Balanced DAC w/ Bluetooth

Looking for Balanced DAC w/ Bluetooth for under $500.

SMSL M300 MKII

Any others worth considering?

So that seems like a real solid choice, there aren’t many with both balanced and bluetooth in the range that I can think of, smsl is solid

I think the only other one would be the M200. So, slanted box or brick shape?

My OCD wouldn’t let me.

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I think you would enjoy the wonderful concept of an asymmetrical design

Unfortunately for your needs list, oddly shaped boxes are the options. I don’t know what SMSL is going for here.

Yeah kinda surprised there aren’t more options under $500.

You could go SU-8 and a separate BT receiver connected via SPDIF.

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Found this:

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Anything from gustard is typically solid, would be pretty nice, although that doesn’t seem like it’s quite out yet

Yeah ETA June

What’s your use case? iFi Zen Blue is out there. It’s only Bluetooth in, as far as I can tell. It does have 4.4mm balanced out, though. If you need more dac functionality on top of that, you could also get an SU-8. Run either the optical or coaxial output of the Zen Blue to the SU-8. Then the SU-8 still has USB in for computer audio and another SPDIF in for CD or TV or whatever you’re using. The combo will be comfortably <$500. Otherwise, yeah, it’s go with an oddly shaped SMSL or wait for that Gustard.

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I’m just researching options for the future. Appreciate the input though.

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The zen blue is great, I approve. You could get a really good dac to pair with it.