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Please help me choose a Dac

Freddy

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This is my first post on this site. I am setting up a new system after a country relocation. I wonder if any members have heard these Dacs and can give a recommendation. I cannot find reviews on this site.. I hope this is the right forum.
Playback designs MPD-8
EMM Labs DAC2X-V2
The much cheaper Sonnet Pasithea, which gets great reviews.
Thank you, any recommendations are much appreciated.
 

JSmith

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I hope this is the right forum.
Yes... but not for listening impressions, measurements.

Anything in blue or most of the green will be fine;
1646711137559.png

... oh and welcome. :)


JSmith
 

Steve Dallas

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JSmith

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I would argue all of the green and orange and much of the red from an audibility perspective.
Sure but not from a design/engineering perspective... why buy one DAC that you can see by the measurements there is no attention to detail, when others exist where clear attention to detail is displayed? Hence my suggestion... YMMV. Always pick something with the appropriate features and build quality for ones needs of course.


JSmith
 

Andysu

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Probably not the best forum for discussing DACs selling for 5K-20K USD: Lots of recovering audiophiles here who have readjusted their notions of what top-quality components "should" cost - downwards!
a dac? don't mean a drac?
Drac.png
20k for a two channel drac , ? daylight robbery
 

Blumlein 88

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Hello, and welcome to ASR.

I would suggest maybe the Mola Mola Tambaqui streamer DAC.
Reviewed here:


Or the Okto Research Dac8 Stereo which is a heck of a bargain with incredible performance. It has a streaming module optional.
Reviewed here:
 
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Freddy

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Probably not the best forum for discussing DACs selling for 5K-20K USD: Lots of recovering audiophiles here who have readjusted their notions of what top-quality components "should" cost - downwards!
Perhaps not based on some of the replies so far. I am looking for something to match the equipment I have on order - Harbeth 40.3 speakers and a Gryphon Diablo 300. I realize the Gryphon has a Dac module, but I was recommended to get a stand alone Dac and the 3 I mentioned were recommended at different price points.
Thank you Blumlein 88, the Tambaqui was also mentioned as a suggestion.
 

Blumlein 88

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Perhaps not based on some of the replies so far. I am looking for something to match the equipment I have on order - Harbeth 40.3 speakers and a Gryphon Diablo 300. I realize the Gryphon has a Dac module, but I was recommended to get a stand alone Dac and the 3 I mentioned were recommended at different price points.
Thank you Blumlein 88, the Tambaqui was also mentioned as a suggestion.
Well the long and short of it, in general the philosophy most here on ASR adhere to says the measurements of electronics like amps, and DACs tell us which is the best performing most high fidelity. And that the best of such gear has surpassed the ability of most humans to hear any difference. So there are some less than $1000 and several less than $2000 DACs with measured results matching those of the Mola Mola or pretty much anything at any price. Our opinions, backed up with quite a bit of science, are that such DACs will sound as good as those costing so much more. They may not have the heavy build quality, features or appearance equal to those others, but will sound indistinguishable from them.

So you may still wish to spend more, but at least you'll do so knowing that other gear may equal the sound quality for less. And hey, for the amount you are considering spending, why not give it a whirl with maybe the Okto and see how it performs for you. They are very much in demand. If you decide it didn't suit you then you can resell it for not much loss. If it works out great, you just saved a bundle you can put toward something else in your system.
 

flz

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Considering the OP has short-listed a US$20K+ DAC and already owns an amp costing roughly around that much, there must be other forums better suited to his question.
 

Grotti

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Welcome at ASR! DACs are a "solved problem" and can be described sonically by how they measure, and they should be not distinguishable in a level-matched blind test, as long as their measurable differences are below the threshold of audibility.

If in doubt, take a look around on this forum or find out about that the hard way and conduct a test by your own. You would be surprised about the outcome, when sighted bias is no longer a factor...

Since the physical appearance seems to be of importance, I can't give a recommendation. But I can assure you, that I am very happy with a RME ADI-2 pro fs Bl, which I bought after reading around here for some time. It's packed with useful features, integrates my phono pre perfectly and sounds great (strictly subjective though).

But if money is no factor: go ahead buying the EMM DAC and ship it to Amir for a review :p
 

Blumlein 88

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You could try an experiment I posted a while back. I played songs thru a DAC, recorded with an ADC, and then repeated that until I had an 8th generation copy. I posted a digital original and an 8th generation copy. You can listen to them and see how much damage was done. I think you'll be surprised. And none of the DACs I had were as good as the two I suggested to you. I did this on two different occasions with two different sets of DAC and ADC.


 

voodooless

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Considering the OP has short-listed a US$20K+ DAC and already owns an amp costing roughly around that much, there must be other forums better suited to his question.
If the question is: “how to best waste another $20K", then yes, please go to some other audio woo forum
 
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threni

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Perhaps not based on some of the replies so far. I am looking for something to match the equipment I have on order - Harbeth 40.3 speakers and a Gryphon Diablo 300. I realize the Gryphon has a Dac module, but I was recommended to get a stand alone Dac and the 3 I mentioned were recommended at different price points.
Thank you Blumlein 88, the Tambaqui was also mentioned as a suggestion.
When you say "match" do you mean "get something good enough to fit in with" or "waste as much money as"? It's not going to sound any different whether you spend $500 or $20000 so you need to decide what's important - the sound quality or whatever sort of "look how much I spent, needlessly, as it made no audible difference" look you're going for.
 
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Freddy

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"When you say "match" do you mean "get something good enough to fit in with"
Obviously I meant something to match the standard of the gear I have. I can see this is not a particularly welcome or friendly forum, with one or two exceptions.
Also if you think you cannot hear a difference between the Gryphon and the 6 other integrated amps I listened to before making up my mind, then you are dreaming.
 

voodooless

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I would actually recommend something like MiniDSP Flex Digital + UMIK to add some room correction, and just use the perfectly fine DAC in the integrated amp. That will raise audio quality much more than flogging another $20K on a new DAC. If you don't like the box, hide it ;)
 

threni

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"When you say "match" do you mean "get something good enough to fit in with"
Obviously I meant something to match the standard of the gear I have. I can see this is not a particularly welcome or friendly forum, with one or two exceptions.
Also if you think you cannot hear a difference between the Gryphon and the 6 other integrated amps I listened to before making up my mind, then you are dreaming.
It's friendly, but you have to understand that you don't need to spent loads of money to get a DAC which works "perfectly"; that is, where spending more money makes absolutely no difference and no sense. If that comes across as hostile, well....

I'm not so sure about amps so perhaps the sweet-spot is a little higher there. I do know that for my purposes - listening to music from flac files on headphones - there was no point in me spending any more than the £250 or so the Schiit Asgard 3 cost. I've saved a lot of money learning from people on this site better informed than myself on this site.
 
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Freddy

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"you don't need to spent loads of money to get a DAC which works "perfectly"
I never said that. I have however a few weeks ago, listened to a couple of Chinese Dacs on the graph posted in post 2 and really did not like what I heard. The ones I asked about in my initial post were recommended to me by a friend who has listened to all of them.
 
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