Dac help

hi,
as the next step in move towards hard drive based audio i'm going to need a dac. trouble is i'm not that au-fait with what's available in the price range i'm willing to pay and that has the features i'd like. so, if anyone can point me in the right direction and name a few possibilities for me to look out for and try i'd be grateful.
the feature list i'd like is...
1) MUST have at least 2 inputs.
2) would like it to be remote switchable
3) upsampling would be nice to mess about with but is not essential and if present MUST be defeatable.
4) as the source will be a network player device i'm expecting jitter to be quite high so some form of jitter reduction scheme would be good.
5) a digital out (optical if possible) would be very cool so i can record minidiscs for the car.
6) i seem to prefer a multi bit sound to bitstream, but as long as it sounds detailed and dynamic i'm not bothered about the technology.
7) ABSOLUTE maximum budget is 600 ukp but i'd MUCH prefer to come in under 500 if at all possible - i'd be willing to go over 500 for something that covered every base on the list but it would have to be truly exceptional.
ideally it would be some sort of wadia dac i guess as they seem to cover all the bases however i don't think one would be in my price range (at least i haven't seen one at the usual places) any other suggestions or pointers to cheap wad's?
cheers


julian

 

Tag DAC20 covers all the bases except remote switchable inputs and can be had for 3-400 ukp. When I had one I though it was very detailed but perhaps not that dynamic but worth a listen.

I believe timpy's one has been through the WM works customization with good results

Michael.

 

thanks michael, i'll definately have to have a listen to one of these as they do, as you say, seem to cover all the bases except perhaps the dynamics. one of the big problems i have is auditioning though, unless i can get a home demo it's going to be a right royal pita...
cheers


julian

 

Julian

I would strongly suggest that you consider upgrading the soundcard in your computer; this afterall is a DAC. There are a number of soundcards with breakout boxes that might meet your needs, for example the new EMU soundcard have the same converters as ProTools (the most high end system used in pro-audio that most mainstream albums get recorded with) and are within your budget and you can get home demos. What soundcard are you using right now?

Dominic

 

TAG DAC20 is a great piece of kit. Only co-ax digital out though (if that's a problem).

 

dominic,
i'll be using a squeezebox to stream music over my wireless network from a dedicated music server. the soundcard in my pc won't be in the replay chain at all. the squeezebox has both coax and toslink outputs so i want something that will allow me to sell my cd5 / hicap without taking a huge drop in quality.
cheers


julian

 

sane4sure,
that may be a problem as my minidisk os a portable model with optical in only, still i think you can get converters or i could just use the optical out on the back of the source.
cheers


julian

 

It's never easy is it?

 

Julian, what is a squeezebox?

 

Julian,

The average dac 20 is just that average. A midiman s/dac, plus £120 worth of tweeking (£300) will leave you feeling the cd5 won't be missed . As for a optical splitter box RS have something that will help I'm sure, maybe even maplins.
One other option is the Benchmark dac 1, Its multi voltage (non smps) and rather fair for the price $975.
I've done a couple of these now pretty fair plus they do have a vol control also.


http://www.benchmarkmedia.com/digital/dac1/default.asp

 

Tone I've been meaning to call for a while (has to be evenings though) and will try to call later this week.

Dominic

 

dominic,
there were a few threads about this device a while ago
here's the slim devices website: http://www.slimdevices.com/
basicly it's a wireless or wired box that can stream various audio formats over your network and convert them to line level output (or output a digital datastream to a dac). the device is a bit more expensive than the norm but it is open source / hardware which to me is a major plus point.
cheers


julian

 

Julian I have just checked out their website and the inability to plug in a standard pc soundcard and lack of firewire connection means that you cannot look at the pro-audio cards and converters that I had in mind. Having said that there might be an opportunity to do something along these lines by using the spdif in on some some of these converters. I'm not too sure how this would work because it is not what I have been investigating. Look at the m-audio site at their audiophile converter which you might be able to use as a standalone device.
http://www.m-audio.com
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.main&ID=41cf7347b20eff77b69588578a74aa58

This will not be as good as what i had in mind but it is an option and you will be able to get a home demo (even if it means buying it from Turnkey and returning it within 7 days if you do not like it for a no quibble refund!)

Best of luck

Dominic

 

Dom you have PM sir

 

Julian, could you PM me.

Cheers

 

I just sold what you are looking for...

Camelot Uther V2.0 Mk3.

# Fully balanced, dual-differential design
# HDCD® - compatible
# Burr Brown PCM63J 20-bit DAC stage
# 8 Digital inputs (including 5 and 6-pin I2S)
# "Dragon" Jitter Reduction circuitry
# Discrete analog stage
# (2) 4-character Alphanumeric display windows
# 8 remote selectable dither positions via HDCD® chip
# Full function remote control
# Analog-domain volume control

Trivial 110->240V conversion. I guess Camelot are unheard of in the UK, so if you can find one it will be cheap...

I sold my for $950 which is in your budget given the exchange rate

Now, if Wm would sort out a remote IR solution to switch the volume and inputs on the Benchmark media - rather than swapping out the opamps - he'd be doing us all a favour

 

I must admit to wondering how well something like the SuperDAC 24/96 measures up when used on a computer.

Can anyone tell me if the stock unit sounds any good, and what mods are needed to bring it in to the big time. Sometime in the next few months I was looking to replace the soundcard I have, but am wondering whether I would be best off going for an external DAC like this for mine? Tony really seems to rate it, and I must admit to have been curious about it for well over a year now - hell I would even have bought his if I'd had the money when he'd sold it...