’m sure they have good business in their area of the world but the reliability and their ability to repair their own gear has been in question before around here... With that said, I did have a channel go out on my Triton int. early on and I was offered a very very good price difference, from USATube, to upgrade to the just new Triton II at that time. So my experience with them was good. 

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