I am honestly disappointed with the performance.
I was hoping for March Audio to blow all the other designs out of the water and possibly take the performance crown.
Instead at 109 SINAD on the weaker side... this is the same performance as the D50.
Now if he brought both channels upto the same spec and went about +1.5sinad... he would basically be on top.
But to be objective here... the competition is stiff and he needs to be closer to the top to be able to charge more money.
While this could be a nice device in AU... if I order it then it will be over $500 which really doesn't stack up well vs something like a DX7S for $400.
Also where are these built?
Why are you disappointed? I never made any indication this would be aiming at the performance crown - but it clearly is top tier. I published many times the performance of the DAC in prototype form, so why the surprise?
You are correct however that it doesnt compare to the DX7S, the DAC1 performance is better. Without wishing to make the same mistake twice, I went to Audiophonics.fr and its out of stock, but including shipping to Oz it comes to E435 which is $496 US. You could order from Shenzenaudio at $400 with free shipping but have you ever had something delivered from China that wasnt via DHL? It will be a month.
BTW just for clarity the DAC1 price is US $380 + express DHL insured shipping, no more than US $430 anywhere in the world.
Last edited: