Best and worst dacs.

I'm always suspicious about the new stuff brought to the market by Jonathan Tinn and his friends.

Remember Tenor, vSR, EMM and Evolution Acoustics ?

It is starting all over again.

 

Tony,

The wadia 921/931 just might be on my next shopping list or Accuphase DP-800 + DC-801....heard it's ok sounding but still need something like a 270-SE. The 921/931 is currently £20k.

Even though I can use 1 digital input with my Weiss, I still found it sounding better with dual cables.

 

David,

I agree with the Weiss twin AES opinion too. Much more coherent and textured sound, more solidity with both digital inouts going.
Tried the P-01 with the Wadia too, interesting sounds !
Wadia are working on a transport for it and I believe is not far off from release.
While the Accuphase is generally very well regarded, I have never really warmed to them, a little 'painting the picture' from a distance for myself, bit too safe for moi. Purely personal view on that one!
Have you heard the Mietner Dac6e at all?, again I have never really connected with Ed's stuff, however it does have a serious following. How about an outside bet, (dare I say this!) The better of the MBL dac's? These are rumoured to be pretty special, personally never heard one. What about David any earwigging on the MBL at all?

 

Chord 64 - a tricky one to pidgeon hole. The first thing is, the technical performance (and the subjective) changes enormously based on what sample rate the DAC operates at and what transport you use. Unless you have heard a DAC 64 operating in 176.4 mode with the Blu transport, you can't truly say you've 'heard' it.

BUT I would still agree with the general consensus on it - overrated and I don't want a DAC that forces me to use a particular transport in order to sound decent.

Best I have heard: AS DAX Decade - by no means new, you can pick them up about £700 if lucky, but I've not heard better.

Best bargain: MF X-Dac v3. Excellent technically and not half bad subjectively, can improve an old/cheap CD player no end, even better with the X-PSU v3 & the valve buffer stage (although these get expensive).

Best integrated - Arcam's Dual Differential DAC board in their CD93/FMJ-CD33/FMJ-CD36 are excellent, as are the Ring DAC designs used in the older gen. models. These can all be picked up very cheap and still sound superb.

 

Tony,

You read my mind as I'm also thinking of Emm Labs but not their Dac6-SE. I would go for ther SE combo with pre amp though.
I know Wadia is bringing out a new transport for the 921/931 since the 270-se is now old and discontiued but wadia always have small fault issues with any new product just like the 581-SE. Even now with their latest version are having problems choosing SACD in a dual layer disc.
Never physically heard the MBL but been told they're special especially the dac.
Tony, you heard the new Spectral 30SS pre????
Cheers

 

Hi David,

Yes I know about the 581 et al, our one (nice sound btw) has a few issues with selction.
Spent a lot of time se dac, I would not use it without a dedicated pre-amp being honest. Current available fav's are the Lyra connisseur and Belles La-01 both excellent.
What amps are you running into the big revels David?

 

I use the MSB Kit, but the GTE audio DAC's are supposed to be pretty good. At a price I understand. It may be worth having a listen but at €42,000 It should be good. Like many others they claim to be the best in the world

 

Tony,

Im using Big Krell KAS monos which BTW sound great with the Weiss direct. I love these amps.

 

I am absolutely resolutely completely and utterly deaf.

I could hear ''little difference'' between a SB3 straight into my pre, and into a Dax Decade.

I concluded then, that thousands plumbed into a DAC (at that level) would be better spent on speakers especially... or having fun of course

 

Botleneck, there is 'little' differecne between them, but it's how improtant thsoe difference sare that counts. I would never consider spending thousands on a DAC, that's speaker money prices..

By the way, best current red book transport- ipod and wadia itransport by a country mile.

 

iTransport and iPod Classic

I'm not sure it's the "Best" but it is certainly the best for the money in the world.

As long as you rip your files using either lossless or AIFF and use a good DAD with the iTransport.

If Wadia added a firewire port so that you could add capacity via a FW drive, it would be the best music server in the world bar none.

The other cool thing about the iTransport is that you can buy a few for the price of a entry-level transport and have high-end digital sound all over the house.