Budget Dac between US$200 to 250

[airsky]

My first DAC/Headphone Amp was Topping E30II and upgraded to DX3 pro plus. Both are too bright and analytical to me.

I don,t use headphone and via RCA connection to the classis COPland CSA Intergrated Amp and a pair of monitor audio floor standard.

I was looking at the FIIO K7 truly balance headphone amp 4.4mm pentagon line out unbalanced but SMSL C200 line out TRS balance with
a single Ess 9038chip but DO100 with 2 ESS. In dilemma which one is suitable for me but came across DO100 forum popping and cracking
noise issue.

Any inputs is very much appreciated and cheers.

 

[Doodski]

Schiit Audio: Audio Products Designed and Built in Texas and California

www.schiit.com

 

[Doodski]

Schiit Audio: Audio Products Designed and Built in Texas and California

www.schiit.com

 

[Doodski]

Atom DAC+ _ Shop JDS LABS

Atom DAC+ is built to pair with the enormously popular JDS Labs Atom Amp, now with even higher performance, both USB and TOSLINK inputs, and our latest upgradeable XMOS based firmware with UAC2 support and UAC1 fallback*. Atom DAC+'s subtle light ring glows when in use, automatically powers down...

jdslabs.com

 

[b7676]

No satisfactory budget-balanced full featured dacs priced between the D10b and the 300$ sale price E70.

 

[JayGilb]

Seems like a equalizer between your DAC and integrated amp would fix your brightness problem.

 

[smokey_mountain_asr]

JDS Labs offer great DACs for your budget with Balanced option. I am very sensitive to "cold" sound, JDS Labs from the days of $50 DACs not once were deemed as bright or cold, they are neutral to my ears. I absolutely not trying to start another thread about all DAC sounds the same, just sharing my opinion. It is not the DAC chip but rather implementation what changes the sound of the DAC. Full disclosure my speakers are ruler-flat made by Philharmonic Audio and when I change DACs I hear different signature. Perhaps, this is how they mate to my amp.

 

[peterwen]

2021 LOXJIE D30 ES9068AS MQA HIFI Digital Audio DAC & Headphone Amplif

The 2021 LOXJIE D30 ES9068AS MQA HIFI Digital Audio DAC & Headphone Amplifier BT 5.0 is a high-quality digital audio device that features ESS’s 32bit stereo audiophile DAC chip with MQA full decoding and MQA-CD support by Optical and Coaxial inputs. This device is designed to satisfy demanding...

hifi-express.com