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Is the ''entry level'' DAC becoming extinct ?


The recent crop of Blu-ray players by Oppo and Cambridge Audio (752BD) as well as CD players are now giving access to their internal DACS, providing surprisingly good quality sound.

Just wondering how this will impact on the sale of the DacMagics and r-dacs types out there ?

I basically see it as head-on competition, and a win for the new access-in-the-box machines.
sonicbeauty
dtc's avatar
dtc
1,047 posts
 
Mrtennis - there are some entry level tube DACs available, for example from Grant Fidelity (Chinese), Jolida (American, made in China) and Music Hall.

Grant Fidelity TubeDAC 11

Jolida FX Tube DAC

Music Hall DAC 25.3

I am sure there are more. Those are just the ones off the top of my head.

The D to A is still done by a SS chip (I think these all use Burr-Brown chips), but the output goes through a tube output state.
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t
1,610 posts
 
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Entry level preamps could be in trouble too. Last weekend I heard an Oppo 105 connected directly to an amp, it was outstanding.
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hew's avatar
hew
159 posts
 
MHDT (Taiwan) makes some really nice entry level tube dacs that are highly regarded. I have had a Paradisea+ in my headphone system for about five years and I am still impressed even compared to the Metrum Octave in the main system. They are also very modifiable and respond well to tube/opamp rolling.
dtc's avatar
dtc
1,047 posts
 
Knew I forgot someone. Thanks Hew. Also, Scott Nixon has a tube DAC.
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t
1,610 posts
 
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The introduction of the new Audio Research CD9 cd player that includes a high-end dac with access to use other digital sources will probably start a trend for higher end dacs to be included on the majority of high end cd players and other digital sources.

The description of the CD9 can be found on The ARCDB page in the link below.

http://www.arcdb.ws/REFCD9/REFCD9.html
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