dac hunt

[gdears]

I'm in need of a dac

I'm in the bay area my thoughts have been

wyred 4 sound dac 1 or 2

audio gd dac ??

eastern electric dac plus....

Wait for wadia 121???

Any tips?

I'll be using a mac mini early 2011

thru mcintosh gear >all kinds of speakers

i'd love to audition...

I am kinda remote and best buy is my local hifi headquarters

 

[funkle]

I'm in the Bay Area as well (SF). Not exactly a mecca of hi-fi, but there are some better alternatives than Best Buy (don't go there for hifi). It does seem like there is a lot of attitude, and high prices, but certainly better options than BestBuy. Music Lovers on Bush is one of my favorites, they have a pretty big showroom and some high end DACs, including Wadia. House of Music has friendly, helpful staff, but very focused on Mack & B&W.

 

Most of the others you mention are direct/mail order, so they will be tough to audition.

 

[addict]

MSB Technology are in the bay area (Aptos). It might be worth popping in to see them.

 

[darascal]

Wow, I was under the impression that the Bay area was in fact a hi-fi mecca. Shows what I know.

 

Have any of you ever been to Pitch Perfect Audio? Looks very cool from the website, though pretty focused on fairly high-end tube stuff. Next time I get up to SF, I'd like to check them out, if for no other reason than to hear some properly set-up DeVore speakers.

 

Anyway, @gdears, you'd be able to check out a Wavelength DAC at this place, one of most respected USB dacs around.

 

Rascal

 

 

 

[funkle]

Never knew this place existed. Cool.

 

Is the BA a mecca? I guess simply based on the size & population, there are a lot more places to choose from than a small rural town. But very few of them stand out for me like a place like Denver/Boulder. YMMV.

 

[gdears]

Ill check them out....I'm in Santa Cruz...

San Francisco and San Jose seem to be my best options ...unless Best Buy....bad joke!!!I like the idea of supporting local manufacturers and stores...so maybe wyred4sound .

Thanks for the tip....I love to hear the mac gear at house of music...

 

[gdears]

da/ad ....from wavelength sparked my interest

Is there anywhere in BA to hear wyred 4 sound dac or others?

 

[Frank Guerrero]

Hi,

I'm in San Jose and the closest, biggest dealer to you is Century Stereo. My one, and only, experience with them was outstanding. I wasn't ready to buy anything, and clearly stated it up front (in order not to steal any paying-customer time from Doug Peterson, the salesperson) and he kindly gave me an extremely informative hour-plus tour of the showrooms and listening sessions with gear he felt would (eventually) fit my requirements once (I was ready). Talk about nurturing a customer-to-be!

 

With regards to DACs, you didn't mention your budget, but they have a setup showcasing Peachtree gear right as you walk in - a must-see.

 

--Frank

 

[SoundQcar]

Here's a thread discussing Bay Area Hi-end audio stores. A bit dated, and a few of them are gone now, but still very relevant and with links to all of the store websites. The 9th post has all of the links.

 

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=31232.0

 

[gdears]

Thanks ..I greatly appreciate the help!!

 

[Elysian]

Does MSB have a demo room? I'm not in the market for a new source, but currently have a MSB Platinum DAC IV on my list when I want to upgrade from my BADA.

 

[addict]

I believe they have a listening room. Speaking to one of the chaps there, he mentioned they do listen as well as measure.

 

I'm trying to arrange to fly out to visit them possibly around CES time. As I represent MSB in the UK.

 

I heard the BADA a couple if years ago when TAD launched their CR1 Loudspeakers.

They had Bill Scnee there with his own recordings. Excellent Dem.

 

 

 

[funkle]

@ SoundQcar,

 

Thanks for that list! Maybe I was wrong about the Bay Area shops, I guess I need to venture to the peninsula and east Bay a little more for hi-fi

 

[SoundQcar]

We do have quite a few good salons here. Audio High in Mountain View is particularly impressive regarding store setup. I've not been to most of the stores in the City, as I try and avoid driving there whenever I can. Having two bad wheels doesn't allow me to take transit there either.

 

Also here in Pacifica, we have a little shop called Bluemoon Audio. It's just the owner of the store and you, very nice one on one. He's very honest and usually has an impressive inventory of trade-in's to peruse.

 

[realhifi]

I see you are using a Toshiba and JRiver and wondered if you were also using another portable HD connected to that for muisc storage and if so how that has been for you.

Thanks much,

Dave

 

[SoundQcar]

I do have a 1TB Western Digital 'My Book' external HD, but thus far I only use it to back up my music to.

 

However, my Toshiba doesn't have a very large HD, and my hi-rez files are starting to head things towards its physical limits. I can certainly see myself soon hooking up the My Book and changing the settings in JRiver to start importing and tagging from that drive instead.

 

I'm really biding my time and allowing all the 'music server' wars to work itself out. I'm all about the sound, I don't really need frills. The Aurender S10 piques my interest, but I would prefer a usb out option.

 

Bob