Are there any DACs that can go low?

Dacs, Dacs Dacs.... They seem to come and go like the morning sun. Some do this and some do that, but the true goal of a dac is to TRY and (somehow) sound analog. The goofy little things seem to span a cost factor that is mind boggling. I truly cannot remember how many of the digital creatures that I have bought and sold. OK... What do I think are the best for my tastes ? Of course I haven't heard them all, nor come close to owning even a fraction of the lot, but for great analog sound at a fair price, I would recommend a few good ones.

The older PS Audio UltraLink Dacs.... Very musical, well built and easy to listen to. Nice robust bass lines and very open soundstage.

Aragon D2a2 ...... Build quality second to none, quick, punchy presentation and very musical.

Michael Yee Audio Dac-1 ..... Yee is the master of analog. His "head amps" are legendary. All of his "vinyl" expertise he wired into his wonderful dac. Built like a tank but with a smooth, truly musical sound that is intoxicating. No longer in business, if you can find one... jump hard on it.

And then..... OK, go ahead a laugh, roll on the floor and call me a dip-sh-t, but try out one of the Jolida Tube Dacs. Throw a couple of the new re-issue Mullards or new Tung-Sol (12ax7's) at it and listen to it light up your life. For under $500.00 it is a steal. Extremely well built and already upgraded right out of the box, the gorgeous little dac is a music making machine.

There is my little inexpensive dac line-up that I am the fondest of. I own the Jolida at the moment and use it mostly for my Apple TV unit to greatly improve on the radio station format. I still have my Michael Yee Dac and really don't use it as much as I should.

Hope this helps out a bit. Of course, there is a endless list of others, but these have given me the most pleasure of owning over the many years.

Cheers,
Tony

The Theta DAC's always had a very good bottom end to them. Great dynamics too, as you might expect. Probably somewhat due to the higher then normal signal output level (not a consumer product normal 2V, made for professional use).

I recently got a TEAC UD-501 to add to my collection. I also have orig Benchmark DAC(no USB), EE DAC Plus& Decco. I am able to switch between them with my VTL 5.5 Pre. Only have 125 hours of breakin and no Pangea PC(I use Synergistic) like Elizabeth(LOL....). This TEAC seems to go much deeper than the other 2.
For ref, I have run it both 44.1 & 352.8 upsampled with filter's set slow roll off & 2 if those settings make sense to you. EE seems to have cleaner highs & benchmark sounds almost "clinical" in comparison. B seems almost too clean???
I will have more hours on it this week since I have the TEAC running 24/7 from SB Touch via coax. It energizes the room with most recordings. I am surprised how fast technology moves on. There are very distinct signatures for each DAC I have. BTW, I also have two Decco's, but not in my main room. My wife can pick out the 3 DACS from living room no sight. I'm impressed with that when she doesn't care all that much.
Happy Listening,

Rootman(I do love you too E....)

I have also picked up a TEAC UD-501 and it does sound the business especially with DSD!