Best DAC under $500? - Fall 2010

[Erwin S]

I will get that XDA-1. It's supposed to replace the DacMagic in our surround setup. But I will hook it up to the stereo first, in duo with the Weiss, for comparison.

 

It also could end up in the spare room which my 16-year old daughter wants to turn into a personal hobby space. In that case, it would revive a 20-year old Philips setup with big tower speakers. She's the one who loads her iPod by browsing my music. So much for the generation clash!

 

[jbloggs]

You might want to have a look at the Audio-GD DAC-19:

 

http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/DAC19/DAC19EN.htm

 

I have the DAC-19MK3, which is the predecessor of the DAC-19, before I bought the DAC-19MK3, I had a ZeroDAC, which I compared to the DACmagic, I ended up keeping the ZeroDAC which sound better, in comparing the ZeroDAC to the DAC-19MK3, the latter was considerably better...

 

[bixby]

Everything blows me away with the exception of female voices like Neko Case and Bjork often sound unrealistictly grainy/processed. I turned on audio midi upsampling to 88.2 and that seemed to smooth it out a bit.

 

This is typical of some cheaper dacs and setups. Female vocalists are very hard to get right. My ack dack back in the day was close but still no cigar (still cannot stomach NOS, 30 year old chips).

 

I would suggest two possible improvements without changing the dac, but ultimately you may need to do that.

 

1. Get a good toslink cable and eliminate the adapter. WireWorld 6 or Siliflex glass. Many of the adapters I have tried add a bit of upper midrange glare.

 

2. Get Pure Music- iTunes has a very broad and slightly exaggerated upper midrange that can sound unnatural to my ears.

 

good luck!

 

[bixby]

re the Emotiva dac. I would hold judgement until you hear it. I had their cheap amp which promised great sound. It was out of my system and replaced by my puny Trends amp in a heartbeat.

 

Good looks, specs good for marketing, and the word discrete don't mean squat. It all comes down to how it sounds.

 

Let us know when you have heard one.

 

[jdawg]

What about the Valab NOS DAC? I don't have one but there are several people that are happy with this DAC and its reasonably cheap too.

 

[roscoeiii]

NOS DACs tend to have a somewhat different character, and like passive preamps, I have found that the ones I have tried tend to work better with certain types of music than others. Particularly, the Moodlab Concept that I had excelled at small scale performances, but when the music or proeduction became more complex, I found that the NOS DAC didn't quite provide the oomph or drive that I was looking for.

 

[francoamerican]

I'm curious if anybody has any experience comparing toslink PS Audio DLIII vs HRT Streamer II+. I'm debating between maybe upgrading to one of those two.

 

 

Also, thanks @bixby I'm trying out pure music right now as I type.

 

FA

 

[bixby]

I have heard the PS audio DLIII in my system as well as a friends on numerous occasions. It is a very good value and sounds so much better with Toslink than usb we do not even bother to compare its usb section to anything.

 

I have not heard the HRT but a friend who I trust likes his pro version.

 

You would be hard pressed to find a dac better than the PS DL-III except for maybe my Benchmark DAC1 which I am selling. No, they are just different flavors, both are very nice. I think you would have to go up north of $1k to find any competition.

 

[labjr]

You would be hard pressed to find a dac better than the PS DL-III except for maybe my Benchmark DAC1 which I am selling."

 

You just happened to be selling it?

 

[bixby]

tongue firmly inserted in cheek of course!

 

[Hellenback]

Very hard to find a smoother sounding or more feature laden DAC for SP/DIF converter for hi-res out over USB (the coast is still well under $500 with a good USB->SP/DIF converter).

 

(You also get a decent headphone/pre-amp with the Matrix Mini)!

 

I'm looking forward to doing a direct comparison with the LD DAC_I and the DacMagic very soon.

 

 

[jdjaye]

When it becomes available, it would be great if someone can do a side by side comparison between the Matrix and the Emotive using a uncompressed female vocalist (Eva Cassidy or Diana Krall).

 

If someone with the Matrix is in the NY Metro Area, I'll get the Emotive and we can hook up for a shootout.

 

[Forehaven]

A friend has a Musiland dac he bought off ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/MUSILAND-MD11-USB-DAC-Decoder-AD1853-24bit-192KHz-Amp-/320603459101?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aa5748e1d

 

I haven't heard it, but it is said to be very good for the money, $369.

 

[jdjaye]

Any new discoveries or comparisons?

 

[Rollin]

Find something else to add?