WANTED: Topping Multichannel DAC (list your wants)

[sarumbear]

Don't want or need optical. Don't need or want DSP - if it's a USB DAC I can do all that via the minipc that feeds it much more flexibly and robustly anyway.

HDMI input with Dolby/DTS decoding would be nice, but for music I don't need that, for most movies I'm going thru Plex anyway, and it would add tons to the cost.

So you want a stereo DAC?

 

[Sieniek]

Actually I want 16 channel DACS with USB input. And I want both Windows, and Mac boxes to render 16 channel LPCM of ATMOS/DTS-X and Auro 3D from streaming video services to make available to those DACS. So no further need for crappy AV processors/receivers. Just a PC, DAC, Amps, and speakers to play even the object based codecs.

That would be a dream come true for me as well.

 

[tinnitus]

The link you gave seems to be all stereo recordings. Why multichannel DAC then? What am I missing?

When using digital crossover i need more than two channels for stereo.

 

[sarumbear]

When using digital crossover i need more than two channels for stereo.

Are there any digital crossovers on the market that doesn’t integrate DACs? How do they output the separated digital channels?

 

[somebodyelse]

Are there any digital crossovers on the market that doesn’t integrate DACs? How do they output the separated digital channels?

We've a whole thread full of software crossover options that fit the bill. A multichannel USB DAC isn't the only option, but it is a common one.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...sover-software-for-windows-linux-macos.26180/

 

[sarumbear]

We've a whole thread full of software crossover options that fit the bill. A multichannel USB DAC isn't the only option, but it is a common one.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...sover-software-for-windows-linux-macos.26180/

Thank you.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

When using digital crossover i need more than two channels for stereo.

DePhonica is 2 x 8, has phase correction, filter taps, individually selectable slopes, different crossover types, an Asio sink driver for input, easy set up, runs on both Windows and Macs, and it's FREE!

 

[dadregga]

So you want a stereo DAC?

No - I want a multichannel DAC. That's what we're talking about here. I have several hundred 4.0/5.0/5.1 albums in both DSF and FLAC format.

I want to play those back without downmixing as a first priority. I would like a pure USB DAC (I have a mini PC running as a Roon bridge feeding a cheapie, old Denon MCH via HDMI out) with decent specs, a reasonable price range (e.g. without a lot of bells and whistles), a modern OTS DAC chip, that is attainable, which I can build some standalone amps around.

Okto Dac8 Pro is awesome - but it would be good to have one or two more options like that - though given everyone has the same supply chain constraints it might not actually increase overall availability that much.