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What's the greatest bargain in DAC's these days?

Hi, Gang,
I am currently running my Music Hall CD 25.2 CD player as a transport through my Musical Fidelity M1 DAC. I also have the Musical Fidelity V-Link 192 for playing hi-res files from the USB port on my laptop.
DAC's are such a fast-moving market segment that I started to wonder whether there was a "stupid good" DAC, even better than the MF M1 DAC, that could be had for well under $1000.
I started a thread in the Amps/Preamps forum called "What's The Greatest Bargain in SET These Days" that yielded tons of great info. I hope this thread does, as well!
rebbi
Post removed 
samac's avatar
samac
497 posts
 
@Mapman- Yes, with the rDAC Arcam was licensing USB technology from dCS. With irDAC they have used trickle down technology from their own reference D33 DAC. The irDAC also comes with a remote which the rDAC does not have. In the near future I hope to try an irDAC and compare it with my rDAC.
mesch
3,466 posts
 
I am wondering if any of the sub $1000 class DACs are any better than the M1, different maybe, but better? Especially when using a USB/SPDIF converter.
sabai
2,027 posts
 
The greatest DAC bargain these days is the PS Audio DirectStream DS DAC that can be had for as little as $3500 used on Audiogon.
melbguy1
1,438 posts
 
Not exactly cheap, but I would still call the Vitus RD-100 a high end bargain given it has modular construction like the Signature Series, making it easy to upgrade the dac as new/upgraded modules become available in future. The RD-100 uses technology from the awesome Signature Series SCD-010 cdp/dac, but pushes the performance to the next level resulting in even better sound. It is also a preamp well done & has two analogue inputs, an array of digital inputs & an improved version of Vitus's relay-based volume control, meaning you only need add a power amp, speakers & digital source (eg: Mac Mini, Server, laptop) and you're done!
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