latest DAC recommendations

Currently using a Meridian 563 DAC, preferred to beresford & Shek NOS DACs - owned an Altmann DAC & Paul Hynes PSU, but had a good offer to sell. Altmann fine in a 'neutral' way. Does anyone know of any of the latest decent sounding DACs out there ?? Altmann-beaters ?! Sound quality more important than design / looks etc. Budget up to £1000

 

Couldn't decide whether to post this or not - but on a friday night after a few (well.....many) glasses of red why the hell not. Try to get hold of a 2nd hand dpa DAC SX 64 or better. You'll be pleasantly surprised. I've heard a few of the 'latest' dacs over recent years and apart from perhaps dca (?) stuff - prohibitively expensive - I've heard little which impressed more than these 10 yr old designs. The Meridian you're using is very good.
I'm sure there'll be contrasting advice in a minute or so ..... ;-)

 

It will be very difficult to "beat" the Altmann. You can find something which sounds different or a device which is integrating better with your system, but to find something "Altmann beater" is a difficult task. If you wan to try something completely different, try the pro Mytek Digital 96DAC mastering DAC. Operation wise it is a kind of anti-thesis of the Altmann DAC, but even as an Altmann owner I like it a lot. The price is roughly the same as the Altmann and does not need battery or external power supply. You can give it a chance.

 

Hi you are more than welcome to borrow an ACK to compare , I would be interested to hear your opinion of it especially compared to the Altmann, Keith.

 

Mytek's ADC's are meant to pack a punch for their price, too.

 

m.f. kwm25 great dac , using it with teac x1 at present,
nando

 

To the contrary: It should be very EASY to 'beat' an Altmann. The Altmann is nothing but a polished turd. The DAC chip it uses is the turd. Read the datasheet. Its specs are on par with a 13-bit DAC. The current trend is to take a cheap, mediocre DAC chip, contour the frequency response, add lots of snake oil, pixie-dust, and even-order distortion, and call the result 'audiophile quality sound.' While it may sound 'pleasant', no matter how you massage the data going into the DAC chip or polish the audio coming out, you can't remove the noise and distortion added by the DAC chip.

 

but a turd that sounds musical ...specs are not everything. if you limit your listing to looking at the so call specs [how do you know there accuracy ?] then you will get what you deserve in a musical sense.

the altmann and 64 are fine sounding units sufficiently ahead of a heavily modded mf x-dac I had that I really lusted after either.

Though with hind sight these are both out performed today ...

if your on a budget then take a listen to the behringer src2496 at £80 will upset owners of dac up to £500 or more [obviously depending on make !]

if not the the audiosynthesis dax decade is going to take a lot to beat ....

thats not to say there are not others these are just a couple that I've actually listened to long term.

 

Specs are not everything but a turd is a turd...you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear...garbage in garbage out...etc., etc.

I have heard my share of TDA1543-based DACs and they all sound bad. They all lack clarity, dynamics, detail, and a sweet airy top end that is one of the hallmarks of live music. If you think a TDA1543-based DAC is musical then you get what you deserve. I deserve and demand something much better.

 

I bow to your obvious superior knowledge .....

I just like music ....don't bother reading the specs

if it sound good to me then it is ....if it doesn't then it isn't ....

You must correct me but the dax if thats what your reffering to I thought used a D20400 not a tda 1543...or have I missunderstood your second post ?

 

IMHO, I really, really, really like what the the Benchmark DAC1 does in my system-the current 'fashion' to slag it off is no more than inverted hype, it's a very good honest unit that stands up and is respected well in an environment where BS has little quarter-read into that all you wish. I've heard better from Pacific Micro' ,Prism Sound and Lavry Gold though all substantially more expensive.

 

DAX dac

Hi teaseme...

I've my Audio Synthesis DAX Decade spare doing nothing presently up for grabs, it's had a 'Blackgate' up-grade done by A.Synthesis a few years ago, excellent condition, black in colour with original box. I am the original owner from new. I've recently went down the Quad hi-fi all system route. Asking £1,150, I really couldn't budge at that price, I know it's over the budget you are asking for a dac, but this DAX is really something else for the money. Any questions please contact me below, thank you.

Best wishes

pete
[email protected]

 

Hmm... I am pretty sure you never heard and never lived with an Altmann DAC.

I have two at the moment.

Before the Altmann I was using and lived with an Accuphase DP-100/DC-101, Audio Note DAC4 Signature, DAC5, Theta Generation V, and a complete pro dCS rig, including the 954 DAC, 904 ADC, 972 D-D converter with different clock generators. Everything was sold, except the Altmann and pro Mytek Digital 96DAC and 8x192 ADC/DAC. The rest of the system was built around Avantgarde Trio horn speakers.

I got a chance to compare the Altmann Attraction DACs to dozens of other converters in the last few years. I did not find any other which is definitely suits better to my taste. I do not know which is "better", and to be honest I was not looking for the "best", only the one which can play my favourite music on a way how I really like them. Any music, any genre, any time.

I am really not interested in tech specs and any opinion which is solely based on a tech detail, without listening the equipment and having real experience in a real system, is completely rubbish for me. Sorry for this.

 

I am really not interested in tech specs and any opinion which is solely based on a tech detail, without listening the equipment and having real experience in a real system, is completely rubbish for me. Sorry for this.[/QUOTE]


Couldn't agree more. Are we dealing with musical enjoyment or scientific interest here?

 

Have you considered that both are strongly linked?

 

Are you sure? I do not think so. I do not know any rule, physical law which shows clear link between a technical solution and music listening. If you know please let us know. When science will know the exact links, we will surely have a "goose bump" button on our home theatre AV receivers....

 

Hi,

Of course it is linked. Its just not as simple as we would like it to be, and it takes many years of study and experience to relate measurements to what you hear. It would be foolish to treat 'science' and 'audio' as separate subjects.

 

an MSB Link DAC with P100 PSU would be a good choice of DAC's.

 

No.

You are talking about "science" and "audio" which is roughly the same as "sound". I am talking about "science" and "music" (reproduction).

You can not hear a measured device as a device only. You will always hear a system where the measured device (part) sounds and reproducing music IN A SYSTEM with the surrounding equipments and acoustics. It really does not matter what is one measured value of a part or a device, if you can mask the estimated effect of a measured value in the system with other elements of the system. Your statement is not true even in case of listening "sound" or "audio" but definitely misleading when we are listenting and enjoying MUSIC and not sound.

Music is listened by humans with brain and mind. Do not forget it. The sound or audio is not equal of music. Only part of it. I am sure lots of us, including myself of course, do not listen music because of the sound or audio.

 

as a user of altmann DAC i can confirm i've heard better DACs however most of them either DIY-ed or heavily tweaked or much beyond its price tag. truth to be told, i think altmann needs external reclocker for a seriously good performance and in that case no internal jitter control circuit (JISCO) is needed (it sounds actually better if switched off most of the time).
from more reasonably priced DACs i can recommend TwinDAC+ as a standard (SPDIF, USB inputs) non-OS DAC based on traditional architeture. it was one of the very seldom occasions when i heard a readymade, reasonably priced digital product i actually preferred to the altmann DAC. TwinDAC + provides a similar level of 'understanding of music' as altmann's however it seriously improves a level of detail, definition and HF extension that the attraction DAC ultimately lacks. it's a also a battery run DAC with a self-charging management system. it's only serious shortcoming is a very low ouput (around 0.3V i think) so it needs a high gain support either from a pre or an output amp. i think it's very sensibly priced considering the performance, under 2k E.


the same manufacturer (BD Design from Netherlands) has an ultimate DAC for a PC playback purpose called Crazy T. currently on early offer for 2.7kE plus VAT. as it contains not only a D/A converter but also a hardware player of wav files, no other software player (such as foobar or itunes or whatever) is required so it actually uses its USB port only for a file transfer. my ears haven't heard a more impressive digital playback.

http://www.bd-design.nl/contents/en-us/d168.html/
http://forum.bd-design.nl/index.php?id=15672

last but not least, i would keep my eyes open on the new version of pedja rogic's audial model DAC that is supposed to push a TDA 1541 performance to the possible limits.

www.audialonline.com

its cheaper brother AYA II is also worth of listening if seeking for a neutral, analogue sound
http://www.audialonline.com/ayaII/