If you had to downgrade your entire rig to $500 ...

[roadtonowhere08]

Used RS-1 plugged into whatever plays music.

[RudeWolf]

Used GLite w/ elpac + used PicoDAC and whatever dynamics I can scrounge.

Basically the rig I'm looking to put together in the following month. With the HD650 at the end of the chain.

[Cankin]

My current rig: HRT HeadStreamer and HiFiMAN HE-400

[padam]

Centrance DACPort + HD600

[The Monkey]

I got my first Stax Lambda Pro and SRM1/MK2 for $400. Scrounge hard for a Parasound or Adcom DAC and you could have a close to game over rig for ~$650.

[cetoole]

Win JH16 in a raffle, win pico dac in a raffle, and amp of choice in a raffle, and you have a killer rig for well under the specified budget. Or used stax+vintage DAC, ideally with a few choice mods.

[mikeymad]

I like the raffle deal

[guzziguy]

Yeah, but who would ever be lucky enough for that?

[HeadphoneAddict]

Yeah, but who would ever be lucky enough for that?

I've witnessed such a deed.

[Grahame]

Repeatedly. Must be the luck of the Gingers.

[guzziguy]

I guess that I needed to put a sarcasm smiley in my post.

Grahame, I agree about the luck of the gingers.

[grawk]

Is it really luck if you're still ginger after winning all that?

[roadtonowhere08]

[Knuckledragger]

Basically the rig I'm looking to put together in the following month. With the HD650 at the end of the chain.

If you have the dual male RCA adapters Justin included with the Pico DAC, you don't need interconnects and can sidestep one of the biggest areas of audiophilia nervosa.

[RudeWolf]

I'm sure those can be "upgraded" as well.

[The Monkey]

Centrance DACPort + HD600

This is a solid recommendation. I currently have the Centrance DACPort and it sounds good to me. I would just use the 650 instead of the 600, but reasonable minds can differ on that.

[morphsci]

I would simply buy more brown liquor.

[The Monkey]

You're right, of course.

[Voltron]

I would simply buy more brown liquor.

Genius.

[luvdunhill]

I figured Dinny would put the $500 towards potential credit card interest and just start the DACes revolving door on its merry way.

[The Monkey]

I figured Dinny would put the $500 towards potential credit card interest and just start the DACes revolving door on its merry way.

Ugh...btdt...no more!

[acidbasement]

It seems to me that there should be bargains available on older DACs without the USB feature that all the cool kids (not me) are using these days. Can anyone (Dinny at least) suggest good ones from years gone by? The original DAC1 springs to mind, not that I've had the opportunity to hear it, but it's still going for $1000 on ebay now (wtf?) (edit: I know it's a bit cheaper elsewhere, but still outside the $500 range).

Edited May 11, 2012 by acidbasement

[jezz]

I'm pretty pleased with the EAD DSP-1000 MKIII I just picked up on audiogon for ~$200. The MSB Link DAC III also sounds really good to my ears, though I haven't figured out why yet.

[The Monkey]

It seems to me that there should be bargains available on older DACs without the USB feature that all the cool kids (not me) are using these days. Can anyone (Dinny at least) suggest good ones from years gone by? The original DAC1 springs to mind, not that I've had the opportunity to hear it, but it's still going for $1000 on ebay now (wtf?) (edit: I know it's a bit cheaper elsewhere, but still outside the $500 range).

We've had a bunch of discussions about this, but I don't think they're concentrated in one thread. I did a search on "vintage" in the source section and it yielded some results that should keep you occupied for a little while.

EDIT: Shite, I can't figure out how to link to my search results. Well, regardless, do the search that I describe and that will at least get you started.

Hope it helps.

[acidbasement]

Thanks, I shall perform said search!

I also just found an Arcam CD 73T listed pretty close to me for not too much dough. I'm gonna get a beer and think about submitting a proposal to household finance.