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Best DAC for $10000 budget


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Hi guys and thanks in advance,

 

I'm a long time reader of Computer Audiophile, just haven't been ready to take the plunge into serious audio gear,and had the courage to post on this forum yet. A few weeks ago my grama died and left me close to a million dollars in inheritance. As sad as the news is, she was very sick for a long time, and it is likely for the best anyways. On a brighter note, I now have some serious disposable cash to invest in a dream system. What do you guys recommend?

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Sorry about your loss. As for your request MSB Analog Dac may be worth looking into. Perhaps if you could find a used Berkeley Reference Dac it would be another good choice to audition. Some like the sound of upsampling some don't. You'll have to listen and decide for yourself. Is DSD of concern?, is something else to think about as well as connection type USB, AES, SPDIF, etc.?

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Definitely, at that price level it comes down to personal preference for a DAC. I would add EMM labs DAC2X at $15K if you are willing. Excellent Lampizator tubes at that price range, B7 and Golden Atlantic. Chord Dave many people like. Nice problem to have! Audition and evaluation are a must at that range because they are all good, just different. Many good reports on the $4K T+A DAC8DSD, also.

 

What are you interested in for the rest of your components?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

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Best sound is going to be what sounds best to you. Research and audition as many as you can so you don't waste your money. Others will add their opinions but here are four respected DACs to start with:

 

https://www.dcsltd.co.uk/products/debussy-dac/

 

The Analog DAC Features - MSB Technology

 

Alpha DAC Reference Series 2 — Berkeley Audio Design

 

Ayre Acoustics QX-5

 

Hi Goose, Sorry indeed for your loss, even if Gramma was old. Its hard to lose our foundation people.

 

Stereo gave some nice recommendations, but I would also like toinclude the Lampizator Golden Atlantic with additional DSD512 module, the T+A Dac8 DSD if you mostly plan to upsample all to DSD512, Bricasti M1, the Acqua Formula Dac ($14k) but PCM only, Phasure NOS1a (PCM only), Chord DAVE ($13K), and finally the Dartzeel LHB208 which is a Ethernet Dac with a built in Dartzeel 200wpc integrated amp for less than $15K. It does up to DSD128 as well...you just need to connect to a NAS with ethernet cable and you are good to go.

 

I like the Tube sound so I have a Lampi Golden Gate with all the bells and whistles.

 

Point is for $10K (dac price range), the world is your Oyster!

 

Another option is to go full active, a la Goldmund, KEF, Linn, Kii. Where the speaker is the source.

 

Actually, its better to define a total system budget of say $25K and take a wholistic approach.

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Before spending the lot, I urge You to settle down and clarify (mostly to Yourself) what You consider "good" sound to be like. Go and listen to different setups and form an honest opinion.

 

If You start by letting the makes and models to decide Your path You may end up having a seriously expensive but musically unsatisfying result. I´m sure Your late Granny would not want You to hesitate.

 

But recommendations were asked, so here goes: Vincent Brient´s Totaldac r2r-ladder dacs shouldn´t be overlooked...

Jussi Arvio

Contributing Editor

Hifimaailma Magazine

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Hi guys and thanks in advance,

 

I'm a long time reader of Computer Audiophile, just haven't been ready to take the plunge into serious audio gear,and had the courage to post on this forum yet. A few weeks ago my grama died and left me close to a million dollars in inheritance. As sad as the news is, she was very sick for a long time, and it is likely for the best anyways. On a brighter note, I now have some serious disposable cash to invest in a dream system. What do you guys recommend?

 

Condolences on the loss of your grandmother.

 

As to your question, remember that an audio system is just that--a system. The parts need to work well together. You can buy piecemeal and end up with something satisfying, but you'll probably spend more time and money and suffer more frustration than if you went into it thinking in terms of system.

 

My advice is to find a local dealer who is willing to spend significant time with you before you spend any money, getting to know your musical and sonic tastes. Then set a budget for the system and find something in consultation with this dealer that works for you (buying from the dealer, of course).

 

Finding the right dealer and spending some time before you buy will save you a lot of money and hassle.

 

Good luck! Should be fun!

 

Jeff

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The people telling you to take your time and think about what your ultimate sound goal (and total budget) are: it's good advice. No reason to make a mistake with those kinds of sums, even if you can afford it.

 

That said, a couple of comments, as I've auditioned quite a bit of equipment lately, especially DACs:

 

DACs: I haven't heard all of those mentioned here, although I have heard a couple of them, and some others not mentioned. The best sounding one to me was the Playback Designs Merlot. It also is software/firmware upgradeable, as it doesn't depend on a DAC chip.

 

The advice to audition some of the better powered/active speakers is also a good one. I recently heard the Kii Three, and a pair with controller and stands cost about $15000. But note that is a complete system other than the player/source.

 

Personally, I liked the Kii better than just about anything I heard when auditioning expensive DACs and amps, and I was auditioning systems with $5-$10 DACs along with amps and speakers that put total system cost for these systems at $20-$100K.

 

But that was for my taste and needs. Yours may be different. Part of the fun of the hobby is the process of listening and finding out.

Main listening (small home office):

Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments.

Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

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Dani, I am impressed with Goldmund and Kef active tech. Have not heard the Kiis yet...HOWEVER, I have a vinyl rip dem track recorded in DSD512 and the active guys convert to PCM for playback and the midrange magic is lost. Its very very good, but no longer magical. On percussive stuff the actives eat up the material, but there are certain genres where they lost to a high quality high rate DSD playback. Palpability is the best descriptor of what is lot.

 

I guess it means that nothing is perfect....but I love my personal compromise and I too have no Dac chip in my converter and I have 3 engines!

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Sorry for your loss Goose.

Inherited money is called "found money" meaning people don't regard it as the blood-sweat-and-tears money you work for. It is way too easy to buy a performance car you drive to the grocery store that you absolutely don't need.I don't know how old a guy you are so I recommend doing nothing for six months with the money until you think it through. Do you even have a place for the audio system? Debt etc.

First get rid of your debt if you have any. If you have to get an financial adviser please make sure they are a fiduciary so you don't get majorly ripped off. DO NOT LISTEN TO RIDICULOUS INVESTMENT ADVICE! If anyone was that good at investing/trading they wouldn't bother selling/giving you the info. They'd just make themselves more rich(I've traded and "known" many of these types for twenty years).

Audio advice: If possible I'd cover all the high-end audio places you are near to hear what they offer. Listen to a mega buck system so you have that "reference" in your brain and work from there. Is it a $100,000+ system? Great. Now you know and can listen for the "smoke-and-mirrors" crap some places will hopefully not try and sell you. I would not buy any DAC that is not up-grade able. $10,000 seems like a nice round number but you'll find yourself tempted way beyond that when you start looking/listening. Headphone systems are a great option if it's just you doing the listening and you could eat up $10K just on that. Last I would look at used gear from Audigon or the like. Audiophiles are an anal/finicky group who take care/obsess over their gear. You could probably pick up some of this for much less than retail.

Good luck!

Furutech GTX-D, GTX Wall Plate,106-D Cover > NCF Clearline >Custom Computer>J River [Current] > Curious Cable Evolved USB > Chord Hugo MScaler > WAVE Storm Dual BNC> Chord DAVE>DCA Stealth>my ears > audiophile brain

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Dani, I am impressed with Goldmund and Kef active tech. Have not heard the Kiis yet...HOWEVER, I have a vinyl rip demo track recorded in DSD128 and the active speakers convert to PCM for playback and to me, the midrange magic is lost. Its very very good, but no longer magical. On percussive stuff the actives eat up the material, but there are certain genres where they lost to a high quality high rate DSD playback. Palpability is the best descriptor of what is lot.

 

I guess it means that nothing is perfect....but I love my personal compromise and I too have no Dac chip in my converter and I have 3 engines!

Corrected typos above

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Inherited money is called "found money" meaning people don't regard it as the blood-sweat-and-tears money you work for. It is way too easy to buy a performance car you drive to the grocery store that you absolutely don't need.I don't know how old a guy you are so I recommend doing nothing for six months with the money until you think it through.

 

That was exactly what I was thinking. My condolences goose, but KDinsmore is right. You have an opportunity to make your money work for you. All my discretionary purchases are financed through taking on extra work. My usual income goes into debt reduction, daily living, and compound investments. If I had a windfall like this, I would put it all into debt reduction or my investments so that I don't "feel" the effect of having that money.

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Best sound is going to be what sounds best to you. Research and audition as many as you can so you don't waste your money. Others will add their opinions but here are four respected DACs to start with:

 

https://www.dcsltd.co.uk/products/debussy-dac/

 

The Analog DAC Features - MSB Technology

 

Alpha DAC Reference Series 2 — Berkeley Audio Design

 

Ayre Acoustics QX-5

 

That's a good short list. I would make sure to audition the QX-5 at this price point.

Roon ROCK (Roon 1.7; NUC7i3) > Ayre QB-9 Twenty > Ayre AX-5 Twenty > Thiel CS2.4SE (crossovers rebuilt with Clarity CSA and Multicap RTX caps, Mills MRA-12 resistors; ERSE and Jantzen coils; Cardas binding posts and hookup wire); Cardas and OEM power cables, interconnects, and speaker cables

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Take all but $50,000 to a competent financial manager and purchase a Meridian Audio system consisting of a pair of 7200.2 active speakers and a Media Core 200. Get a subscription to Tidal Masters and and control via iPad. You'll have practically anything you'd like to hear at your fingertips and the MC200 can also store up to 2,000 of your CDs. Take the $15,000 you still have in your pocket and give it to a local food bank.

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Here is what you need to do. Buy a Aurender W20 , Bricasti M1SE DAC and M28 Amps you will have money left and ovoid the Berkeley lack of DSD which is just wrong. Also invest in Nordost probably O2 which you can now afford.

2 Channel: Bricasti M20, 21 & M28 SE /Aurender N30SA and MC10 Master clock Treatments: Acoustical panels(F, S & R walls) Misc.: SR Master Fuses

Speakers: Martin Logan CLX ART (Dark Cherry) w/30# weights / 2-ML 212's 

Grounding: QKore 1&6 / Networking: SOtM switch, clock and Pwr Supply / AQ Diamond /SR Router Power: Furutech GTX-DNCF / Oyaide inwall  wire

Nordost: 2-QB8 III, QV2's, QK1's, QSine, QWave, QX4, TC Kones, Sort Fut & LIft / Full OG Loom / 3-QSource & 12-QPoints, QNet, V2 Network

Misc.: iPad 6 /Custom Rack  Media Rm: ML: 13A's, 2-Descent i's, 6- Vanquish, Focus / 3-Parasound A23 / Legacy iV-3 Ultra / 77" LG 4k OLED / Anthem AVM90 / Pioneer Elite DVD Nordost: Odin/T2/H2, BC Kones, H2 Network, V2 HDMI

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I might suggest as others an active system of speakers with the digital inputs included. In some ways a well planned system like that can manage things that are hard to achieve piecemeal at any price.

 

Haven't heard them but the Kii three already mentioned seems to get raves from everyone.

 

I also would second those saying take your time and figure out what it is you are really looking for in your music system.

 

Also my advice on building systems is start with the speakers. I should shout it.

 

START WITH SPEAKERS!

 

Speakers make by far the biggest differences. Speakers have more character. Even at elevated levels of performance. Speaker choice will mostly set the limits of sound quality you can attain no matter what else you connect upstream. Maybe you'll dig the dynamic power of horns, maybe you'll like the purity and speed of panels, maybe a superb box and cone speaker can do the most on most music and is your cup of tea. If you get the wrong speaker, you may mess around for years with everything else moving it toward your preferred sound. And still not get there. Get the right speakers and the rest is pretty easy, and any misses are much smaller misses. You'll already be well within the ballpark of what you want.

 

So to me starting with the DAC is the wrong end of the chain. Spend 3 or 6 months listening to some top notch speakers. Figure out which categories speak to you the most. Then narrow it down. Only then build the rest of your system. If you find some active speakers you like, then you already have nearly all the rest of the system.

And always keep in mind: Cognitive biases, like seeing optical illusions are a sign of a normally functioning brain. We all have them, it’s nothing to be ashamed about, but it is something that affects our objective evaluation of reality. 

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Dani, I am impressed with Goldmund and Kef active tech. Have not heard the Kiis yet...HOWEVER, I have a vinyl rip dem track recorded in DSD512 and the active guys convert to PCM for playback and the midrange magic is lost. Its very very good, but no longer magical. On percussive stuff the actives eat up the material, but there are certain genres where they lost to a high quality high rate DSD playback. Palpability is the best descriptor of what is lot.

 

I guess it means that nothing is perfect....but I love my personal compromise and I too have no Dac chip in my converter and I have 3 engines!

 

I heard the Lampizator Atlantic (standard) and Big7 in a couple of systems - one moderately priced in audiophile terms and one very high end one; have to say that I preferred the Kii system. The Kii converts everything to 24/192 and I purposely brought along multiple DSD tracks to see how they sound through it. I thought they sounded fine. But I can totally envision someone else not being thrilled by them at all. The sound wasn't sterile, but definitely more in the direction of pro or very revealing equipment, and less in the direction of "traditional" sounding audio. I myself was a bit surprised I liked them so much (see present system below), as usually I'm less convinced by extremely "detailed" and "revealing" systems.

 

It's possible that if I did some direct A/B comparison I'd hear some loss in what you call the "midrange magic"; but overall I was very happy with the sound of the Kii. I listened to about 30 tracks of different music styles and different file formats - about 28 of them I thought sounded fantastic. The only 2 that didn't were late 60's early 70's rock. And I think the Kii was just so revealing that they revealed some not so great aspects of highly manipulated multi-track recordings.

 

But again, I know you are very happy with your choice. Everyone hears differently and has different taste, or a different idea of what "sounds right". And that's how it should be. That's why if I was the OP I'd listen to some different types of equipment to get an idea of where my taste lies before I buy something I might not like long term. I personally know of more than one model of VERY well regarded speakers that cost multiples of $10000 that I wouldn't take home if you gave them to me (except to sell for the cash!:)). For someone else those same speakers would be part of a dream system.

Main listening (small home office):

Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments.

Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

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