Dac Suggestions?

[Exalanoto]

Hello.
I am currently looking into buying a Dac, but i have a hard time deciding on wich one. At the moment i am using a Mayflower Arc to power my LCD-X, but i have a new amp on the way and that will ofc require me to buy a Stand alone Dac.

For those of you that know this Amp/Dac combo, i do not like it without using the DSP function. Without that activated the sound is cold, bassless and booring.

So, what is there to look at, that might suite my needs? I like a bit of warm and bodied sound, with bass. I have been looking into just buying a soundcard with RCA out to use as a Dac, since most of them can be EQ'd to suite me.

Dont judge me for eq'ing. Flat, booring, and bassless is NOT good sound for everyone Id say my max price is arround 250$.

I have been looking at the Topping D50, but its still new and there is not ALLOT of reviews on it. And i am a bit afraid that it wont suite my needs.

 

[VMAT4]

Although it hasn't been reviewed here, the Schiit Loki could be placed between your DAC and headphone amp.
I'm not sure that it will suit your needs or what kind of performance to expect from the product.

 

[Exalanoto]

Although it hasn't been reviewed here, the Schiit Loki could be placed between your DAC and headphone amp.
I'm not sure that it will suit your needs or what kind of performance to expect from the product.

The Loki would suit my needs ofc, but that is 250 dollars more, on top of the Dac. I have seen a few reviews of the Loki, it seems pretty good. and its better than the one from JDS labs.

 

[VMAT4]

If all you need is USB into the DAC, the Topping D10 might do well into the Schiit Loki ($149 US) into a JDS Atom headphone amp?

 

[Exalanoto]

If all you need is USB into the DAC, the Topping D10 might do well into the Schiit Loki ($149 US) into a JDS Atom headphone amp?

Requirements would be Usb, and optical at the minimum. The loki will cost me 250 dollars to import to my country unfortunatly, and 260 dollars to buy local.

 

[VMAT4]

Requirements would be Usb, and optical at the minimum. The loki will cost me 250 dollars to import to my country unfortunatly, and 260 dollars to buy local.

That's a kick in the head!

 

[Exalanoto]

That's a kick in the head!

Yeah, thats politics for ya

 

[rwortman]

I am thinking cold bassless and boring means you need to sell those expensive headphones and get something you like the sound of.

 

[Exalanoto]

I am thinking cold bassless and boring means you need to sell those expensive headphones and get something you like the sound of.

I think you dont know LCD-X, and i think you are wrong. I think i just need to find the right thing to put INTO them. I have heard these on different equipment, but that equipment will break my arms and steal a kidney. So, i am trying to find something that wont break my bank, and wont make me unnhappy. you can buy any speaker or headphone in the world, if the source is booring your headphones will also be booring. And i do not add any EQ on top of the DSP function on my Arc, it's not like i need +10db bass, it just needs to be present in a way that i can feel it a littlebit. Unfortunatly, allot of Dac's and amps have been totally bassless. I can take the Schiit Jotunheim as an example, it has a littlebit of subbass, and close to nothing in the middbass, it is pretty V shaped and it is horribly booring to me.

 

[rwortman]

I haven't heard them. I'm not a headphone guy. You said you didn't like the way they sounded without EQ. So either you don't like the inherent sound of the phones or you just like a bit of a bass heavy mix. In either case, in my opinion, a DAC isn't where to look to solve the problem. Almost every DAC in the world has a ruler flat frequency response. Either use some sort of EQ or buy headphones with a more pronounced bass response.

 

[Exalanoto]

I haven't heard them. I'm not a headphone guy. You said you didn't like the way they sounded without EQ. So either you don't like the inherent sound of the phones or you just like a bit of a bass heavy mix. In either case, in my opinion, a DAC isn't where to look to solve the problem. Almost every DAC in the world has a ruler flat frequency response. Either use some sort of EQ or buy headphones with a more pronounced bass response.

I do like Bass heavy music in general. I even like to add some bass to my RF-7 mkII''s. The lcd-x does have pronounced bass to them, i just need to find the correct input to get to it. you cant pair everything with anything. Also, i have personally noticed sound differences with Dac's, some people say all of them basicly sound the same, wich i think is not true at all. There are differences in tonality and such. Like, older Abrahamsen Dac's, or Electrocompaniet, they have a littlebit of body to them, but they are sadly a littlebit hard to find these day. Also, i like Chord, but too expensive.

 

[amirm]

Have you looked at doing the DSP in software/player? That way you can buy any DAC and be fine. DACs with DSP are difficult to find and impossible at the cost you are asking.

 

[Exalanoto]

Have you looked at doing the DSP in software/player? That way you can buy any DAC and be fine. DACs with DSP are difficult to find and impossible at the cost you are asking.

Yes, i did try a few Dsp softwares. But i found them to not be as good as i hoped for. Maybe a D50 and a Loki would be the best bet for me at the moment, or maybe a Mini DSP HD. Could you name some of the Dac's that actually do have a DSP function?

 

[RayDunzl]

At the moment i am using a Mayflower Arc to power my LCD-X, but i have a new amp on the way and that will ofc require me to buy a Stand alone Dac.

What's wrong with what you have now?

 

[Exalanoto]

What's wrong with what you have now?

What i have now, lacks a littlebit of power, and planars like high voltage output. And i wish it had a littlebit wider soundstage. Also, the amp was intended to use on my Home cinema at night playing the ps4, so i have just been using it on my pc while waiting to buy something else. Also, i tried the Arc as a Dac, so i could use it with the DSP function, but it distorts the sound on every amp ive tried with the DSP activated.

 

[RayDunzl]

planars like high voltage output.

Mayflower - "High output headphone amplifier with 1 watt of power at 32 ohms."

LCD-X specs:

Impedance 20 ohms
Sensitivity 103dB/1mw (at Drum Reference Point)

http://www.digizoid.com/power.php

The LCD-X wouldn't seem to need many volts, and the Mayflower would seem to be able to supply more than necessay...

1W @32 Ohms = 5.65V (calculated)

it distorts the sound on every amp ive tried with the DSP activated.

Have you tried attenuating the source volume (say -6 to -10dB) before activating the DSP bass boost? Maybe the Mayflower forgets to do that for you.

---

Oh well...

Carry on!

 

[amirm]

Could you name some of the Dac's that actually do have a DSP function?

RME ADI-2 DAC. It is $1,000 though.

 

[maxxevv]

What is your playback source anyway ?

If you are using a PC / Laptop / tablet, you can do your equalizing in the software player. So its pretty much moot as to which DAC it should be as long as the output amp used is capable of supplying the sufficient/required power to cater for those transient peaks.

Any of the transparent measuring DAC's will do well for your needs IMO.

 

[Exalanoto]

Mayflower - "High output headphone amplifier with 1 watt of power at 32 ohms."

LCD-X specs:

Impedance 20 ohms
Sensitivity 103dB/1mw (at Drum Reference Point)

http://www.digizoid.com/power.php

View attachment 23106

The LCD-X wouldn't seem to need many volts, and the Mayflower would seem to be able to supply more than necessay...

1W @32 Ohms = 5.65V (calculated)





Have you tried attenuating the source volume (say -6 to -10dB) before activating the DSP bass boost? Maybe the Mayflower forgets to do that for you.

---

Oh well...

Carry on!

On paper, they dont need much. But there is a difference in producing sound, and getting the drivers moving to their potential. I have heard them on more power, and personally i think 2w and above is the best for these. They do actually gain more bassyness with more power. Ofc, they arent as picky as other Planars, but a bit over 1w just isnt enough. I can hear when the Arc starts loosing its bass, and that is well bellow bleeding spl's.


If i am going to use the Arc as a Dac with the DSP, i would need to put my computers (source) volume down to between 2 and 10 for it to become like a normal volume gain. And that is a bit dangerous, if i go over it will go crazy. Also i did try to activate the DSP, with a source volume on 2, and it did not make any difference. Also deactivated all windows sound improvements. lowering player volume does not help at all.

 

[Exalanoto]

What is your playback source anyway ?

If you are using a PC / Laptop / tablet, you can do your equalizing in the software player. So its pretty much moot as to which DAC it should be as long as the output amp used is capable of supplying the sufficient/required power to cater for those transient peaks.

Any of the transparent measuring DAC's will do well for your needs IMO.

Tidal/spotify/Flac, from my pc. So using a player only based eq, would be a mess. I did try a few of those windows eq's, but they were eighter too wide in the eq changes, or too hard to even bother using. Some of them even distorted with the smallest change. Also, some of them are pretty expensive, i might aswell buy a loki for the prices on some of them.