DAC Suggestions

[Dusty Chalk]

840c?

Good luck getting it for under a thousand, though.

Oh, and before anyone else beats me to it: FOTMFOTMFOTMFOTMFOTM...

More seriously, how about an Apogee Mini-DAC, if you don't want to go Mac?

[Jon L]

Has anyone heard the PS Audio digital link III dac? I typically despise PS Audio as a company, but it's one of the few under 1k dacs I haven't heard.

I had the PS DLIII for a while, and this review pretty much hits it on the head as far as the stock unit's sound.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/psaudio6/cullen.html

As far as APL...well, what can I say. I wish they would at least attempt to respond to their customers b/c in your case, Alex's spdif input circuit is just what you need.

[krrm]

Regarding the the Stello talk I got a Stello DA 100, and I am very pleased with it. It is better than the analogue out off a stock SB3 and it doesn't make me miss my Pico. I haven't compared it directly to the Pico. And that is pretty much my experience with DACs, so take it for what its worth.

[en480c4]

You wouldn't have to stretch your budget much for a used ECD-1... If you could find one. :drool:

[tkam]

There actually was a used ECD-1 on audiogon earlier today for $1600 I think, it was sold in like an hour.

[en480c4]

Wow, I think I saw one for $1200 or $1300 fairly recently. I've stopped looking, though, because it's certainly not in the cards for me any time soon.

[PFKMan23]

12-1300 is that they usually go for.

[Voltron]

tkam-

Have you tried the SB3 analog output itself? It isn't bad (especially when you have a nice Sigma11 PS from Granite Audio ), and blessingx just sold his Lavry DA10 because he thought there was too little difference between the SB3 output and the SB3 into Lavry output. He was using some Stax rigs during that comparison after owning the Lavry for a long time, although he was using Stax amps which are likely to show off the differences less.

If Alex will add a spdif in on you CDP, then I would definitely go for that option if within your price range.

[Voltron]

tkam-

Have you tried the SB3 analog output itself? It isn't bad (especially when you have a nice Sigma11 PS from Granite Audio ), and blessingx just sold his Lavry DA10 because he thought there was too little difference between the SB3 output and the SB3 into Lavry output. He was using some Stax rigs during that comparison after owning the Lavry for a long time, although he was using Stax amps which are likely to show off the differences less.

If Alex will add a spdif in on you CDP, then I would definitely go for that option if within your price range.

Oops, I meant Nugget Audio not Granite. Nate is from the Granite State and takes pics on granite and I get confused in my feeble brain. Sorry for the unintended slight.

[tkam]

How about the Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 21? There's one on a'gon now for a little bit over $1k.

[blessingx]

tkam, Voltron made reference to a few tests I've done recently. Although in no way did I consider it the best DAC of the bunch, at least with the STAX srm-007t, surprisingly the little Pico woke up the sr-007 the most. That may be because of a little more etch & dynamic sound v. the Lavry or Squeezebox, or simply higher output near max (and high gain), but since you already have a Pico, have you tried to see what synergy is there with the KGSS and O2? In the end Grawk may still put out a hit on you, but at least with my above combo the better DAC didn't produce the better sound. STAX seems sometimes funny creatures.

[CD44hi]

How about the Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 21? There's one on a'gon now for a little bit over $1k.

I owned the MF Trivista21 and it had a laid back sound with very good presentation (staging). It sounded best when left on all the time (it uses those nuvistor tubes, that I believe are rated for 30000 hrs). I sold it when I switched to balanced as this unit has RCA-outs only. Not a detailed dac, but more on the musical side.

For 1K I'd say it may be worth the try to see if it has synergy with the KGSS/OII.

[Iron_Dreamer]

Has anyone heard the PS Audio digital link III dac? I typically despise PS Audio as a company, but it's one of the few under 1k dacs I haven't heard.

It's nothing to wet your pants over. I recall it being a bit more on the warm side than any of the other ~$1k DAC's I've used. Especially for an OII rig, I wouldn't bother, considering your feelings (shared) about PS Audio.

Best bang for the buck is either the Pico (if you don't mind using a tiny DAC) or a Duet (if you don't mind having to use an Apple). Best bang for the buck in a standalone DAC is the DA100.

[grawk]

DACs under $1000 that I've used and could recommend:

minidac

cec da53

duet

pico

DACs under $1000 that I've used and wouldn't recommend:

zhaolu 1.3

[Fungi]

It probably depends a lot on synergy, but I found the DA53 a little too airy for my tastes; wasn't as full bodied as I would have liked.

[riceboy]

It's nothing to wet your pants over. I recall it being a bit more on the warm side than any of the other ~$1k DAC's I've used. Especially for an OII rig, I wouldn't bother, considering your feelings (shared) about PS Audio.

Best bang for the buck is either the Pico (if you don't mind using a tiny DAC) or a Duet (if you don't mind having to use an Apple). Best bang for the buck in a standalone DAC is the DA100.

I agree that the Pico is great . I also like my DA100 that I'm using as well. I had the Apogee Mini-Dac as well and it was great for the price but I liked my DA100 a little more.

[tkam]

Apparently there is a new version of the North Star M192 dac, it's just being called the MKII version I believe. Seems to be completely redesigned, uses a new receiver chip, new upsampling chip and dual pcm 1796 dacs vs the cs4396 in the original version. The MKII also has balanced outs vs only single-ended outs of the original. On paper the MKII certainly appears to have a better digital section, but the output stage isn't discrete like it is in the original. Price isn't terrible either, $1375 + shipping. It's moved to the top of my list for now.

[tkam]

How about the Audio Horizon TD 3.0 dac? I've seen these pop up used occasionally and they look interesting.

[aardvark baguette]

Apparently there is a new version of the North Star M192 dac, it's just being called the MKII version I believe. Seems to be completely redesigned, uses a new receiver chip, new upsampling chip and dual pcm 1796 dacs vs the cs4396 in the original version. The MKII also has balanced outs vs only single-ended outs of the original. On paper the MKII certainly appears to have a better digital section, but the output stage isn't discrete like it is in the original. Price isn't terrible either, $1375 + shipping. It's moved to the top of my list for now.

Could you link to this? All I can find is the old 'spensive version

[tkam]

Yeah there's nothing on their website about it yet, here's all the info on it I have from the dealer:

Here is all the information I have on the MKII DAC. I will tell you that is

produces a much deeper sound stage and sounds less digital.

the new M192MK2 is similar to the Extremo DAC.

Same digital receiver Cirrus CS8416CS

Similar upsampler Analog Devices AD1895 (AD1896 on the Extremo)

Similar DAC Texas 2x PCM1796 (2xPCM1792 on the Extremo)

The two DAC are in mono configuration and are current output.

The analogue stage is similar regarding the structure (I/V conversion,

analog filter)

but on the Extremo is made with discrete components.

NOTE on Extremo and MK2 DAC

The analog stage is completely balanced and DC coupled.

To avoid jitter problem at the S/PDIF (COAX, OPTICAL) and AES/EBU digital

input after the digital receiver

a master clock reclocking is made with the Analog Device upsampler. Any

digital input is upsampled to 192/24 before Digital-to-Analogue conversion.

The difference between the old and new M192DAC are:

receiver and 96kHz upsampling CS8420

upsampler to 192k NPC SM5849

DAC Cirrus CS4396 (voltage output)

unbalanced analogue stage (discrete components)

The big advantage of the new DAC is the better receiver/upsampling section

and the high performances DAC section with true balaced analogue stage. The

integrated solution for the MK2 is very good and the sound is more similar

to Extremo high end sound.

The digital input on the MK2 are separated with transformers like Extremo

(no transformer on the old DAC) aand also the I2S input have a magnetic

separator ADUM1400CRW (no separation on the old DAC)

So in this way you can have the MK2 completely separated form the Transport

or Cd Player.

The new MK2 accept also on SPDIF and AES/EBU 194/24 directly (max 96/24 on

old M192).

[deepak]

Cool. The CS4396 is supposed to be a pretty good D/A so I wouldn't bet the 1796 is necessarily better. Having balanced outs is pretty nice though. And I have read that people preferred the M192 (MKI) to the Extremo. I'd really like to try I2S with my DAC but don't really want to rely on a software upsampler.

[Elephas]

The Chord DAC64 is not bad and should match well with the O2+KGSS.

[tkam]

I was able to some internal pics of the northstar m192 mk2

[luvdunhill]

cannot zoom in on the pics

[Spiug31]

cannot zoom in on the pics

It works for me, just left click with your mouse on the picture - first left click maximises, second left click returns the image to normal.