Best and worst dacs.

Following on from the best and worst speakers what are the best and worst dacs you've heard. Does not matter about price. The cheapest to the dearest and why.

 

I don't like the Chord DAC64. It has a very forward presentation and a bright edgy treble. It gives the impression of lots of detail but ultimately is fatiguing and analytical, lacking emotional communication.

I do like the DPA enlightenment (available at bargain prices second hand - I can only assume I'm alone in my high regard). It's far from perfect, can be bettered in many areas, but for the money it commands I've never heard another DAC with such joie de vivre (translates to PRaT in HiFi I think )

 

I second the Chord DACs. Boring, sterile, and lacking in any emotion at all.

I like the Wadia 27 DAC but you need to run it into a preamp or integrated with a slightly warmer edge to get the best out of them. John Schaffer at Wadia will disagree with me on this one, but I'm not crazy about the sound being run balanced into an amp directly. Too much, too soon...(little hockey humor there for those who are fans of 'Slapshot').

Best bargain DAC? Audio Note DAC Kit 1.2 (been using it for almost 6 years).

Best sounding DACs??? Audiomat Maestro and Tempo 2.5 are really wonderful. Smooth, lively, great "you are there" presence.

Best non-traditional DACs (USB)...Wavelength Brick and Cosecant.

 

Strange about the Chord as a lot of people like them. I heard a chord cd player which had a dac i presume with it when i was demoing some speakers and i thought it didnt sound all that great for all its fancy looks. Whether it was a 64 i dont know.

 

There is a school of thought that opines if the dac is competently designed ( whatever that means ) then they should all sound the same, this isn't my experience I hasten to add.

 

You are right about that, a lot of people rate it very highly. Important point there - just because I don't like it doesn't make it bad.

 

best [I've had in my system ]
audio synthesis dax decade

worst [i've heard]
bencmark dac 1

 

This school has been closed recently. The headteacher realised they were unable to define what the hell is "competently designed".

 

best for me is my current dac...

worst - nos dac, but then you get what you pay for...

 

2 Best: Weiss Medea & Esoteric D-01
2 worst: Chord Dac-64 & Benchmark

 

Best DAC I've ever heard (and currently own) - Audio Synthesis DISCRETE using the ASDL link system.

This together with the Transcend is the one bit ok kit that sticks with me. Heard against DCS etc - this DAC stays.

 

Hi Guys and Gals?

The problem with the chord dac64 mk 1 ,was and may still be that it has a very high out put,both on rca and xlr . This will depending on the vintage of the cd played ,over load the input on your amplifier/pre and make what is a lean,fast,presentation become relentless(more than it is with an optimised set up) . It will also depend on the filter setting picked and weather it is hooked up to a blue transport with the second input. However the one thing the chord is about is not musicality,but detail.It is also fussy about the transport used . I tried it with a couple and found it sounded better with a chord one cd player(This sounds completely different to the dac,very musical,but not the most open and detailed player about.Now to dear IMHO) used as the transport. But it still had an upfront relentless,sound that would ultimately grate on your ears ,IMHO. I have tried both a mk1 and a mk8 ,similiar sound/result not for me !!!! So most overrated dac award THE CHORD DAC 64 .(worst in what context? As some do love this sound)

I have owned a Musical Fidelity dac 24 and a MF TRI-Vista dac(this was better than the chord. Stereophile agreed when they reviewed both).

Historical DAC's i didn't like Meridian 203,Micromega duo bs 1,Deltec little/big bit. Reason why ,all bit stream . Compared to multi-bit (Philips tda1541 DAC) they all sounded rolled of on the top,overly warm in the lower mid and bass and lacking in dynamics.

Historical dacs i liked .Tricord Pulsar, Marantz 94,Marantz 12,Musical fidelity digi log,AUdiomecca incianthus, Sony r1 dac(currently listening to one,still needs more running in;a week to warm up).

Current dacs i like . I decided to go down the one box cd player road as a few years ago there was not as many dacs on the market as there is today,however i would like to hear the Reimeyo Dac as i was interested in their cd player before they took it of the market.

Regards D Louth

 

The most "likeable" DACs are often the ones with the worst technical performance, eg NOS, so deciding on the best or worst is a bit like asking someone how they like their eggs cooked. It's all a matter of taste.

 

A couple of less good ones for sure.

Benchmark dac1, chord dac 64 (execpt the first ones with the torriod, it was better imho). Most of the nos dac's. Nagra
MF trivista/nuvista and associted Kw pieces.
All dcs pieces and the Zanden bling.

Good ones
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Whiess media very capable and musical
The new Wadia decoding computer and seperate dac's most enjoyable and very listenable.
Msb platinum dac with the ladder dac conversion class sounds.
Less enthusiatsic about the D-01's these days(still fantastic without question) when the D-03 came out, much more enjoyable all round performance plus the pcm<>dsd encoding feature, have this sounding truly mesmerising currently.
An hourable mention to the little Belcanto dac 3, really a quite gem. I too like the trichord pulsar dac, still have one some where lol!
The Lavy pro dac is quite nice too (just needs a little finishing), however another quality piece.
I am sure dac's will gain popularity again in not too distant future.
Funny thing roundabouts

 

Mr C tell me more about your new digital device, my new 'audio ' PC should arrive this week, I have my Reference recordings HRx discs not that hot club of san franciscio 'particularly makes my heart quiver with anticipation !

 

Had that one for a while coopee and the others, its not too shabby lol!
Currently you will have to wait for the details Keith I am sorry!
I am lucky in the fact I have access to a lot of studio recording direct. Now imagine if the record companies got together and realised how anitquated records and cd's (yet still cater for those who wish to use them) and start releasing geniune high res-masters/ both audio and video in the public domain now that would be quite something.
One thing is for certain in the next 24months, serious performance is going to be available to a whole new sector of the market for a very reasonable outlay in comparision to high end stand players. just mho.

 

I think its funny how people spent so much money on DACs during the DAC craze and then ended up dumping them on Audiogon for peanuts, only to buy expensive CD players once again, before realizing that computer-based systems were the future of audio.

I won't even get into those who dumped their turntables for 'perfect sound forever'.

Having compared a Naim CDS3 and Wadia 861 to my iPod-based system and Mac-based music server, I do admit that the sound quality is not the same, even if I am using two good DACs. Neither has the ultimate resolution of the two mentioned CD players, or the feeling of real gravitas on some music, but the sound quality is 90% of the way there and with an impressive level of convenience that they can't match.

1,700 CDs at my fingertips (ripped using either Apple Lossless or AIFF) which are also connected to a home network and available for playback in the living room, dining room, office, bedroom, and home theater.

The point is that a good DAC now makes ultimate sense. It can make a computer-based system a really good source and one that you can use all over your home.

 

My DAC and a cheap optical transport is already better than any CDP I have heard, I am hoping that the new Hi-Res formats will raise the bar further still , I am even hopeful that a CD ripped to hard drive ( with exact audio copy ) and then streamed will sound better than via an optical transport.

 

You may be right re the future (none of my students buy CD's any more - or so it seems - everything is downloaded) - but I like tactile - I like browsing when buying - I like sleeve notes and art work and the concept of a coherent entity of an album- you just dont get that with itunes number 4,557 or am I missing how computer based juke boxes work?

 

I have to be honest here, I would still use a cd player as transport for all red book work.
For the high res formats thats a little different.