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Bargain DAC Suggestions?

SoniMax

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It's been a pleasure reading and lurking so many pages and threads. What you are doing, amirm, is awesome. I registered for few reasons. To thank you for the dedication and the hard work - measuring and buying all these DACs; to ask how's the Audio G-D measurement coming along; and, last but not least, to ask (even though you already have a pile of DACs) if you have considered measuring the Pro-Ject DAC Box S2+ which is a DAC only Pro-Ject item and uses one ESS9038s, unlike the S2 AMP+DAC that uses two.
 
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amirm

amirm

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It's been a pleasure reading and lurking so many pages and threads. What you are doing, amirm, is awesome. I registered for few reasons. To thank you for the dedication and the hard work - measuring and buying all these DACs; to ask how's the Audio G-D measurement coming along; and, last but not least, to ask (even though you already have a pile of DACs) if you have considered measuring the Pro-Ject DAC Box S2+ which is a DAC only Pro-Ject item and uses one ESS9038s, unlike the S2 AMP+DAC that uses two.
Welcome to the forum and thank you very much for the kind words.

As to S2+, I have searched as with S2 when it came out, I only see it available online from European sources. Do you know if it is available to be in US?

But yes, I am interested in measuring it given the good experience with S2 if we can locate one.
 

SoniMax

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Welcome to the forum and thank you very much for the kind words.

As to S2+, I have searched as with S2 when it came out, I only see it available online from European sources. Do you know if it is available to be in US?

But yes, I am interested in measuring it given the good experience with S2 if we can locate one.
:( It seems to be the only Pro-Ject DAC not on Amazon. There are a few sellers on Ebay from Italy and Austria but none ship to the USA. The best I could find is:
http://www.pro-jectusa.com/en-us/dealer-locator

Can't wait for your Audio G-D measurement, whenever you have the time. I had a R2R11 from them but had to send it back for repair after little use.
Now I am thinking of asking them if I can send them the difference in money and ask them to send me an NFB 1 AMP only or an NFB 28/29 AMP+DAC
 
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amirm

amirm

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Thanks. The dealer list is I am sure for their turntables. Maybe I reach out to them and see if they sell me one direct as a person in the industry. Let me get through the current backlog of products to review and I will then do that. Please remind me in a few weeks if I forget.
 

SoniMax

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Thanks. The dealer list is I am sure for their turntables. Maybe I reach out to them and see if they sell me one direct as a person in the industry. Let me get through the current backlog of products to review and I will then do that. Please remind me in a few weeks if I forget.
Will do :)
 

SchwarzeWolke

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Stumbled upon Douk Audio, don't know if they were mentioned yet.
Especially the 2017 Douk Audio HiFi Mini PCM5102 and the 2018 DSD 1796 would be interesting for me.
 

bunkbail

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A couple of members are getting the thx amp so I will be testing it when it arrives.
The Massdrop amp won't be shipped at least for another 8 months. Hopefully there are some takers of the Monoprice ones instead.
 

SoniMax

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The Massdrop amp won't be shipped at least for another 8 months. Hopefully there are some takers of the Monoprice ones instead.
I wanted to get one as well but 31 Oct... we could all be dead by then or something else, equally unpleasant :D
 

dwalme

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I wanted to get one as well but 31 Oct... we could all be dead by then or something else, equally unpleasant :D

I joined and then saw the delivery time and cancelled. 8 months to wait is a joke. I'm conditioned to 2 day Amazon prime delivery.
 
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amirm

amirm

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I wonder how these upcoming THX kits will do. Self-proclaimed 'successor' to Objective amp line, monoprice has DAC stage too but that price..

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=24459
Oh I did not realize the monoprice was using the same technology. They are promising 4/15 date which is much more hopeful than Massdrop.

Do they charge you when you order or when it ships at Monoprice?
 

DonH56

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Certainly has plenty of buzzwords...

The Monolith Desktop Headphone DAC Amplifier features cutting edge THX AAA™ technology to bring out the best in your headphones, playback device, and music library. It utilizes the THX AAA-788 amplifier design for an impressive 2x1500mW of high-powered amplification with the world’s lowest distortion and noise. It also features the new flagship AKM AK4493 32-bit stereo Premium DAC with VELVET SOUND™ technology, Dirac Sensaround II decoding for an expanded larger than life soundstage, and a host of balanced, unbalanced, and digital inputs and outputs to ensure users have plenty of ways to connect their playback devices for a high-quality listening experience.
 

bunkbail

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The Monoprice amp is using an inferior spec'ed THX AAA 788 amp ASIC chipset than the Massdrop one (THX AAA 798). From what I gather, spec-wise 798 is closer to the higher-end (but power hungry) 888 but is nearly as efficient as 788.
 

Veri

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Certainly has plenty of buzzwords...
It's honestly ridiculous the self-invented/now patented terms they are throwing at your face here :) hence why I wonder if it will perform!
 
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May I suggest the Melokin DA9.1 DAC+head amp?

http://www.qlshifi.com/en/wzcapi/da9.1.htm

It uses the ES9038PRO DAC, instead of the stripped-down Q2M version used in the Topping products (DX7s, D50). It would be nice to see whether the full 9038 chip (which cost signficantly more and uses much more power than the more common Q2M) adds any significant difference.

The DAC itself is also interesting, since it allows adjusting the chip parameters (dither, jitter reduction), has I2S support, provides adjustable impedance for the head amp (starting from 0 ohms, on the contrary to DX7s' high impedance) and outputs more power than the Pro-Ject S2 (through the OPA1622 buffer). The opamp and clocks are also user-replaceable.
 
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