Best used dac under $2000

you don't want circuitry that does jitter reduction. you want a transport that doesn't put out jitter. fix your problems at the source!

a great truism in audio is simplicity is good. simple = soundlabs (no x-overs), OTLs, and by all means, nothing in the signal path!

the entec dac is a killer at used prices (its @ 8 yrs old i think). circuitry by demian martin (spectral) and chassis by andy payor (rockport). i've seen 1 for sale in 1.5 yrs on this board. i bought mine from a guy who upgraded (?) to a lindemann...numerous parties think this dac is still better...and speaking as someone who used to own a BC 1.1, its not even close...all BCs (or any other dac's) upsampling jitter reduction whatever is not what makes great sound. all that shit makes is decent (non-offending) sound, but it will NEVER be accurate or world class (again, see law of simplicity).

and fwiw, a great front end doesn't really require system matching like amp-speaker, or pre-amp.

rhyno

Rhyno,

Maybe you can explain to us what the Entec does...
If it doesnt upsample or reduce jitter what does it
do? And please feel free to get as technical as you
can for us...
And what is the difference between a 1k CD with a good
DAC and a 5k CD player?

4 power supplies w/ proper shielding...that's a large part of it. digital (as well noted by bob crump) has the effect of self-polluting AC / DC. noise from the clock & the DACs has the very real effect of compromising sound elsewhere by noise going back into the transformer, and back into AC or into the other windings of the transformer (hard to believe, but true). ---this is why you see ric schultz of tweakaudio always put more power supplies in a mod.

excellent parts / board / layout. ---one cap in there is $75 (little teflon job). layout is impeccable. very! short signal path.

chassis by andy payor. almost(!) immune to vibration and external RFI / EMI. ---go kick a rockport antares if you dare...that's what the chassis to this dac feels like.

listening: i've heard it against the lindy, and i'll take the entec myself. the lindy is nice no question, but a little too sweet / rolled off for my liking. the entec (w/ mods by TG Audio) is voiced to sound like a rockport turntable (as that's what TG audio uses for vinyl). they got very close...

check the old reviews of components of merit by bound for sound.

rhyno

Rhyno,

I agree all those things are "very important" and im sure
they were concerned about jitter even back then. I wouldent
even consider a DAC where the designers havent addressed
those issues.

But the truth is the DAC's have come light years from then... even from two years ago. I have designed many PCB's with A/D's and D/A's the first PCB i ever designed back in 1988 (man im gettin old) was a mixed signal design. And I have seen nothing but improvement in parts quality and ability.

The quality of components, and "attention to detail" of the
designers is what sets the great ones apart from the others.
And i think Bel Canto has done a beautiful job with the DAC 2.
I had the DAC 1 and upgraded with great results.

Is there better? i dont think there is for under 2000.00. If you think the Entec is... then cool i respect that you have your opinion. I can only say i wont be making any changes
except to maybe the DAC 3 if they upgrade again.

Voodoo

Interesting conversation...although I don't invest much in pursuing SOA digital, since my collection is mostly vinyl, last year I decided that I should check out something newer than my trusty Theta DSPro Basic IIIa (fed from a Pearl transport), and picked up an MSB Gold Link with the P1000 Power Base. On paper, it looked like a step up - 24/96 (or 24/132) upsampling, newer design, separate power supply, hotter company for DAC's (Theta seem to have dropped out of anything not HT-related on this front for the time being), top-model version of a widely well-reviewed piece.

In actuality, my old Theta, using just standard old oversampling and their proprietary digital filtering, won out over the MSB, whether upsampling was engaged or not. (I wrote a long thread related to this audition entitled "Upsampling put to the Test" - click on my Threads to read). So I sold the MSB and upgraded my digital IC instead. Lately, I've been able to start using the balanced XLR analog outputs, and have upgraded the PC's too, and with the sound I'm getting, I'm not really curious for now about 'improved' digital gear. The DAC is around 7 years old or so, and goes for well under $1K used, so one might think it wouldn't be competitive anymore to judge by the prevailing trends, but I wonder...Just an anecdote...