I own the Musician Pegasus R2R NOS DAC that is excellent and you can get it used for $800 below. Plus, you can add something like a Pegasus Pisces or Denafrips Iris DDC and take advantage of the Pegasus’ i2S input that upgrades its performance significantly over SPDIF. I bought a used Iris and was surprised at the increase in performance, so a good future upgrade to look forward to. https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649974362-musician-pegasus-r2r-dac/ If you’d prefer Bel Canto I had this DAC 3.0 VBS in my system on demo years ago and it’s also excellent, especially with the VBS power supply. Here’s one also in your price range… https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649954973-bel-canto-dac3-vbs1/ I had them in my system too far apart to make any meaningful comparisons but would put them both on the same level and doubt you’d be disappointed with either. Hope this helps, and best of luck. |
If you can stretch budget to buy a new Gustard R26 or look for a used one possibly within budget, you will be happy for a very long time. There was a sale recently that dropped the price down to $1,500. No longer active last I checked. Also when it comes to R26, there are ways you can improve it even further once you're ready. Just make sure you like the R2R sound, and the R26 is not your average R2R. |
