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Per 6Moons news snippet: I've liked their products I've had or heard, this sounds pretty nice. Sounds far enough off, we'll see if it comes in with that estimated price intact....

Ok folks, I've been lurking for the past 2 weeks trying to find presumably better DAC for my current setup which is : Notebook --> Pico DAC-->WA6 or Gilmore Lite -->MS1/HF2/701/ESW9. I have been looking hard at the following: 1. Benchmark Dac1 2. Buffalo - used 3. Grace M902 - out of budget but I try to find used 4. Gamma 2 - used 5. Lavry DA11 My road map in the distant future is to upgrade to balanced so I thought I would like to start with DAC first. I understand when I'm ready to upgrade to balance I would have to get rid/recable of almost all my current headphone/amp. On the other hand, I'm also looking hard at ATH W5000. So should I use the cash…

Neko Audio D100 Impressions After being a speaker only guy for awhile I wanted to put together a headphone rig again for late night listening sessions. I had never sold my 650's so I had the headphone part covered and then I was fortunate enough to get a Dynahi at a fantastic price. Leaving the source as the only thing left to get, I knew I wanted a dac as I was planning to use the Squeezebox as the transport. I've heard quite a few dacs in the $1k price range over the years and none really ever satisfied me and some I flat out hated then I recalled reading this thread about a new transformer coupled dac. I've had very good experiences with transforme…

I've made an audio friend down here who imports the dCS range and has a slightly-used Debussy he's looking to unload at an advantageous (though still eye watering) price. Does the HC brain trust have an opinion on the dCS house sound in general or their Ring DAC topology in particular? I will have a chance to live with it in my system for a while before making any decisions. Another option is to wait for the first shipment of the new DAC from Aesthetix, who he also carries. The Pandora uses (as I understand it) roughly the same digital board as my current Ayre QB9, but with a beefed-up power supply and analog section (and toobs, obviously). Charles Hansen has been repping…

Hi guys Not sure of there is a thread here for this. Anyway, I was wanting to let folks know who maybe haven't tried this connection method that it rocks! Those that have are already ahead of the game. I had a demo of the C1 CH precision 6 weeks back, and using USB connection is was just too bright and forward, making many tracks sound harsh. I talked to the dealers and they said it works best with the D1 or using Ehternet. That got me thinking. I didn't want to spend anything like the money on a C1 for that level of sound quality, and TBH it was not as good as my existing DAC. USB Out AOIP In I have had various USB chains, Offramp 5, M2Tech EVO st…

Ok, so we all know that I'm DACrazy. I recently purchased a Dodson DA-217 MK II D, which is a vintage '90s DAC. I have yet to see a bad review of the unit, but there also is not a tremendous amount written about it. Also, the designer is dead. Regardless, after 1 hour, I can say that this DAC sounds pretty damn good. As many of you know, I have been very much in love with my ECD-1. Well, the Dodson may be better. I have a lot more listening to do, and I will post some internals here. But I think this is a pretty promising find. Oh, and I'm fully willing to admit this could be placebo...

Just got the PS Audio newsletter, an interesting product coming soon. Phono Pre and A-D Converter. Snippets: Info on digital output

Well I just sold off all my old stuff and I am without a system and have a handful of cash. My budget is $1000. I am considering these: 1. a new Lavry DA10 - $975 2. a used, modded Benchmark DAC1 - $825 AudiogoN ForSale: Benchmark DAC1 silver 3. A modded bel canto DAC2+ - $750 on head-fi here: FS: bel canto DAC2+ (Legendary Edwood balanced mod) - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio 4. A used, unmodded Benchmark DAC1 - $760 AudiogoN ForSale: Benchmark dac1 blk non-usb 5. Other suggestions? thank you! I was really leaning to the Lavry for a while but now I am not quite sure. Tell me what you think.

Has anyone heard this DAC? Here is a pic: Here is a link to the website: http://www.tubeaudiodesign.com/ It sells for $1000 with a remote. He offeres a 21 day trial with a $45 restocking fee. It doesn't have a usb input but he says on the site the following: "USB PC sourced digital audio sounds amazing! Need a small external 24-bit, 96k Sound Blaster USB powered data converter box ~$50 at Office Depot. The TADAC has the best sounding audiophile hardware - the PC data conversion circuitry is not built-in. Best keeping the two separate to unleash the best possible sound. Yahoo! Music from the PC is high resolution - PC audio sounds like CD's using the TADAC." …

Although the title of this thread is the CH Precision C1 DAC, I'd like to start off by saying that when I first got the BHSE ( June 2012 ), it obviously came with stock Mullard tubes, and Earspeaker's used were my 009's. Now when I first heard those 009's with the BHSE I was very impressed with the first few songs I listened to, it was when I started listening to Peter Gabriel's " Sledge Hammer " and " Big Time " the problem started which was a piercing uncomfortable treble, and I found that piercing treble was with a lot of song's in my collection. Because of that problem, I was going to sell my 009's and get a pair of 007's, but decided to try some Psvane PH tubes inste…

Im considering one of these for a portable rig any suggestions? Im obviously looking for a very high quality portable device. Astell&Kern looks awesome but $2500 is steap....The Geek Wave looks like it might trump the AK240 in SQ based on the specs and the designer plus its a fraction of the cost. Thanks in Advance

I posted about this over in the TTVJ forum, but I'd like to snag the HC opinion as well: http://www.ttvj.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=1110 This phono looks very versatile. I like the idea of a tube MM stage, while throwing in the SS to beef up the output for MC. And Todd says it should be available in 2-3 weeks.

Now I'm down to the following two choices for a DAC - both are around the same price. 1. Little Dot DAC 1 - brand new USB DAC just released this month from Little Dot' - around $300 OR 2. Parasound DAC-1000 - 15 years old used/good condition - original cost $775...used around $300 I am a novice and this will be my first DAC to be used in conjunction with my computer as source (ASUS P5Q-EM Motherboard). Any help and advice would be appreciated. Thanx

Because of some Refence Recordings, HDTracks, etc. files, I started off my recent DAC hunt by eliminating any model that didn't support 88.2 or 176.4 kHz. Unfortunately, that eliminates a ton of DACs (MiniMax, Neko, etc.). I know several use the same chip, but not all. Some, like Lavry, expect even less standard kHz, so curious why these two 44.1 x X points aren't more widely supported?

Is it just me, or is this bad timing now that USB 3.0 is finally on the horizon (and years after the Cambridge Audio DacMagic's launch)? I'm not sure what the list price is going to be yet.

Hi, does anyone know what this is worth and how's its performance? I'm looking for a DAC, and this popped out. But a quick search turned up the newer models, I think this one is a very old model (I'm assuming the first). It has balanced outputs which is nice, but I was wondering about its performance... Thanks for your help HC!

Did anyone see this? https://schiit.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=11 Sounds promising. They seem to have been building pretty good products in the 200-400 price range and it's nice to see them getting more ambitious. Specs alone look quite good!

Hey all, I'm always a little nervous about posting here because...well we all know why. It's part of the reason I love this forum so much but mainly lurk and learn. Anyhow, my primary DAC has for many years been the good old' E-mu 0404 USB, and sadly it's had its last day. Now I need a new DAC to connect to my Asus G73 gaming laptop (no S/PDIF sadly so USB is a requirement) and the rest of my rig is my prototype (though awesome) CTH I acquired from a very nice chap on that other site and my beloved Wenge-cup Thunderpants TP1s. Which, by the way, I was delighted to see such positive praise for here when I showed them off after I got them back from Smeggy. Just …

Indie bands have been releasing cassettes for a few years, but now a new cassette player has been released. I was cleaning my place and stumbled on some old cassettes... taking some time to listen through all of them (especially since many of them are unlabeled/mislabeled) on my ancient Walkman. Unfortunately, this new player doesn't measure or perform very well, but perhaps it will stir the big players into producing something better. https://www.wearerewind.com

Around the time I first joined over there it seems like there were fewer choices in DACs. Benchmark and Lavry seemed to be the go-to options, though there were certainly other contenders: Apogee, HeadRoom, Grace, Bel Canto, Monarchy, Channel Islands, and others, as well as various experiments in NOS: Ack!, Lite, etc. Then came Zhaolu, and it seemed to usher in a new micro-era of willingness to tread away from the beaten path. Audio-GD's extensive DAC lineup is a good example of the proliferation of options these days. I really have no sense for what the standouts are anymore (among similarly priced products). I'm not sure review reading is terribly illuminating, sinc…

I need to get a new DAC after damaging my E-MU 0404 USB dac. There are nice new (used) DACs out there for about 200 euro, the E-MU, the V-DAC, and the cambridge audio DAC magic. But there are also vintage DACs, like this ADCOM 700 (that someone seems to have done some strange mods to) [ATTACH=CONFIG]2965[/ATTACH] or the Parasound D/AC 1000, or this Orelle DAC [ATTACH=CONFIG]2964[/ATTACH] What do you people think? Should I go vintage or almost new?

Schiit just announced a DAC: http://schiit.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=7 Can anyone speak for their choice of parts? Input Receiver, USB: C-Media CM6631 D/A Conversion IC: AKM4399 Kinda tempted even though I don't need a DAC right now....

Despite the low price this looks interesting. Those HF-ers will probably be all over this one given its price. Can anyone provide some insight on the selection of parts? Stereophile: Oh Nose, Not Another One! "The Music Hall dac25.2 ($600) uses an Electro-Harmonix 6922 tube, a Texas Instruments PCM1796 24-bi/192kHz DAC chip, a TI SRC4192 Asynchronous sample-rate converter (with a high-precision active crystal oscillator master clock), and four digital inputs (S/PDIF, TOSLINK, XLR, and USB). It sports re-clocking and user-adjustable upsampling (96kHz or 192kHz). It outputs analog via XLR or RCA."

Hi all. Since I'm getting in the Cambridge 840C, I was wondering what type of cable should I get for connecting the my 840c to my laptop? The 840C has coax and my laptop has S/PDIF 1/8". I haven't done this before as I'm guessing that I could connect my laptop or Ipod to the 840C and use the DAC in the 840c? I was thinking about getting Blue Jeans to make a cable to do this. What would you folks recommend. Thanks in advance .

Okay, I'm behind the times, but needs are simple. My analog and limited physical media needs are met and otherwise only stream Tidal/Qobuz. No need for everyones favorite Roon at this point or support for media stored on a HD. Used an Airport Express to get a digital signal to a DAC until Apple retired and it eventually became a little flaky, then Chromecast Audio until Google retired and it eventually became a little flaky. Just looking for a simple way to stream audio over wifi (ideally with Airplay2 support) to a digital out. Know Audioengine has a similar device, though next to no specs. I'm sure there are Raspberry Pi options as when are there not? Anyone have a reco…