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Current Go to Value Dac

Killingbeans

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Depends on a lot of things. Pure SINAD/$ can be misleading. For instance, a huge spike at 50/60Hz can lower SINAD significantly, but will be completely(?) inaudible. I'd also factor in things like features, build quality, looks and ease of use.
 

somebodyelse

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It depends what you're looking for. The Loxjie D10 has similar performance as a DAC, more input options, a reasonable headphone amp and a case for not a lot more than the Tone Board. The Apple USB-C dongle is a fraction of the price and performs rather well. Khadas win for easy modification.
 

Cahudson42

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Depends on a lot of things. Pure SINAD/$ can be misleading. For instance, a huge spike at 50/60Hz can lower SINAD significantly, but will be completely(?) inaudible. I'd also factor in things like features, build quality, looks and ease of use.
It took me longer than it should have to realize the spectrum view that sets the SINAD says it all. That knowledge now making me unconcerned about my Liquid Spark 'low' sub100 SINAD - the weird 30hz ps spike.. Again, thanks to education here at ASR.
 
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L5730

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Topping D10 £65 shipped local Amazon fulfilled.
Are the new ones still put out 2v RMS?
RCA unbalanced stereo output + optical and coax digital outs.
Nice display to help confirm it's getting the right sample rate/data type.
32 bit PCM 44.1 through 384kHz all multiples of 44.1/48kHz in between.
DSD 64-256 native and DoP supported*.

Khadas Toneboard £82+ ?
No case, bare PCB board.
RCA unbalanced stereo output
Coax digital S/PDIF input.

Sabaj Da3 £90 shipped local Amazon fulfilled.
Portable-ish (power hungry).
3.5mm unbalanced output, 2.5mm balanced output.
Headphone amplifier (1.8 or ~10 ohm? impedance, bettered by standalone amps)
Little OLED display.
PCM and DSD supported.
Possible issues when changing from PCM<>DSD?

Sabaj Da2 (SMSL IDEA) ~£70
Output clipping so gain needs reducing a little.
Power hungry-ish

Portable.
3.5mm unbalanced stereo output
Headphone amplifier (~1 ohm impedance, bettered by standalone amps)
PCM and DSD support.

If you are looking for really cheap, then yeah, I guess the Apple USB-C dongle would be OK. There was a ripoff of the AQ Dragonfly somewhere around too, that was a very cheap USB stick DAC.
Laws of diminishing returns and all that, Realtek onboard audio, especially for desktop computers, has gotten a lot better in the more recent generations. Mobile phones have reasonable DACs too nowadays.

edit: Khadas ToneBoard digital input.
 
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somebodyelse

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Khadas Toneboard £82+ ?
No case, bare PCB board.
RCA unbalanced stereo output + coax digital out.
I think you mean coax digital in - that's certainly how most here would use it. The coax digital out mode is just a passthrough from the VIM connector.
 
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