Hello All,
I’m looking for recommendations on a non-ESS, unbalanced, USB DAC, with a non fatiguing and natural/uncolored sound signature. I am considering the following
Geshelli ENOG2 - However, no USB and not really interested in adding a USB-SPDIF converter.
Topping D70 and Grace M900 seem to be well qualified candidates
Schiit - Made in USA, but not great measurements. Not sure how important measurements are ?
Gen USB-5/Unison USB upgrade important
RME ADI-2 top of budget, but may work
Cheers
hmm. I would say that akm dacs might be what you are looking for then. Perhaps also look at schiit modi multibit.
Are you using this as just a dac to output to an amp or are you also looking for an amp? And if so do you want the amp to sound natural and uncolored or the dac
Mostly, I’m looking for a standalone DAC to output to an Odyssey Cyclops integrated amp and Magnepan LRS speakers. I would like the DAC to be natural/uncolored and non fatiguing.
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you might also want to look into the massdrop arist r2r or schitt multibit then, as imo they are very natural sounding
Chord products might be worthwhile to look into as well (although too pricey for what they are imo)
But I do think that the d70 might be what you are looking for over the grace designs
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SMSL SU8 is also a good entry level unit. And many reccomend the Schiit - sometimes actually hearing the device is more important than measurements.
The su-8 has an ess dac though, which @nangaparbat didn’t prefer.
But I agree that measurements aren’t everything
from all my reading, the go-to stack for starters would be:
Schiit Audio Modi DAC (current version is 3)
Schiit Audio Magni Amp (current version is 3)
or
Topping D10 DAC
JDS Labs Atom Amp
or combo units, like:
Schiit Audio Asgard w/DAC card (current version is also 3)
JDS Labs Element
Think he is just looking for a dac with a specific set of features
yeh…there are just too many damned options!
Schiit…JDSL…Massdrop Carbon…Monolith Liquid…Little Dot…ARGH!!!
if you need both DAC and Amp and you’re not in a hurry, two things to consider waiting on are:
Monolith Liquid Spark DAC is coming end of November.
JDSL is rumored to be releasing something this fall / winter and it’s anticipated to be a DAC intended as a companion to the Atom (this is just a rumor though…the Spark DAC is announced).
if not the RME ADI-2 maybe the Soekris R-2R or…
ifi xDSD has Burr Browns
I run it line out unbalanced to my THX AAA 789 and prefer it over my SMSL SU-8
well bodied and no fatigue + all sorts of DSD/DxD and even MQA support + bluetooth
power and digital(usb or optical) are separated
the USB power desk mode stops loading at 70% so your DAC won´t explode like some Chord Mojos (at the beginning)
in near future the Chord Mojo(like the sound as much or more vs my xDSD) get´s a version 2 - could be something really nice for under 1k