Audiophonics DA-S250NC DAC & Power Amp Review

[Billy Budapest]

But it’s a dac+amp. So what product thats compareble performs better in this price range?

There have been a bunch listed earlier in the thread.

The price is relatively high for this unit as the Hypex amp unit is relatively expensive. They then saved money on the DAC, where they could have done better.

Again, very respectable performance from the unit as a whole, but I would have expected better given the price. If the unit was $399, I’d have no complaints.

 

[Matias]

sometimes I would like to watch movie from DVD and there is no simple way of doing it with this amp.

Can't you use the coax from the DVD player into the amp? Stereo only, I know, but still.

 

[Talisman]

There have been a bunch listed earlier in the thread.

The price is relatively high for this unit as the Hypex amp unit is relatively s or dive. They then saved money on the DAC, where they could have done better.

Again, very respectable performance from the unit as a whole, but I would have expected better given the price. If the unit was $399, I’d have no complaints.

I don't know if you realize that the power amp with the hypex 252 already costs more than €400 by itself, here they also included a dac, a nice case, a display, it's really true that you are never satisfied with anything.

 

[Overseas]

I don't know if you realize that the power amp with the hypex 252 already costs more than €400 by itself,

Now that you mentioned, some of us know 1 or 2 things about marketing, so... cleverly arranging devices in the price range to motivate you buy this or that. Ok.
Otherwise, more oriented to a real consumer product, does not look like a geeks' device, which is good.

 

[Paszek]

Can't you use the coax from the DVD player into the amp? Stereo only, I know, but still.

Yes, I tried that, but I was lazy. Today I checked setup again, dug deeper into menus and forced DVD player to downmix to 2-channel format (yeah, sounds obvious). Now everything works like a charm and I'm ready to throw out that old AVR.

 

[Raxumit]

I've been following this forum for a while, and curious about modern class D, but didn't want to do separates - just couldn't bear to pay $300+ for a DAC which is to me just a pricey preamp/volume knob. So when this came along I found all my objections removed, and Audiophonics got my order fairly quickly. I'm happy with mine.

I did test the amp at 00 db attenuation (max volume) and heard no distortion. Since this was subjective, all I knew for sure was that clipping if present was at least not hideous. So it's nice to see that my impression corresponds well to actual measurements, and to understand the design choices that made that so. Like Paszek, I never need it to go above -15db attenuation, so it's merely interesting, and not an actual limitation.

I'd love to see a super-duper version with the same UI and volume knob, maybe even the same DAC if it kept costs contained, but Hypex NCx500 modules or the like for gobs of power. Since I honestly don't need that power, can't promise I'd buy it, but for $1,300-$1,500 USD it would probably find a market.

 

[Billy Budapest]

I don't know if you realize that the power amp with the hypex 252 already costs more than €400 by itself, here they also included a dac, a nice case, a display, it's really true that you are never satisfied with anything.

I guess you didn’t see where I wrote this:

“The price is relatively high for this unit as the Hypex amp unit is relatively expensive [there was a typo here]. They then saved money on the DAC, where they could have done better.”

 

[Billy Budapest]

it's really true that you are never satisfied with anything.

Not sure where you are getting that from. I think that the price is a bit high for the performance for this particular product, but why would you then jump to the unfounded conclusion that *I* am *never* satisfied with anything? Other than this component, what else have I indicated I am not satisfied with?

 

[Talisman]

I guess you didn’t see where I wrote this:

“The price is relatively high for this unit as the Hypex amp unit is relatively expensive [there was a typo here]. They then saved money on the DAC, where they could have done better.”

Until the dac is a limit to the (great) performance of the hypex module, I don't see a real problem. We are not evaluating a standalone dac, and even so, albeit with an output limited to 0.8V, we still get completely transparent performance.
I repeat, for that amount they have inserted a nice elegant unit, with display, remote control, DAC when the module alone, placed in a tin box, costs around 400 euros (and it's worth it)

 

[Talisman]

Not sure where you are getting that from. I think that the price is a bit high for the performance for this particular product, but why would you then jump to the unfounded conclusion that *I* am *never* satisfied with anything? Other than this component, what else have I indicated I am not satisfied with?

I'm sorry, this is a bad interpretation of the google translator.
Mine was a general assessment, on mankind, which is never satisfied even if it gets more and more at an ever lower price, but nothing referring to you personally.

 

[clemenules]

Thanks for the review.
The DAC level was intentionally limited because as a digital amplifier, we felt it was comfortable knowing that with maximum signal (0dB), and maximum volume, you reach the max power (or almost), without distortion .

What is the "reset" volume of this unit, after a power cycle. 0db? -x dB?

 

[DTTOM37]

What is the "reset" volume of this unit, after a power cycle. 0db? -x dB?

On the DAW model:
USB input / 20 db
power standby - remote - off/on: no change
Power cycle - button behind - 40 sec wait: no change

 

[Billy Budapest]

I'm sorry, this is a bad interpretation of the google translator.
Mine was a general assessment, on mankind, which is never satisfied even if it gets more and more at an ever lower price, but nothing referring to you personally.

Got it—understood, and I do not disagree!

 

[hyfynut]

Thanks! (That’s was all of a two minute wait Flanker. Only @ ASR!)

Def. depends on the request...

 

[SuicideSquid]

I guess you didn’t see where I wrote this:

“The price is relatively high for this unit as the Hypex amp unit is relatively expensive [there was a typo here]. They then saved money on the DAC, where they could have done better.”

Neither the amp or the DAC are state-of-the-art chart toppers but a DAC SINAD better than 100dB and amplifier better than 90dB will result in perfect transparency in the overwhelming majority of use cases. Doing better on either is more about engineering bragging rights than practical improvement. Also I'm not sure the criticism of the DAC holds water as Amir noted in his review the SINAD for the DAC was likely dragged down a bit by low pre-out voltage. If you're using this as intended - as an integrated - the DAC is likely doing better than that, which would put it among the best DACs measured. There are a couple minor issues like USB packet noise showing up in the jitter test, but none of it's audible.

If this product doesn't check all your boxes, don't buy it, but the argument that it's overpriced strikes me as strange - you get better amplifier performance and significantly better (to my eyes) aesthetics than the less-expensive Topping and SMSL DAC/Amp combos, and the performance blows out of the water many integrated units from more well-known brands that cost significantly more. Seems like they nailed the price/performance/market segment to me.

 

[mdsimon2]

I don't think I've seen it mentioned here but the reason for the 0.8 V DAC output voltage must be because the DAC output to the amp is balanced but the line out is unbalanced, right? Unless you have 1.6 V going to the amp I don't see how you are getting close to full power output from a NC252MP.

If you run the numbers from a combined DAC + amp perspective this thing is really great. The 5 W in to 4 ohm SINAD is pretty much equivalent to running something like a Okto dac8 pro in to a NC252MP.

Michael

 

[Billy Budapest]

Neither the amp or the DAC are state-of-the-art chart toppers but a DAC SINAD better than 100dB and amplifier better than 90dB will result in perfect transparency in the overwhelming majority of use cases. Doing better on either is more about engineering bragging rights than practical improvement. Also I'm not sure the criticism of the DAC holds water as Amir noted in his review the SINAD for the DAC was likely dragged down a bit by low pre-out voltage. If you're using this as intended - as an integrated - the DAC is likely doing better than that, which would put it among the best DACs measured. There are a couple minor issues like USB packet noise showing up in the jitter test, but none of it's audible.

If this product doesn't check all your boxes, don't buy it, but the argument that it's overpriced strikes me as strange - you get better amplifier performance and significantly better (to my eyes) aesthetics than the less-expensive Topping and SMSL DAC/Amp combos, and the performance blows out of the water many integrated units from more well-known brands that cost significantly more. Seems like they nailed the price/performance/market segment to me.

My problem with the price isn’t “strange,” you just don’t agree with it. I think the product doesn’t offer performance commensurate with its price. It offers pretty good performance, but you can also do significantly better for significantly less money.

 

[SuicideSquid]

My problem with the price isn’t “strange,” you just don’t agree with it. I think the product doesn’t offer performance commensurate with its price. It offers pretty good performance, but you can also do significantly better for significantly less money.

Can you? Please provide an example with a similar feature set, power output, and measurements.

 

[clemenules]

My problem with the price isn’t “strange,” you just don’t agree with it. I think the product doesn’t offer performance commensurate with its price. It offers pretty good performance, but you can also do significantly better for significantly less money.

Also curious? Can you provide alternatives for similar or lower price:

Alternative 1:
- Performance simliar or better than Audiophonics DA-S250NC
- DAC + AMP

or

Alternative 2:
- Performance similar to or better than Audiophonics DA-S250NC
- DAC + AMP + power supply (!) in one box

Considering buying this. The DA-S250NC seems like a sweet deal to me, but it is still a lot of money so I'd be interested what better options there are for the money (or less). Thank you for being helpful ! I'd miss a line-in for a EUR 700 product, another option I see is the IOM v250 - I gain line in, lose the DAC for €660 (or a EUR 40 saving).

 

[Billy Budapest]

Can you? Please provide an example with a similar feature set, power output, and measurements.

Not sure how exactly my earlier post got erased but I am reposting it now. Here’s an example:

SMSL SU-1 DAC: $80
Topping PA5 amp: $350

$430 total. Better performance than the Audiophonics offering at 2/3 the price.

I am sure you guys can come up with other similar solutions that are also cheaper than $640 but you get the idea.