There's gonna be an rca out dac only pico for 349 out sometime in the near future. It will be difficult to compete with that under 1000 without looking at vintage dacs. There are things that do though they are at the ~1000 price range and not anywhere near the 349 price ;p

Where did you hear about this?

Where did you hear about this?

There's gonna be an rca out dac only pico for 349 out sometime in the near future. It will be difficult to compete with that under 1000 without looking at vintage dacs. There are things that do though they are at the ~1000 price range and not anywhere near the 349 price ;p

Do you know if there are plans for a balanced version?

Yes sir.. a redhead from Little Bird Rumor services!

Nah, Justin has been working on it off and on in between Pico shipments and the BHSE and what not. Prototype due soon or so sayeth the word on the street (Aka Justin/Headamp).

There are other decentish dacs in the ~1k range... the PS Audio Digital Link III thing isn't bad. I think what you need to pin down is if you are looking for a rich feature set or just the best possible sound quality possible and if small size buys points with you or not. If you are looking for the best possible sound quality possible then I'd get a vintage dac. If you want something small but sounds well better than a Lavry imo I'd get a pico. If you really need that insane feature set... I dunno what the PS Audio does besides making sound but uh a Benchmark DAC1 has a lot of features... but i wouldn't buy it for its sound.

And some people like Grawk feel the Apogee Duet is worth buying a mac mini for. I haven't heard it yet but it also has a pretty sick feature set or should considering it does ADC too... but eh I don't personally need that feature Oh and supposedly it sounds great too.

Icarium you damn Pico shill

I am paid in ERS paper.

dolla dolla bills yo

Has anyone compared the Duet to the DAC1 or DA-10.

The Stello DA100 Signature looks like a good option as well.

The duet is hands down better than the DA10

The duet is hands down better than the DA10

DA10 or DA100?

Which did I say?

x2 on the Duet being better than the DA10.

If you're willing to buy used... there's a PS Audio Digital Link III on A'gon for $700.

If you're willing to get a USB>SPDIF box, the Parasound D/AC-1100 going for $200 is a steal... and Filburt may even mod it for you.

Hey... I may have been a bit hasty on offering Filburt's services. He doesn't really have an active mod business going.

Hey... I may have been a bit hasty on offering Filburt's services. He doesn't really have an active mod business going.

In this thread have you actually heard all of the DACs you commented on? Because it reads like bullshit to me.

Bought the Stello DA100 Signature. I dont really need balanced output but I do want 2 outputs. Im still waiting for some interconnects I ordered to come in so im not passing any judgments yet. I will say the bass is nice and punchy, lots of impact. Thanks for all the recommendations everyone. FYI, I purchased it from Mike Powell at Hot Rod Audio Mods and it was 850+25 shipping. Much better than 895+85 from Stello direct. Price difference made it easy to choose the Signature over the standard model. I also noticed on the box they have model numbers for all the units and there is a "HP100 Signature" listed, so I assume they are working on a new head-amp.

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/clt.pl?dgtlconv&1219023333

In this thread have you actually heard all of the DACs you commented on? Because it reads like bullshit to me.

Actually, in the last month I've had a chance to hear the DA10, DLIII stock, DLIII w/o mods, WA Cosine, D/AC 1600 (no mods--1100 is the 1600 single-ended), D/AC 1500, Assemblage 2.6 w/mods, P3-A, and the Duet.

I lived with the DA10, DLIII w/mods, WA Cosine, and Duet simultaneously for a few weeks. I still have the DLIII w/mods and Duet in my possession.

I listened to the DAC1 at length a year ago, and I'm pretty sure it's not the current version.

I have not heard the DAC3 (stated in the thread you linked to). I probably should have stated that the ECD1 observation in that thread was just from online research and chatting with an owner here in the Bay Area that I was going to purchase the ECD1 from after an audition (another A'goner bought it before the audition weekend came up).

Bought the Stello DA100 Signature.

Congrat's, Jeepster! Let us know how you enjoy it!

Just wanted to say that it sounds amazing and I also wanted to mention that the optical input is most definitely better than USB, is for me anyway. Bigger sound stage and better bass control and more high end detail retrieval. Im so happy with this dac, I was sweating the sound signature and to put it simply, it really doesn't seem to have one. Forward in the mids in nos mode but other than that it is perfect for my needs. Thanks for everyone who wrote in to help me decide.

Just wanted to say that it sounds amazing and I also wanted to mention that the optical input is most definitely better than USB, is for me anyway. Bigger sound stage and better bass control and more high end detail retrieval. Im so happy with this dac, I was sweating the sound signature and to put it simply, it really doesn't seem to have one. Forward in the mids in nos mode but other than that it is perfect for my needs. Thanks for everyone who wrote in to help me decide.

Hi Jeepster

How do you have your USB set up?

USG

Im not sure I know what you mean, but it has its own USB header on my computer and I am using Foobar2000 with ASIO4ALL and with WASAPI, they both sound the same to me.

Im not sure I know what you mean, but it has its own USB header on my computer and I am using Foobar2000 with ASIO4ALL and with WASAPI, they both sound the same to me.

Also windows sounds are turned off.

i vote for a used benchmark dac1 usb

Have you heard a benchmark dac1 usb, or are you voting based on what you've read?

Even if he's heard the Benchmark he may not have heard adequate competition.

i vote for a used benchmark dac1 usb

How about a used North Star m192 mk2?