Bargain DAC Suggestions?

[Rodney Gold]

A friend of mine makes these
https://www.demcifilter.com/

 

[Blumlein 88]

Having worked on a number of boxes from homes and businesses over the years two things became glaringly obvious.

#1 computers on or very near the floor are dirtier even in a very clean house. Keep them about tabletop level or higher and dust is much less of an issue even in rather dirty surroundings.
#2 if you have pets, especially cats, pet dander seems especially terrible.

So if you have pets and sit your PC on the floor you could count on problems within two years unless you regularly cleared out and cleaned the fans of your PC.

 

[Cosmik]

Having worked on a number of boxes from homes and businesses over the years two things became glaringly obvious.

#1 computers on or very near the floor are dirtier even in a very clean house. Keep them about tabletop level or higher and dust is much less of an issue even in rather dirty surroundings.
#2 if you have pets, especially cats, pet dander seems especially terrible.

So if you have pets and sit your PC on the floor you could count on problems within two years unless you regularly cleared out and cleaned the fans of your PC.

I run my three-way DSP active system using a fanless PC based on a variant of the Intel Atom that can be found in Android tablets. This is one consideration in the CD vs. high res debate: if you can persuade yourself that 16/44.1 sounds just the same as high res (I have), then you can get away with a much lower power, smaller, more silent PC than if you fall for the high res hype.

On the theme of bargain DACs and what you can get off eBay for $20, etc. I would mention that one aspect that doesn't show up in the specs is what the thing does in the event of power loss. If I were designing a DAC, the main issue would be power on and off 'thump'. The system needs to be able to detect a power loss before the DC supply to the chip and other gubbins dies, and on power-up needs to maintain a silent output until power has stabilised. Just wiring up a DAC chip in a box could lead to some horrendous noises that rather detract from the listening experience...

 

[Rodney Gold]

If I were looking for an inexpensive DAC ..I would get then miniDSP 2x4HD ...$205 ..usb/optical/analog in and 4 analog out's, remote controlled and some really nice DSP plugins..not the cheapest but very versatile
https://www.minidsp.com/products/minidsp-in-a-box/minidsp-2x4-hd

 

[amirm]

If I were looking for an inexpensive DAC ..I would get then miniDSP 2x4HD ...$205 ..usb/optical/analog in and 4 analog out's, remote controlled and some really nice DSP plugins..not the cheapest but very versatile
https://www.minidsp.com/products/minidsp-in-a-box/minidsp-2x4-hd

That's really cool. Didn't know they made any DACs. Once I recover from the pain of spending nearly $4,000 on a new camera body yesterday, I will consider getting one to test.

 

[Deleted member 65]

That's really cool. Didn't know they made any DACs. Once I recover from the pain of spending nearly $4,000 on a new camera body yesterday, I will consider getting one to test.

4K USD!! Hasselblad just recovered from orbiting earth?

 

[Rodney Gold]

Upgrading is a disease in all hobbies. All guys want the latest shiniest toys ..bikes, cars , cameras , boats , golf, cycling gear, hifi , av, you name it.... and we all rationalize our need for it and like serial abusers , promise ourselves and SO's that it will never happen again...your end system...NOT!!!
Have a look at the 2x4hd plugin Am.
https://www.minidsp.com/images/documents/Product Brief-2x4 HD1 plugin.pdf

 

[Deleted member 65]

Indeed Rodney, had to have a Merc 4matic, carbon fibre MTB aso ... anyway it's all good fun on this journey ...

 

[Thomas savage]

Upgrading is a disease in all hobbies. All guys want the latest shiniest toys ..bikes, cars , cameras , boats , golf, cycling gear, hifi , av, you name it.... and we all rationalize our need for it and like serial abusers , promise ourselves and SO's that it will never happen again...your end system...NOT!!!
Have a look at the 2x4hd plugin Am.
https://www.minidsp.com/images/documents/Product Brief-2x4 HD1 plugin.pdf

Umm, it's a bit sad in a sense as it points to a level of continual dissatisfaction but there you go. We like our ever transitioning distractions don't we.

 

[Deleted member 65]

Umm, it's a bit sad in a sense as it points to a level of continual dissatisfaction but there you go. We like our ever transitioning distractions don't we.

On a philosophical take, I guess this is what has taken mankind (for better or worse) to where we are.

 

[DonH56]

4K USD!! Hasselblad just recovered from orbiting earth?

Guessing Canon since Amir has Canon glass. $4k will barely touch a cheap Hasselblad lens these days... https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?ci=9811&N=4288586282+4291420693&origSearch=hasselblad+cameras

miniDSP makes a number of nifty little devices I really want to try but time and money keeps slipping away... They have really expanded their line in the past few years.

 

[Thomas savage]

On a philosophical take, I guess this is what has taken mankind (for better or worse) to where we are.

Yes, like so many of our traits that bought us success as a species it's increasingly become counterproductive ( imo) .

 

[Speedskater]

I was driving to Best Buy store to buy a new camera body and on the way there I thought I should pick up a hub and see how it does with that!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That's really cool. Didn't know they made any DACs. Once I recover from the pain of spending nearly $4,000 on a new camera body yesterday, I will consider getting one to test.

You bought a $4000 camera at Best Buy?

 

[amirm]

You bought a $4000 camera at Best Buy?

I did. Needed it by this weekend for a trip. Could do Amazon but their price was the same and after playing with a bunch of cameras at their shop, I thought it was right that I would buy it from them rather than Amazon.

They also had a new body that Amazon did not yet stock but they did.

 

[March Audio]

That's really cool. Didn't know they made any DACs. Once I recover from the pain of spending nearly $4,000 on a new camera body yesterday, I will consider getting one to test.

I have one surpless to requirements if you or anyone else are interested

 

[amirm]

I have one surpless to requirements if you or anyone else are interested

What is "surpless?" If you mean surplus and can spare it, yes, I love to measure it. I wonder how much it costs to ship it back and forth from Australia.

 

[March Audio]

What is "surpless?" If you mean surplus and can spare it, yes, I love to measure it. I wonder how much it costs to ship it back and forth from Australia.

You are welcome to have a play and measure it. An interesting exercise would be if I test it with our keysight audio analyser and compare results. Would you be interested in playing with a Meridian explorer 2 and MQA.
Btw I can ship things through work cheap with our tnt account.

 

[amirm]

You are welcome to have a play and measure it. An interesting exercise would be if I test it with our keysight audio analyser and compare results. Would you be interested in playing with a Meridian explorer 2 and MQA.
Btw I can ship things through work cheap with our tnt account.

Thanks. I have the original Meridian Explorer. Given the $200 price of this unit, let me consider buying it rather than sinking our funds into shipping costs.

 

[Reamonnt]

Hi everyone,
I own an ODAC and it sounds pretty good to my ears and I believe it gets good reviews. Im looking at getting another DAC for my mancave system and was looking it this chinese model from Topping.
http://www.tpdz.net/en/products/d30/index.htm

It appears to get decent reviews on Head-Fi.org but I wonder would you be interested in testing it. It costs about 120 I think but im in europe. I like your forum and it gives me plenty of enjoyable reading time of an evening.
Ray

 

[Thomas savage]

Hi everyone,
I own an ODAC and it sounds pretty good to my ears and I believe it gets good reviews. Im looking at getting another DAC for my mancave system and was looking it this chinese model from Topping.
http://www.tpdz.net/en/products/d30/index.htm

It appears to get decent reviews on Head-Fi.org but I wonder would you be interested in testing it. It costs about 120 I think but im in europe. I like your forum and it gives me plenty of enjoyable reading time of an evening.
Ray

@amirm , some praise but is it worth €120 ?

There's a excellent dac that's been tested here and it's only $80 .

http://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/budget-dac-review-behringer-umc204hd.1658/

Thanks for reading, that even more so for contributing.