How Many DACs Have You Owned?

[watchnerd]

My wife keeps giving me grief because of the butch-looking rack mount ADDA I've been using in the living room in the main system, en lieu of a more 'domesticated' DAC, wondering when I'm going to move it back to the man cave. She wants something either invisible or cuter.

When thinking of gear I could swap in, I decided to do an inventory of DAC or similar gear I have bestrewn between office, home living room, home office / studio, and portable recording gear I keep in my car. I get the following list of DACs and ADDAs lying around:

ADDA Interfaces:

TASCAM DA-3000
UA Apollo Twin Solo
Roland Super UA DSD

Desktop DAC/headphone amp combos:

Nuforce Icon HDP
Schiit Fulla 2

DIY computer / streamer / DAC combos:

Raspberry Pi 2 + HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro and DAC+ Pro

In the closet:

California Audio Labs Sigma II

Observations:

1. I have too many
2. None of them are sufficiently cute for a living room, but some can be invisible
3. As DACs (as opposed to as headphone amps), I really don't have a strong listening preference for any of them. I've tried doing ABX tests between them and consistently fail, except for the CAL Sigma II, which I can identify every time (it has tubes inside).

What DACs have you owned or have lying around?

What caused you to upgrade, if ever?

 

[amirm]

I bought my mainstream DAC back in 1999 or so and have not replaced it since! It is a Mark Levinson No 36S. All the other DACs I have, have been for testing.

Back when I bought the 36S, I compared it to the internal DACs of DVD-A player and it outperformed them subjectively and objectively. Have not tested it this way since.

 

[watchnerd]

I bought my mainstream DAC back in 1999 or so and have not replaced it since! It is a Mark Levinson No 36S. All the other DACs I have, have been for testing.

Back when I bought the 36S, I compared it to the internal DACs of DVD-A player and it outperformed them subjectively and objectively. Have not tested it this way since.

It looks like you can pick up a No 36S these days for about $2K used. The analog portion looks beefy as hell.

And in a sign of the times, it looks like it handles HDCD!

It seems to be a 20bit processor. What happens if you try to feed it 24bit content? Does it truncate it and play or just refuse?

 

[amirm]

It plays them. I remember in stereophile review back then that it was pretty linear up to 20 bits so I am pretty sure it is dithering it down.

The only thing it doesn't do is play above 96 Khz so I have Roon resample those files.

 

[watchnerd]

Oh I forgot one:

DAC/Preamp combo:

Wyred 4 Sound mPRE

 

[Ron Party]

Maybe your user name should be dacnerd?

 

[davkj]

Two
1) the infamous Benchmark DAC 1 USB
2) Auralic Vega

I have a Tascam US122 MK II and a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 2nd Gen. that I picked up for use with Acourate, these are AD/DA units. I've never tried them as DACs - I might give the Focusrite a longer try in my main system. It didn't sound half bad when I tried it to make sure it worked.

 

[watchnerd]

Two
1) the infamous Benchmark DAC 1 USB
2) Auralic Vega

I have a Tascam US122 MK II and a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 2nd Gen. that I picked up for use with Acourate, these are AD/DA units. I've never tried them as DACs - I might give the Focusrite a longer try in my main system. It didn't sound half bad when I tried it to make sure it worked.

How do you like the Vega?

I've been eyeing the Altair.

 

[Fitzcaraldo215]

DACs-

Via coax - Audio Research - early 90's (I forget the model #)
Via Single Mode glass fiber -Theta Gen III, upgraded to Gen Va
Via HDMI - Integra 9.8, DHC 80.1, 80.2 - all Mch preamp/processors with built-in DAC
Via USB - Exasound E28 7.1 channel balanced output - now happily in use for 3-4 years

 

[March Audio]

Oohhh this is going back a bit

Arcam Black Box 3
Meridian 563
Tag Maclaren AV32Rdp
Audiolab MDAC

Currently have

Meridian Explorer 2
Chord Mojo
Twisted Pear Opus
Soekris dam1021


I had the Tag forever. It did music and theatre superbly. only reason I changed was it didnt support hdmi.. So theatre duties are now with an Onkyo.

The mdac was used for headphones until recently. Mojo replaced it. There is just something right about the mojo high frequencies. I wouldnt hesitate to use it as a main system dac. (However dubious I am about some of the things Rob Watts says, I like the end result)

The main hifi is still in a state of flux as I am progressing with my own dsp speakers. Thats where the Soekris dac comes in.
http://soekris.dk/dam1021.html
It sounds great and simplifies my project. It can do the crossover filtering. Update to the diy thread soon.

 

[davkj]

How do you like the Vega?

I've been eyeing the Altair.

The Vega is a nice DAC, I'm satisfied with it outside of a few operational issues.
I use HQPlayer to upsample every thing to DSD128. I've convinced myself it sounds better . The DAC produces a click or burst of noise when switching tracks, which annoys me to no end. No issues with PCM or if you play a whole album, but if I start jumping around in Roon, I get the noise. Auralic also just cut the price by 1K, which killed any hope of decent resale value.

If you are looking for a DAC/streamer take a look at the Oppo Sonica, newer ESS DAC and less money.

 

[watchnerd]

The Vega is a nice DAC, I'm satisfied with it outside of a few operational issues.
I use HQPlayer to upsample every thing to DSD128. I've convinced myself it sounds better . The DAC produces a click or burst of noise when switching tracks, which annoys me to no end. No issues with PCM or if you play a whole album, but if I start jumping around in Roon, I get the noise. Auralic also just cut the price by 1K, which killed any hope of decent resale value.

If you are looking for a DAC/streamer take a look at the Oppo Sonica, newer ESS DAC and less money.

Yeah, I was wondering about the reliability of the Auralic software. The Stereophile review of the Altair reported a lot of glitches when switching inputs.

Re: Sonica

Wow, thanks for the tip! I'd never even heard of it, but at first glance it looks like it meets most of my requirements (fully balanced, LAN input, AirPlay, Bluetooth).

Although it looks like it's not Roon Ready, at least not yet.

 

[Sal1950]

What DACs have you owned or have lying around?

As a stand alone DAC, only my Emo DC-1

What caused you to upgrade, if ever?

The marketing hype gets to even me once in a while.
Besides I didn't have a satisfying headphone amp solution at the time, there was some issue with all the taps I had, so I got the DC-1.
Also every so often I choose to listen to a very minimalist chain to answer some question or another in my head. The DC-1 allows me to bypass the big system using it as a remote volume controled preamp directly into my LR Adcom 545 amp. Can't get any cleaner than that.
IMO, A brilliant solution to all my needs .

 

[watchnerd]

As a stand alone DAC, only my Emo DC-1



The marketing hype gets to even me once in a while.
Besides I didn't have a satisfying headphone amp solution at the time, there was some issue with all the taps I had, so I got the DC-1.
Also every so often I choose to listen to a very minimalist chain to answer some question or another in my head. The DC-1 allows me to bypass the big system using it as a remote volume controled preamp directly into my LR Adcom 545 amp. Can't get any cleaner than that.
IMO, A brilliant solution to all my needs .

Does the DC-1 have a remote?

I've never been a fan of Emotiva cosmetics, but the analog side of the DC-1 has always impressed me (arguably, the DAC chip itself could use an update) and the price is pretty decent.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Does the DC-1 have a remote?

I've never been a fan of Emotiva cosmetics, but the analog side of the DC-1 has always impressed me (arguably, the DAC chip itself could use an update) and the price is pretty decent.

Yes, a very nice remote.

 

[RayDunzl]

Standalone DACs:

DAC1 Pre - retired to bedroom
DAC2 HGC - main for music and TV​

Embedded DACS:

Analog out only:

Marantz CD player (1992) - one channel lost half of its waveform
Sony HD-1FR HD Radio(2011)​

Used Analog out before routing digits to standalone DAC

Cal Audio Labs DX2 (1997) -retired 2016, became skippy
Phillips DVD player (2002) - had to replace a small cap - now retired​

Use Digital Outs:

LG Plasma TV (2010)*
Cable Box (2010) - via TV*
Oppo 93 (2010)
Roku (2011) - via TV*
Auvio HD Radio (2013)*
Behringer DEQ2496 (2012) - in the digital chain - has ADC, never used
Tascam CD-200 (2016)**

*never heard the analog out
**use analog out as room measurement reference, not for listening​

 

[watchnerd]

Tascam CD-200 (2016)**
​

That's an interesting choice. Rarely, if ever, have I seen someone buy Tascam stuff for home use unless they're a musician or into recording in some way or another.

What's the back story?

 

[Blumlein 88]

My first CD player was a Magnavox FD1040. I think that was like a 3rd gen CD player when the generations were short lived. I basically said when CD players hit $200 I would buy one (they were over a grand when I said that) This one was on sale for 198.98 a year or or 15 months later. My favorite record outlet had like 100 CD titles total at the time. One year later the large record store was half LP and half CD. CDs grew explosively early on.

Some 3 years later switched to a Sonographe CD1 player. A Philips machine with analog section by Conrad Johnson with some cosmetic upgrades.

After that was Mod Squad Prism CD player. Soon thereafter it was used only as a transport. I then at some point purchased a Meridian 563 DAC. Very nice. I later acquired a 518 which had selectable dither, bit depth and a few other goodies. Let me do digital volume control for the first time. It was a digital pre-amp in front of the 563 basically.

Not long thereafter it was clear using a pre-amp was muddying things up. I purchased an MSB Audio Director which was a 24 bit ADC. Dumped my preamp, used a stand alone phono and fed phono, FM and reel tape or any other analog input into this ADC which made it all digital thereafter. This made it clear to me digital was way better than analog preamps.

The Mod Squad died after a tremendous number of hours playing. Replaced it with a Pioneer Elite Laser Disc/CD player for a transport feeding the rest of the system. Eventually replaced that with a CEC belt drive transport which I still have.

Had a Theta Prime DAC for about 3 weeks before trading it for a TT. Then sold the Meridian 563 DAC for a Wadia 12 which was very, very nice. Very high output section for feeding into power amps. In time a Wadia 25 DAC replaced the 12. It had digital volume control built in so I sold off the 563 DAC and 518. Around this time good CD was simply better than my analog gear so I sold my TT and related gear. Sold my RTR. Sold my record collection. All digital all the time.

A few years later ended up with a TACT RCS for room correction and DAC duties. Sold off the Wadia gear and MSB ADC as the Tact did that too. For a time used a Tact MS2150 which did digital everything and only converted to analog in the 150 wpc power output section.

Had a few other pieces of the TACT gear, still have and use a couple. Currently also have a Focusrite Forte USB recording interface which can do ADC and DAC duties as well as a Focusrite 18i20. Have a TC IMpact Twin laying about that gets some use.

This is ignoring phones, computers and video or portable gear that has DAC capabilities in them. Sticking with DACs I did or do use in my home audio rig.

Long story about not much I guess. Gear got better, gear got cheaper, gear got better and cheaper. My hearing got worse. OUCH! not nice getting older.

 

[RayDunzl]

That's an interesting choice. Rarely, if ever, have I seen someone buy Tascam stuff for home use unless they're a musician or into recording in some way or another.

What's the back story?

Cheap enough, has variable speed, has digital outs. What else does a guy need?

They make the drive, and in case it should get skippy, it might actually be orderable and replaceable ten years from now.

For some reason I still like to spin CDs.

---

Variable speed just happened to come in handy two weeks ago listening to my Audio Buddy's Band, Flying Debris, circa 1972, recorded at a little concrete block beer dive on the Hillsborough River called My Back Yard (now gone), from some unrememberable and generally horrible cassette source, recently digitized via his Nakamichi Dragon and a Pioneer PDR-605.

They did long medleys along with the usual cover tunes of the day - with names like The Drug Monster, The Sewer Monster, The Moon Monster, TV and Movie and other well known themes interwoven with their own lyrical concoctions. Certainly nothing with any commercial potential. It was 1972, after all.

We started the disc, and after a little while, I thought, "Man, that sounds fast", so I slowed it a bit by ear. John may or may not have noticed that himself, but he said "It's in A". He knows that sort of thing, being a musician and the principal arranger for Flying Debris. "Do you have a pitch pipe?" he asked.

Well, no, I don't have a pitch pipe handy, but I knew where he was headed with that question, so I generated a 440hz tone from Audacity with which to compare, and, man, I'd nailed it... My 15 minutes of fame for that Beer Saturday.

 

[Sal1950]

Does the DC-1 have a remote?

Yes, a very nice remote.

Actually almost too nice a remote. Build in a fancy machined aluminum case it seems a bit heavy and cold in the hand. LOL More like a remote build you'd expect to come with some high end component that's in those big buck machined aluminum cabinets

arguably, the DAC chip itself could use an update

True, been have expecting them to bring something new along for a while. Something that would do quad DSD or DXD PCM. Maybe they're waiting to see what MQA brings down the road.
Don't believe any of that would offer any SQ improvement in any case, just a lot of marketing games going on. Can't see anything new that might be coming holding an appeal to me.