Do you remember your first DAC?

[LTig]

I can't remember the exact model (maybe the 5?) but my first DAC was an Arcam Delta Black Box looking something like this:

I bought it second hand in around 2002, with a Delta 250 transport.

My first DAC was the Black Box 3 (it had one more button than yours) which I bought in 1991, together with a Luxman drive which I got for half price because nobody wanted it. It came with a Luxman preamp with DAC included (probably one of the very first) which was already sold.

I still have it and did a few measurements. The BB3 has one of the first delta sigma converters if I remember correctly (have to look into the schematics). Anyone interested in measurements of vintage stuff like this?

 

[captain paranoia]

After over thirty years of marketing hyperbole

Are you referring to standalone DACs, or do you include CD players in that hyperbole...?

 

[LTig]

Me too. I remember how disappointed I was realising how little different it sounded from the Marantz cd player I had.

Not here. The BB3 was much better than my Philips CD101 which sounded very grainy.

 

[LTig]

It is pronounced that way in some languages. Spanish is one:

German as well: Von Bagdad nach Stambul.

 

[andreasmaaan]

Anyone interested in measurements of vintage stuff like this?

Absolutely, if you have time to post them?

 

[Patrick Harper]

Most people's first DAC was inside their first CD player or iPod.

 

[Xulonn]

Most people's DAC was inside their first CD player or iPod.

 

[andreasmaaan]

German as well: Von Bagdad nach Stambul.

That's interesting. I'm not a native speaker, but in modern German I'm certain it's Istanbul.

 

[LTig]

That's interesting. I'm not a native speaker, but in modern German I'm certain it's Istanbul.

This is correct.

 

[LTig]

Absolutely, if you have time to post them?

I don't have the time, but I took it anyway; see here.

 

[Shadrach]

My first DAC was in a computer. I can't remember what make the PC was. It ran on DOS.

 

[GTsmokeya84]

My first dac was a Cambridge Audio Dac Magic Plus in black. I really enjoyed it and still use it, just not on my main system. At the time I paid 600 but now you can get it for 350. Surprised they make it.

 

[Xulonn]

My first dac was a Cambridge Audio Dac Magic Plus in black. I really enjoyed it and still use it, just not on my main system. At the time I paid 600 but now you can get it for 350. Surprised they make it.

I considered that unit - respectable specs in spite of it's age. However, I ended up ordering a Topping DX7s, which I consider a modern "upgrade" of the DAC Magic plus. (I wanted a DAC with balanced outputs and a volume control to eliminate the need for a preamp when using a pure power amplifier.)

 

[SMc]

CAL Audio

Yes, I had the Icon cd player and also the equivalent bargain dac. I actually tried the dac with the player despite the high likelihood they used the same underlying parts. Switch between the two one had a hum so I could tell them apart but not from musical content. After a few switches I couldn't distinguish the hum either despite "hearing" it. Interesting lesson.

 

[jsrtheta]

Museatex Bitstream. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

But you could convince me of anything back then.

 

[Burning Sounds]

Audio Alchemy Dac in the Box used with a Pioneer PD9700 CD player - cost me £80 used. Both still working, although haven't used either for quite some time - Gramophone did a quick review with some tests.

 

[SEKLEM]

First separate DAC I had was the Meridian 203. That makes 3 of us, strange. Had the transport as well, which utilizes a philips swing arm mechanism in favor of linear tracking. I'm not sure if swing arm transport mechanisms are in any way superior to linear, but they sure are cool.

 

[amirm]

I think my first external DAC was the Lexicon DC-1 Processor. I am amazed there is still a page for it on Lexicon/Harman website! https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/budget-dac-review-behringer-umc204hd.1658/

We are talking 1997 or so when I bought it.

 

[RayDunzl]

First DAC (and ADC) - Lexicon PCM41 Digital Delay for the Band... 1982

Then I had thousands of 8-bit/8kHz µ-law DACs and ADCs - one for every subscriber line of the then-new Digital Telephone Central Offices I worked with from 1983.

8 DAC/ADC per line card.

First standalone home DAC in 2010 when I finally decided I had a need for one. I remember it. I'm looking at it.

 

[Sal1950]

The first stand-alone DAC I owned is the Emotiva DC-1 that is still in my system today.
To be honest, it see's little use any more. The reality that my Marantz AV7703 re-samples everything thru it's internal AK4458 multich DAC's to some extent or another has definitely tempered my enthusiasm for it's sonic value. I used to keep things wired so that in just a minute or so, I could just plug the DC-1 out directly into my L&R speakers amp for a very minimalist "stereo" system. The sound of that was then tempered by the loss of my dual subwoofers and bass management.
So lately my stereo music library path has just been my server PC via HDMI to the Marantz, and then most often receiving some type of multich upsampling.
For shame on me.