FORGETTING the Digital to Analog conversion part, what is BEST Digital source?

[Norton]

58 minutes ago, Superdad said:

 

 

 

P.S.  Surprised nobody mentioned the SDTrans384 microSD player.  That's a really minimalist source that some swear by.  Where is @Bunpei? 

 

Funnily enough, I was going  to suggest a minimalist SD card transport direct to DAC as likely the best digital source purely in  SQ terms.  The SD trans is still a bit too DIY for me, but I've had a loan  Mirus DAC  in my system for the last fortnight and the replay from SD card is really special.  If some innovative boutique audio company could turn out a professionally finished SOTA standalone SD card transport for under $1000, I'd certainly be first in line.  Know anyone who might consider taking on that project ? (nice case, decent PSU, USB+BNC+I2S outputs, built in screen, navigate by Apple physical remote, no network connection)?

[Norton]

Not suggesting it as having universal appeal, but as an alternate point of view, actually I can easily imagine copying my library onto SD card.  Biggest current card is I think 512gb but probably too big to navigate, but I could easily cope with my library split over say 10 128gb cards ( I certainly find  64gb really easy to navigate).  But then again, it's not so much about managing a library as creating extracts from it.  It's great to have a large library instantly on hand, but  in reality what % of our libraries does each of us  actually listen to in a week?

 

No use of course if you listen to ad hoc playlist compilations of 3 minute tracks, but I'm sure there are others like me who listen to folder-based classical collections, where the hardship of selecting a new folder once ever so often is outweighed by the simplicity, reliability and most  of all potential SQ on offer from a SD card source.

 

 

 

 

[Norton]

42 minutes ago, opus101 said:

 

Haven't investigated whether it ticks all your boxes but this one must be worth a shout - https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.11.76bf523lRovCl&id=36217520144&ns=1&abbucket=2#detail

The versions with the full metal jacket are 1150rmb, comfortably under $200. Under $100 if you don't care about what it looks like.

Thanks, that does  look cute.  The Perspex example even looks a bit like my DNM amps.  Can't quite work out what's going on there, the board in the Perspex case looks different from the bare board.

[Norton]

17 minutes ago, beerandmusic said:

Just read your post after responding myself about an sdcard dac....looks like time to start another thread...need to wake up the engineers!

Beer, my best advice is just get hold of a Mirus on loan from somewhere,  try it in your system (inc SD card replay) and calibrate your expectations from there.

 

They are $6k new but if you end up liking  it you may be able to find a good deal on a used one  ( one went for $2.5k here and I've seen one modified to current spec go for a crazy £1800 on UK eBay.).

 

Of course the downside is that you will be so satisfied that you'll stop generating all the threads that I'm sure Chris must be paying you handsomely for here...

 

 

[Norton]

Is this similar to what Bughead does with "ReWrite data"?