High Performance mid-priced reference DACs

[Mivera]

No I don't have 1. A local guy does and I went over and heard it. I even have a picture of his system. But I can't upload it as Amir has crippled my account bandwidth. Takes 2-3 minutes to even reply after I press the reply button.

Anyways this is why I quit making DAC's . The Chinese won. Too hard to beat.

 

[Jinjuku]

You can only polish a turd so much. Once you get the engineering perfected, the only way to improve is by better quality components. And if you're seeking the best sound, the less useless gimmicks the better. Looking inside that RME DAC it looks like plethora of complexity only to add additional features, not optimize quality. But to the layman it's the only the bling that matters.

Lol. Oh christ. RME has a deeper engineering bench than you could ever hope to compete with. I would LOVE to see you blind A/B the ADI-2 Pro vs your Pure Stream but looking at your offering including requiring an Intel i7 based system...

And it's more than double the price of the ADI-2 Pro

 

[Thomas savage]

@Mivera has been issued a reply ban as he clearly has nothing to add to this thread but noise..

As you were

 

[Sal1950]

@Mivera has been issued a reply ban as he clearly has nothing to add to this thread but noise..

As you were

How long are readers of this site going to be submitted to these continual barrages of his crap before he is issued a site wide ban?
Although he is on my ignore list I've once again had to wade thru a pages of replies to him that contributed nothing to the OT or the site in general.
This happens over and over across our site, he craps a thread to death until he gets kicked out but then just moves on to the next thread.
His intent is simply to disrupt and this has been obvious for a very long time now.

 

[Jinjuku]

How long are readers of this site going to be submitted to these continual barrages of his crap before he is issued a site wide ban?
Although he is on my ignore list I've once again had to wade thru a pages of replies to him that contributed nothing to the OT or the site in general.
This happens over and over across our site, he craps a thread to death until he gets kicked out but then just moves on to the next thread.
His intent is simply to disrupt and this has been obvious for a very long time now.

I wouldn't mind if his posts had a point or some factual basis. I would even settle for a bias controlled evaluation of some of the claims he's made but I only think those of the intellectually honest stripe are willing to sit for that.

 

[amirm]

These splendid measurement by paul miller of hifi news sure makes it tempting to get the benchmark dac3

 

[March Audio]

Choices, choices, what do you do?

And are we at the point where you need a higher performing AP analyser?

 

[amirm]

And are we at the point where you need a higher performing AP analyser?

Would be nice to have but the retail is $28,000 for a new one and just gives me a few more dbs. Even accommodation pricing is too high to think of getting it since the current unit is such a workhorse.

Back on the DAC, I keep having second thoughts about spending $2,000 on a DAC. Hope to find something good below $1000 if I can.

 

[RayDunzl]

I'll give you a good price on mine.

After it dries out.

If I can even find it.

 

[pierre]

Other propositions:

1. consumer: audio-gd.com plenty of options under 2k, measurements are good ex: http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/NFB_7_77/NFB7.77EN_Specs.htm
2. pro: lake-people.com http://www.lake-people.de/produktdetails/dac_rs_06.html
   1. i do not think it makes DSD;
   2. they also have a model for active speakers (http://www.lake-people.de/produktdetails/DAT_RS_05.html)

 

[Jinjuku]

Take a look at the Roland Super UA for $500

http://www.rolandus.com/products/super_ua/

 

[amirm]

consumer: audio-gd.com plenty of options under 2k, measurements are good ex: http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/NFB_7_77/NFB7.77EN_Specs.htm

Wow, I fell of my chair when I saw the Audio Precision Analyzer measurements! I can't get that from vast majority of DAC companies in US let alone any chinese.

Alas, I was ready to order it only to read the part about no feedback output stage and the extra distortions it is causing in the output of the DAC. They catered to "audiophile sound" and compromised performance and for what I want to do, i.e. measurements, it is not a good fit.

Do you know the cost of this specific unit anyway?

 

[pierre]

from the website, nfb 77.7 USD1880 (+transport+tax)
i have an old (3y) version of nfb 1.38 USD750 which should not be too different.

you can talk to the owner if you want some changes.

 

[Old Listener]

Amir, these Exasound DACs might be to your taste.

http://www.exasound.com/StartHere/CompareSpecifications.aspx

The price might be a bit too much for you.

 

[amirm]

Amir, these Exasound DACs might be to your taste.

http://www.exasound.com/StartHere/CompareSpecifications.aspx

The price might be a bit too much for you.

Man, that is one clean implementation: http://www.exasound.com/e32/e32DACMeasurements.aspx

Love the transparency they show there with all the measurements.

I may reach out to them to see if the provide any accommodation pricing.

Thanks for reminding me of this option.

 

[amirm]

Well, George from Exasound got to me really quick and offered a good discount so I went for it! Still it was fair amount of money so I will be substituting hotdogs for shrimp and steak dinners for a few weeks.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Just saw this $96 DAC mentioned on another forum.

http://www.sabaj.com.cn/en/productshow.asp?id=74

Available thru Amazon. DSD512 , 32 bit ESS balanced DACs, 125 db dynamic range, SNR 118 db, 768 khz. If it even comes close to claims pretty impressive. Cheap way to get DSD playback. Of course that goes against my fervent wish that DSD would die a deserved death and soon.

 

[amirm]

Just saw this $96 DAC mentioned on another forum.

http://www.sabaj.com.cn/en/productshow.asp?id=74

OK, I ordered that too. I think soon I will have more DACs than anyone on the planet!!!

 

[Blumlein 88]

OK, I ordered that too. I think soon I will have more DACs than anyone on the planet!!!

Okay. Will be interesting to see how it fairs. If it is good, then expensive DACs seem in for a rough ride among rational consumers. I was looking at how best to adapt the TRRS balanced 2.5 mm output to a pair of XLRs for feeding powered monitors.

 

[amirm]

Okay. Will be interesting to see how it fairs. If it is good, then expensive DACs seem in for a rough ride among rational consumers. I was looking at how best to adapt the TRRS balanced 2.5 mm output to a pair of XLRs for feeding powered monitors.

I am not too hopeful given this kind of soldering job (second picture):

The solder seems to have bridged the pads under that Xmos ASIC. As a minimum, it could use some cleaning of the solder balls everywhere.