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logical steps up from DacMagic?

As Shazam wisely pointed out in an earlier post, I've got myself in a situation where the weakest link in my 'baby' system is my DAC:

Cullen-modified Sonos 90 >
Anti-cable coax IC >
Cambridge DACmagic DAC >
Nordost Red Dawn IC >
Jolida JD 302BRC >
Rega R5 speakers w/ Rega SC42 cables

So far, on my list to consider are:
- Bel Canto DAC2 (used, obviously)
- Benchmark DAC1 (used, non-USB version)
- Jolida's yet-to-be released tube DAC (I'm assuming a lot here)

A big part of me wants a Bel Canto DAC3, but I'm certain that would trigger a domino effect requiring the replacement of absolutely everything except possibly an IC or two. ;-) For that reason, I'd like to keep this upgrade to <$1500.

This in mind, are there other DACs that I should be trolling these pages for?
soundgasm
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,433 posts
 
Elberoth - I'm not sure Benchmark is forward but my old speakers have aluminum dome tweeter that is a little hot. In any neutral system, I suspect, bright recordings might sound bad. My solution was to get slightly warm speakers while others use tube pre. AFAIK small amount of odd harmonics can be unbearable while the same amount of even harmonics sounds OK and doesn't distort sound too much.

Another issue is distortion. Slightest amount of distortion caused by either speaker (tweeter), crossover (capacitor) or amp amplifies brightness and causes harsh sibilants. Benchmark is extremely clean, Icepower is very clean and my new speakers have very clean (and fast) drivers (completely different design).
soundgasm OP
152 posts
 
thank you all for your great comments. I'm taking them to heart, and will settle down and while I A) baseline my system and B) develop a reasonable vocabulary to describe what, if any, shortcomings I perceive. viva la musica!
cdface
12 posts
 
if you don't need the USB input, you might consider going with an 840C CD player. it has coax and fiber digital inputs so can be used as a standalone DAC. though by not a large margin, it seems roundly preferred over the DACMAGIC - it has double the upsampling and some other improvements that i can't remember right now. plus you get a sweet CDP to boot! they've been selling around the $1k mark used, so definitely within your budget.
soundgasm OP
152 posts
 
I didn't realize that Cdface -- I thought the 840C had the same DAC as the Dacmagic. Hmmm....
face
516 posts
 
I compared both back to back in the same rig. The 840C is more transparent and dynamic than the DacMagic, but I found that the DacMagic imaged better.
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