EMM Labs DAC 2 presentation

Yes, the EMM Labs is very transparent and clinical. It's what recording and mastering engineers want. The Playback is more "musical", allowing the harmonics to come though and is just a tad punchier on bass transients.
I'd suggest the Positive Feedback article written comparing the EMM labs to the Playback. Too bad the Playback isn't an A to D converter...

I'm curious what you guys have the EMM Labs DAC2 paired with.

Right now I am running it through a Krell Evo 707 and Evo 403 and the bass is very tight and punchy and I would never call the sound I have from the TSD1/DAC2 analytical, quite the contrary, it is extremely detailed while remaining musical.

Thank you Crna39, I will read the PF article. By the way, CDSTEP has used his Playback Designs MPS-5 successfully as a DAC. I believe that PD has introduced a DAC-only version of the same, although this is not reflected on Chambers Audio web site as yet.

Hi Frontier1,

I have been through a number of DACs over the years, ranging from a few hundred dollars to about six thousand in price, ranging from tube, solid state, upsampling and NOS.

I am currently using a Wavelength Cosecant V3, which gives a far more pleasurable listening experience than the solid state DACs I have owned, and I prefer it to the other tube DACs I've owned as well. It is very smooth and musical, although possibly a tad light in the low bass (if your speakers go that low). The only input option on the current line of Wavelength DACs is USB.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money, I recommend trying the MHDT Labs products. They are specifically designed around analog-like sound quality, not test bench performance. I recently sold my MHDT Labs Havana, which sells new for under a thousand dollars, but in my experience competes with all of the more expensive DACs I've owned. However, like most NOS DACs, they are fussy about what is driving them.

Keep in mind that my system is currently all solid state except for the DAC, so this is probably why I prefer a DAC with a tube output.

Good luck finding something you like.
Alan

The DAC only version of the MPS-5 is called the MPD-5, and I believe it has been released. Here is a link to the product on the Playback Designs web site:

MPD-5

I'm not sure about the pricing.