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Best most open and natural/smooth sounding balanced DAC under $1000?

OP
Shoaibexpert

Shoaibexpert

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Since both your DAC and amp should be completely transparent, the first thing I'll recommend is seeing if the headphones are the problem. If the sound is too edgy for you it might be because they have too much treble for your liking. If so, changing to a different audibly transparent DAC will do nothing (expect padding the bank account of whomever sold it to you…).

In your place I would first play around with EQ to see if there is an offending frequency range that by lowering it you will get a "smoother"-feeling sound. Or maybe switch to a different headphone with less "edge". I couldn't find a trustworthy measurement of these headphones, so I don’t know if they actually have treble issues.

If you say that the Arya sounds better to you on another DAC, you should try blind testing to see if you can really tell apart how it sounds on a different DAC. If it's a transparent DAC like the one you have, you shouldn't be able to notice the difference, and that will be a good demonstration of the futility of DAC upgrades.
Thanks for that. I tried a passive filter via diyaudioheaven and that really worked for the headphones...took away 5db at 10K ...which is where Arya was hot. I see all these well Implemented Higher end chip based DACs out there and thought I should upgrade my SU8 on my next pay check...so reached out...
 
OP
Shoaibexpert

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The cheapest or rather free is using EQ in your player to tame down the edginess. Try -2dB at 10Khz, your cans seem to have a bump there.
Did exactly that! A custom made passive filter took away 5db at 10K
 

Killingbeans

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but if all those DACs sound the same...why would people buy more of them?

The logical reasons: Functionality, looks and build quality.

The non-logical reasons are countless, but they can all be ignored safely. Pick a few, acknowledge their silliness and discard the rest.
 
OP
Shoaibexpert

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Why use a passive filter though? I don't really see the advantage over good software EQ, that lets you customize the filters to your exact preferences.
I feel I need to listen to tidal lossless in bit perfect mode as it sounds cleaner on my Windows 10 PC. In but perfect mode, you can't do any SW DSP so had to use HW filter...any suggestions on how to listen to clean Tidal lossless and be able to do DSP in PC withUSB to DAC? Any SW recommendations?
 

gvl

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JRiver through its WDM driver. It did have some issues at MQA rates, but CD quality was fine. They may have fixed the issues since I tried.
 
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Shoaibexpert

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JRiver through its WDM driver.
I felt JRiver was expensive for what it did (especially after Tidal allowed bit perfect mode) and not as intuitive as the native Tidal App...I do streaming exclusively...but will see it...


I tried Audirvana but didn't like the interface and could hear a sound difference over the native app
 

RayDunzl

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Hi,

I've been thinking of upgrading

Oh no...


I'm kinda not liking the edgy sound of ESS based

Oh no... ESS Glare strikes again.


.thinking of AKM based DACs are more musical.

Oh no... If you associate "more musical" with the advertising words "Velvet Sound", maybe.


Also considering Denafrips Ares as it's a R-2R DAC and perhaps is smoother.

Oh no... Smoother.

What is smoother?


Any help in suggesting a DAC

Oh no... I guess not.

Mine has an ESS chip in it, and it doesn't annoy me in any way, except it shuts down when the occasional Electric Utility glitches occur.

I guess I'm either deaf (no guessing there) or just unimaginative.


I feel I need to listen to tidal lossless in bit perfect mode as it sounds cleaner on my Windows 10 PC. In but perfect mode, you can't do any SW DSP so had to use HE filter...any suggestions on how to listen to clean Tidal lossless and be able to do DSP in PC?

Oh no... I don't hear bits, but the result. Analog or equivalent digital filtering should give the same result (digital would provide more precision and flexibility).


.I CAN tell a difference between Windows processing and bit perfect modes

Oh no... I'd seek counselling.

1571778688059.png
 

VMAT4

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Glad I don't have golden ears as does the OP. My D30 & Atom combination sounds great to me!
 
OP
Shoaibexpert

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Oh no...




Oh no... ESS Glare strikes again.




Oh no... If you associate "more musical" with the advertising words "Velvet Sound", maybe.




Oh no... Smoother.

What is smoother?




Oh no... I guess not.

Mine has an ESS chip in it, and it doesn't annoy me in any way, except it shuts down when the occasional Electric Utility glitches occur.

I guess I'm either deaf (no guessing there) or just unimaginative.




Oh no... I don't hear bits, but the result. Analog or equivalent digital filtering should give the same result (digital would provide more precision and flexibility).




Oh no... I'd seek counselling.

View attachment 36707
Thanks for taking the time in sorting, copy pasting and commenting on my posts....really appreciated!
 

gvl

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I felt JRiver was expensive for what it did (especially after Tidal allowed bit perfect mode) and not as intuitive as the native Tidal App...I do streaming exclusively...but will see it...


I tried Audirvana but didn't like the interface and could hear a sound difference over the native app

JRiver is a nice kit overall. But for EQ only with Tidal it maybe an overkill. They have a free trial btw.
 

Fluffy

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Its tough but yeah...I did...its the reason why I've had to buy hw filters
Well it's one of two explanations.

Either you did it wrong, meaning it wasn't really blind and therefore your expectation bias convinced you you were still hearing a difference.

Or there was actually a difference, though there shouldn't be. Routing audio through the windows mixer doesn't affect the sound at all, given it is configured correctly. If you want to share exactly what you did and how things are configured on your machine that could help reveal if there is a hidden technical issue that caused it to sound differently.
 
OP
Shoaibexpert

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Thanks to the community for your helpful insights as usual...Cheers guys!
 

BDWoody

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That's the problem...I CAN tell a difference between Windows processing and bit perfect modes

Roon also has a very good Tidal integration, and you can run DSP filters through it...
 
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