Suggestions for a new DAC

[KHORN1]

I currently have a RME ADI-2 DAC FS in my system and would like to upgrade. The RME plays high quality recordings very well however some recordings are not up to par. It has a built in equalizer with 20 presets and I find myself continuously adjusting the EQ. I'd like to hear about what people are using and happy with. My budget is in the 3 to 5K range. I know I'll probably get many different suggestions but I can read and go listen. Thanks,

 

[msimanyi]

It may be helpful if you'd share where you're located, but I'm sure one of the go-to suggestions just a hair above your range will be Lampizator's Baltic 4. (Call distributors for their price...)

Listening in person can be difficult. The market seems to be served mostly by trial periods in your home, which makes evaluating multiple DACs quite a challenge.

 

[ecwl]

Hmmm.... This is a bit confusing. You shouldn't have to adjust the EQ for inferior recordings.

I almost wonder if you're better off getting a microphone and measuring the frequency response at your listening position first with REW on your laptop. Or even pay for AudioTools and measure it with your iPhone/iPad microphone first as a quick test. Maybe a precise EQ correction would make the poorer recordings and the awesome recordings sound better?

I personally really like Chord DACs so if you're using your Mcintosh MA352 integrated amp, I would suggest Chord Qutest. It's a fairly finicky DAC. I would strongly recommend feeding it with Toslink only because it's a bit sensitive to RF noise from your USB noise, unless you're running a laptop off battery unplugged from the mains. And you have to make sure your output voltage of the Chord Qutest actually match your MA352 so that it won't clip the MA352. But I personally really like Chord sound. I'm sure others will have their preferences.

 

[Tam Lin]

I have a RME ADI-2 Pro FS. I intended to use it as a 768K DAC but I didn't like its sound. I now use it as a USB to S/PDIF converter to feed my Audio Note DAC Kit 1.2 that has dual AD1865, CS8415A, Duelund JDM caps, and samples up to 192K.

 

[KHORN1]

It may be helpful if you'd share where you're located, but I'm sure one of the go-to suggestions just a hair above your range will be Lampizator's Baltic 4. (Call distributors for their price...)

Listening in person can be difficult. The market seems to be served mostly by trial periods in your home, which makes evaluating multiple DACs quite a challenge.

I'm in N. Georgia. I looked at that Lampzator Baltic 4. Peeked my interest. Have you listened to it?

 

[msimanyi]

I would LOVE to listen to one - especially if I could bring over my Atlantic 3 to someone local who has the Baltic so we could compare the two.

I haven't heard one yet though. If you check posts by @Ron Resnick, you'll see his comments in a few threads on the forums discussing it.

 

[DasguteOhr]

Rockna wavelight pre/ dac close to 5k amazing dynamic

Wavelight PRE/DAC | Rockna Audio

www.rockna-audio.com

Aqua la voce

Aqua - AQ Technologies DAC LaVoce S3 schwarz

Vor dem Kauf kostenlos und unverbindlich als Testpaket von CM-Audio zu Hause ausprobieren. 3% Skonto bei Bestellung per Telefon oder E-Mail.

www.cm-audio.net

Very good resolution does not play stormy forwards like the rockna
A used metronome le dac2 is in that price range(3-4k)
Natural sounding dac

Metronome Le DAC 2 - D/A-Wandler

Der Metronome Le DAC 2 ist der neue D/A Wandler des französischen Digital Spezialisten Metronome. Der Le DAC 2 klingt sehr natürlich und ausgewogen…

www.loftsound.de

something for every taste, with all 3 you can listen to music very well.

 

[KHORN1]

Hmmm.... This is a bit confusing. You shouldn't have to adjust the EQ for inferior recordings.

I almost wonder if you're better off getting a microphone and measuring the frequency response at your listening position first with REW on your laptop. Or even pay for AudioTools and measure it with your iPhone/iPad microphone first as a quick test. Maybe a precise EQ correction would make the poorer recordings and the awesome recordings sound better?

I personally really like Chord DACs so if you're using your Mcintosh MA352 integrated amp, I would suggest Chord Qutest. It's a fairly finicky DAC. I would strongly recommend feeding it with Toslink only because it's a bit sensitive to RF noise from your USB noise, unless you're running a laptop off battery unplugged from the mains. And you have to make sure your output voltage of the Chord Qutest actually match your MA352 so that it won't clip the MA352. But I personally really like Chord sound. I'm sure others will have their preferences.

The REM is a complicated DAC. So many settings besides the Equalizer, I may have to read the manual (book) again and see if a setting is askew. I had it at a audio dealer and he was playing around with it. Maybe it needs a factory reset.

I've listened to the Chord DACs and find them comparable, not enough improvement over the RME to justify the cost.

I did listen to a Pro-Ject DAC Box RS2 that sounded interesting. It has both a solid state and a 4 tube output. I plan to bring that one home for a trial. This one has an optional external linear power supply

 

[KHORN1]

Rockna wavelight pre/ dac close to 5k amazing dynamic

Wavelight PRE/DAC | Rockna Audio

www.rockna-audio.com

Aqua la voce

Aqua - AQ Technologies DAC LaVoce S3 schwarz

Vor dem Kauf kostenlos und unverbindlich als Testpaket von CM-Audio zu Hause ausprobieren. 3% Skonto bei Bestellung per Telefon oder E-Mail.

www.cm-audio.net

Very good resolution does not play stormy forwards like the rockna
A used metronome le dac2 is in that price range(3-4k)
Natural sounding dac

Metronome Le DAC 2 - D/A-Wandler

Der Metronome Le DAC 2 ist der neue D/A Wandler des französischen Digital Spezialisten Metronome. Der Le DAC 2 klingt sehr natürlich und ausgewogen…

www.loftsound.de

something for every taste, with all 3 you can listen to music very well.

I'm wondering why the Rockna uses an FPGA chip for it's master clock when there are so many audio clock chips available. Maybe none meet their requirements. I own an Xilinx 7 FPGA development board and can program it to output a square wave clock signal of any frequency up to 10 mb/s In fact if I wanted to spend the time I could program an entire DAC on that board. I'll check this one out if I can find a local dealer.

 

[DasguteOhr]

I'm wondering why the Rockna uses an FPGA chip for it's master clock when there are so many audio clock chips available. Maybe none meet their requirements. I own an Xilinx 7 FPGA development board and can program it to output a square wave clock signal of any frequency up to 10 mb/s In fact if I wanted to spend the time I could program an entire DAC on that board. I'll check this one out if I can find a local dealer.

A lampizaor atlantic used a FPGA Board too is not a sound preventer
Over 1year in diyaudio developed by soekris(denmark) and community. I also built a nos dac sounds pretty well.

 

[KHORN1]

Hmmm.... This is a bit confusing. You shouldn't have to adjust the EQ for inferior recordings.

I almost wonder if you're better off getting a microphone and measuring the frequency response at your listening position first with REW on your laptop. Or even pay for AudioTools and measure it with your iPhone/iPad microphone first as a quick test. Maybe a precise EQ correction would make the poorer recordings and the awesome recordings sound better?

I personally really like Chord DACs so if you're using your Mcintosh MA352 integrated amp, I would suggest Chord Qutest. It's a fairly finicky DAC. I would strongly recommend feeding it with Toslink only because it's a bit sensitive to RF noise from your USB noise, unless you're running a laptop off battery unplugged from the mains. And you have to make sure your output voltage of the Chord Qutest actually match your MA352 so that it won't clip the MA352. But I personally really like Chord sound. I'm sure others will have their preferences.

I have a AudioQuest Cobalt USB dac and plugged it into the PC I use for streaming and plugged my headphones into the Cobalt. It sounded fine. I'm going to try a factory reset on the dac.

 

[gestalt]

North Georgia isn't too far from Nashville. You're welcome to stop in and hear a few options that may not be on your radar.

 

[KHORN1]

Funny you should mention Nashville. My wife was saying the other day that we should take a drive and listen to some country music. I'm ok with country as long as the theme is not drinking and truck driving. Maybe on the way I can stop off at Western Electric and listen to their $100,000 8 300B tubes per channel amplifier. They are located right outside of Chattanooga in Ga.

 

[harsheel_dbs]

Rockna wavelight pre/ dac close to 5k amazing dynamic

Wavelight PRE/DAC | Rockna Audio

www.rockna-audio.com

Aqua la voce

Aqua - AQ Technologies DAC LaVoce S3 schwarz

Vor dem Kauf kostenlos und unverbindlich als Testpaket von CM-Audio zu Hause ausprobieren. 3% Skonto bei Bestellung per Telefon oder E-Mail.

www.cm-audio.net

Very good resolution does not play stormy forwards like the rockna
A used metronome le dac2 is in that price range(3-4k)
Natural sounding dac

Metronome Le DAC 2 - D/A-Wandler

Der Metronome Le DAC 2 ist der neue D/A Wandler des französischen Digital Spezialisten Metronome. Der Le DAC 2 klingt sehr natürlich und ausgewogen…

www.loftsound.de

something for every taste, with all 3 you can listen to music very well.

I have owned the Aqua LaVoce S3 and now have the Wavelight. Both are great and very easy to listen to. I would say the Wavelight has a tad more detail without sacrificing smoothness and more flexibility as you can use it as a pre-amp if you'd like.

If the rest of your system is static and are only looking for a DAC, I would lean towards the Aqua as there is less fussing about. If you are building a system and would like some added vesatility then I would lean towards the Rockna.

 

[KHORN1]

Hmmm.... This is a bit confusing. You shouldn't have to adjust the EQ for inferior recordings.

I almost wonder if you're better off getting a microphone and measuring the frequency response at your listening position first with REW on your laptop. Or even pay for AudioTools and measure it with your iPhone/iPad microphone first as a quick test. Maybe a precise EQ correction would make the poorer recordings and the awesome recordings sound better?

I personally really like Chord DACs so if you're using your Mcintosh MA352 integrated amp, I would suggest Chord Qutest. It's a fairly finicky DAC. I would strongly recommend feeding it with Toslink only because it's a bit sensitive to RF noise from your USB noise, unless you're running a laptop off battery unplugged from the mains. And you have to make sure your output voltage of the Chord Qutest actually match your MA352 so that it won't clip the MA352. But I personally really like Chord sound. I'm sure others will have their preferences.

I did a firmware update on the RME ADI-2 and no longer have to adjust the EQ. I did bring home a Pro-ject DAC Box RS2 for a demo on my system and found that my RME actually sounded better. I think it's more suited to the Khorns. The DAC Box had a slightly bigger sound stage however the mid-range was a bit distorted, also it has both tube and solid state outputs and I could not differentiate between the two.

I listened to the Chord Qutest and compared with the RME, at almost double the price the performance was about the same. The audio dealer thought I would have to get a high end dac like Chord's Dave to get the sound I'm looking for but since that firmware update I'm close. I'll have to see if I can borrow a Dave to listen to.

 

[shel50]

Hmmm.... This is a bit confusing. You shouldn't have to adjust the EQ for inferior recordings.

I almost wonder if you're better off getting a microphone and measuring the frequency response at your listening position first with REW on your laptop. Or even pay for AudioTools and measure it with your iPhone/iPad microphone first as a quick test. Maybe a precise EQ correction would make the poorer recordings and the awesome recordings sound better?

I personally really like Chord DACs so if you're using your Mcintosh MA352 integrated amp, I would suggest Chord Qutest. It's a fairly finicky DAC. I would strongly recommend feeding it with Toslink only because it's a bit sensitive to RF noise from your USB noise, unless you're running a laptop off battery unplugged from the mains. And you have to make sure your output voltage of the Chord Qutest actually match your MA352 so that it won't clip the MA352. But I personally really like Chord sound. I'm sure others will have their preferences.

Touche on the Chord Quest....talk about bang for the buck....outstanding dac indeed!!

 

[shel50]

I did a firmware update on the RME ADI-2 and no longer have to adjust the EQ. I did bring home a Pro-ject DAC Box RS2 for a demo on my system and found that my RME actually sounded better. I think it's more suited to the Khorns. The DAC Box had a slightly bigger sound stage however the mid-range was a bit distorted, also it has both tube and solid state outputs and I could not differentiate between the two.

I listened to the Chord Qutest and compared with the RME, at almost double the price the performance was about the same. The audio dealer thought I would have to get a high end dac like Chord's Dave to get the sound I'm looking for but since that firmware update I'm close. I'll have to see if I can borrow a Dave to listen to.

I concur on the Chord Quest--great dac..... Really want a sweet Dac??--Weiss engineering dac...OUTSTANDING!!!!!!!!!

 

[KHORN1]

I concur on the Chord Quest--great dac..... Really want a sweet Dac??--Weiss engineering dac...OUTSTANDING!!!!!!!!!

Looks like the only dealer for Weis is in Toronto, a 15 hour drive from me. I've turned the equalizer off on my RME dac and did the firmware update. After awhile I've adapted to it. I did an AI search for the most transparent DAC and was surprised when the search returned the RME ADI dac. Right now I can't walk into an audio showroom and listen to a dac and expect to be able to evaluate the sound. I put $5k in upgrades into my speakers and they sound superior to a new pair on the showroom floor. I have to be able to do an at home evaluation to determine if a component is an improvement to my system.