DAC RECOMMENDATIONS PLEASE
Hello,
Presently my system is: Qobuz > Lumin U1 Mini Streamer > Electrocompaniet ECD-1 Dac > Herron VTSP-3A (R03) Pre > Odyssey Khartago Extreme Amp > KEF r11 Speakers.
The ECD-1 dac is 20 years old. I've had issues with this dac at times not playing 24/192 music at all even though its rated to handle it. Recently I've had to adjust settings in the Lumin to play 24/192 music at 24/96 in order for it to play. So, I want to replace it with something using a bit more current technology. My budget is 1800.00 for something used.
To my ears, the KEF r11 is a very detailed and revealing speaker. Well recorded music sounds great. Poorly recorded music sounds very poor and again to me, that means edgy and fatiguing highs. I'm looking for a warm and musical presentation. Things I've done to lean in that direction are getting the Herron pre and adjusting the bias of the Khartago towards a warmer sound also.
Dacs I've been studying have been R2R NOS dacs like Border Patrol, Denefrips Pontus II, and others. I also have looked at the Schiit Yggy LIM. So I'd love to hear from anyone who perhaps has had a similar quest and what was found to fit the warm and musical goal. Thanks for any comments!
JM
@jfmerk - do you have a local area group of audio folks (AES?) near you, maybe someone [nice] in the group will let you demo their R2R dac?. Having tried a few different lower to mid-priced r2r dacs with different technologies, and a well praised non-r2r dac, uh... what I started with and ended up with was quite different from what I originally thought I might do. There seems to be a lot of hype with dacs, imo. Unless someone with some experience and decent ears hears your system [in your room, speakers, cables, setup] and has a good idea of which direction you want to go, [after you demo multiple dacs] you might land a little closer to where you want to be. Its a big guess otherwise. I think most of what we do here is trial and error, and learning best we can from others as we go. Reading posts and doing real demos is a completely different thing to consider. This can be expensive and might take a while to hit the target IF you just buy/resale later, and don’t demo stuff. Try to get a few loaners or a dealer loan/buy/returns if you want to save some time and $. A great dealer or retailer with a solid return policy can help a lot. Best of luck. |
Gustard r26 can be had new within your budget. Adding the r26 did great things to my system with KEF R5 speakers. It might not have much brand cache or visual appeal, but the sound is so pleasing to my ears - just a great balance of warmth and detail that makes all my music sound great. I haven't experienced any harshness (zero fatigue issues) across my library of primarily of CD quality files. |
I just read they finally ditched the ESS chip in the new Tubaour IV SE and went back to the the trusted Analog Devices processor for R2R. Would like to hear it.
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