Mid priced DACs $250 to $500

[Rthomas]

Hi guys,

This is my first post here. I started in the headphone hobby in 2011. My current system is laptop-modi multi bit- Dynalo MK2- HD650.

I was concerned by what I read about Schiit here.

Can you guys please recommend a neutral, transparent DAC under $500?

Which manufacturers can we trust?

Thank you!

Thomas

 

[Sal1950]

What are your requirements?
Basic DAC or Preamp/headphone amp with volume and remote control included, etc?
DSD?

 

[Rthomas]

Basic DAC. Don't need a remote/DSD or headphone amp. Just need good performance for a reasonable price. Who is the Sennheiser of the DAC world?

 

[amirm]

I have not tested that many mid-priced DACs. But if you are willing to save some money (!) the Topping D30 at $120 is one of the best.

 

[amirm]

And oh, welcome aboard.

 

[Rthomas]

And oh, welcome aboard.

Thank you very much. Look forward to learning from people who know a bit more about how this stuff works than the typical audio phool reviewers.

The topping is cheap enough to buy to try. Will check it out.

Does IFi audio make high quality gear?

Im in the UK otherwise I would have loved to send you my Dynalo MK2 amp for measurements.

Cheers

Thomas

 

[Sal1950]

Basic DAC. Don't need a remote/DSD or headphone amp. Just need good performance for a reasonable price. Who is the Sennheiser of the DAC world?

If all your needing is a basic DAC I see no reason to spend more than $79 on a Behringer UMC204HD. Though it has other features it measured extremely well, sonically I doubt you'll do better. Want DSD look at Amir's reference ifi DAC2
And welcome from the Cheapskate also.

 

[amirm]

Does IFi audio make high quality gear?

I own two of their DACs and performance is good. I have tested them in many context but not recently. I may do a proper review on them. For now, here is a comparison against the much cheaper Behringer: https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/budget-dac-review-behringer-umc204hd.1658/

 

[Rthomas]

Thanks for the link Amir, now that I'm back from work and in front of a keyboard I can explain a bit better what I'm after.

I'm looking for the HD650 of DACS. My trusty $300 HD650 or HD600 gets me to 75% of the performance of multi thousand dollar headphones. (IMHO)

I was wondering if there is a equivalent to it in the DAC world. A trusted standard made by a trusted company around $500.

I don't need to go below $100. I'm just looking for the sweet spot in terms of product and pricing and I thought $500 would be sufficient to get a well designed and well made unit.

The only DAC I own is the Schiit Modi Mulitbit. I assume that you believe that "Multibit" is pure marketing. I think I will buy the Ifi DAC2 to hear the difference.

 

[amirm]

I have not yet measured the Multibit yet. I would love to do that. Do you want to see how much it costs to ship it to states? It shouldn't weigh much. If so, we can compare it to the rest of my DAC and report on that. I will pay the return shipping whatever it is back to you.

As to your question, I don't know of any DAC that has achieved the status of HD650, etc. The market is polluted with tons and tons of DACs and none have risen well above and gotten near unanimous praise.

If there are some candidates out there, I may consider buying them and evaluating.

 

[Rthomas]

I have not yet measured the Multibit yet. I would love to do that. Do you want to see how much it costs to ship it to states? It shouldn't weigh much. If so, we can compare it to the rest of my DAC and report on that. I will pay the return shipping whatever it is back to you.

As to your question, I don't know of any DAC that has achieved the status of HD650, etc. The market is polluted with tons and tons of DACs and none have risen well above and gotten near unanimous praise.

If there are some candidates out there, I may consider buying them and evaluating.

Hi Amir,

That would be interesting, let me check out the shipping costs. I just don't want to be charged VAT when you send it back to me though.....

 

[Jinjuku]

The Emotiva DC-1 has a killer HP amp on it and its $499.

 

[amirm]

The Emotiva DC-1 has a killer HP amp on it and its $499.

Man that thing has pretty good specs and features. Full set of inputs, balanced digital input and analog output, etc. Would be good to measure it. Sal, did you say have one of these?

 

[Blumlein 88]

The Emotiva DC-1 has a killer HP amp on it and its $499.

I didn't mention this earlier because I don't know how available it is in Europe. It does more than the OP is asking about, but it is a good choice.

Is my first suggestion in the USA for people with the OP's question. Well my first suggestion is one of the recording interfaces like the Behringer though better if one doesn't care about remote control. Many are put off by having so many functions they don't use, and feel they are paying too much for parts they don't use. True, but the results seem better than many audiophile aimed DACs provide.

 

[Sal1950]

Man that thing has pretty good specs and features. Full set of inputs, balanced digital input and analog output, etc. Would be good to measure it. Sal, did you say have one of these?

I do, want it? PM me an address and I'll ship it to you.

 

[amirm]

I do, want it? PM me an address and I'll ship it to you.

PM sent.

Heaven help us if it measures well. We will never hear the end of it!!!

 

[Sal1950]

PM sent.

Heaven help us if it measures well. We will never hear the end of it!!!

I'm not the Lone Ranger with a DC-1 Jinjuku has one, and a few others IIRC.
Better get it right this time.

 

[Blumlein 88]

PM sent.

Heaven help us if it measures well. We will never hear the end of it!!!

I haven't measured one, though have measured some other Emotiva gear. They usually test out about like they spec it.

Also, I have gotten to it yet, but a friend has their Big Ego which I hope to eventually measure for posting here. Maybe another low cost alternative worth having.

 

[Sal1950]

The Emotiva DC-1 has a killer HP amp on it and its $499.

I haven't measured one, though have measured some other Emotiva gear. They usually test out about like they spec it.

Also, I have gotten to it yet, but a friend has their Big Ego which I hope to eventually measure for posting here. Maybe another low cost alternative worth having.

My DC-1 is on it's way to amir. Amir I'm curious about that ASRC circuit and it's effect on jitter, etc on S/PDIF inputs.
Is this really a useful circuit or just a marketing hype.
Easily turned off and on in the menu to see.
TIA

"Advanced ASRC (asynchronous sample rate converter) reduces jitter, yet
preserves original sample rate.
The advanced ASRC implementation in the DC-1
eliminates jitter on all inputs (not just USB), yet lets you hear your music unaltered -
at its original sample rate."

 

[amirm]

Async sample rate conversion does away with tracking the input clock but that is not an issue with async USB anyway. For synchronous inputs like S/PDIF, again, that eliminates input clock issues but other sources of jitter and noise remain. Also the async rate converter needs to adjust its sample rate conversion ratio and those changes could show up in measurements.