Looking for a deck to pair nicely with my smsl sa300 and my JBL 530s. Don’t have a lot of money to spend so looking for something less than $200 preferably less than $150. I had heard the liquid spark deck was quite warm but it is impossible to find now. So looking for a warm cheap DAC with optical input. All help and advice is appreciated.
I’d personally look to something like a schiit modius as that’s a warmer and more laid back dac, but if you wanted to go lower the ifi zen dac is a good pick for something warmer but forward leaning. Generally though I will say that a lot of the dacs at this level don’t greatly differ from each other so if you have an extremely clinical and forward system these dacs may help but it’s not likely to entirely solve the issue for you
Edit: ah the zen dac doesn’t have toslink, a modi 3+ is a neutral but a bit warmer leaning choice in that range that does, same with a topping e30 (although that’s more smooth than warm)
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Does the modius sound different than the modi? I’m not using a balanced setup but if the sq is improved on the modius that does interest me
The modius is warmer and more relaxed leaning than the modi, generally even through single ended I do think the modius sounds a bit better and has better technical performance but it’s not a massive jump, balanced does sound a bit better than single ended but it’s not that far off. I think from a value perspective if you only use single ended the modi is a better value, but I do think the modius is a better product regardless and also better suits the signature you are looking for
Some of the other stuff I want to mention is either at a higher price, isn’t produced anymore, or doesn’t have toslink lol. I actually might say the jds atom dac+ is a slightly warmer and sweeter leaning dac but it’s not something I immediately think of as warm, their el dac ii+ takes this a bit further but above budget here. Another option is the aune x8 which would also likely meet what you are looking for, but over budget a bit
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Do you have any experience with the multi-bit version?
Ah I always forget that still exists, I thought they stopped selling it due to supply issues so I didn’t mention it. The multibit version is great, but it’s not that balanced sonically. It absolutely does lean warmer and richer than all the aforementioned dacs, and I do think it resolves better than the aforementioned dacs too, and better spatially overall, but dynamics seem compressed in comparison to the modius and also it’s not the sharpest and most defined sounding can be slightly hazy vs the modius. But honestly I think in most systems I’d take the multibit over either the modius or the modi 3+ as long as your system doesn’t lean overly warm to start with
Get any of the iFi DACs with a Burr-Brown chip. Burr-Browns are considered to be among the warmest-sounding DAC chips. Most ESS Sabre’s are the most chilly, with AKM’s somewhere in between.
I have owned DAC’s with all three chips, and my experience matches the above. My iFi hip-dac with a Burr-Brown was the warmest DAC-amp I’ve used.
The iFi Zen DAC may be your ticket. But I’m not sure if it has optical input. ZEN DAC by iFi audio - Super-affordable DAC/amp from iFi audio
It’s really all going to come down to implementation. Both burr brown and ess have been all over the board from my experience, so just focus on the dac at hand rather than the chip it uses imo. Ifi’s house sound just generally tends to lean more toward the warm and fun side of things, but I’ve heard many burr brown dacs that were fairly deadpan neutral and some that could even be considered clinical
I would love to pick up a Zen dac but there’s no optical input. Down the road for a headphone specific setup I will definitely purchase that as I am also a fan of burr brown sound. Right now I’m trying to finesse a monoprice monolith THX AAA 788. Trying to sell a few odds and ends to fund it but the dirac and parametric eqs included with it would be dope with my setup
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You could EQ “warm”.
Not all iFi DACs are warm. The newer ones are more neutral. I have/had the Zen DAC, micro iDSD Signature, Gryphon and have heard micro iDSD BL & Hip-DAC.
iFi house sound before (Zen DAC, iDSD BL, Signature used to be warm & smooth, but now it’s more neutral & smooth (Gryphon, Neo iDSD, Diablo…)
I personally preferred their previous tuning.
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Good update. Thanks!
dang nabbit guys, you keep forgetting your manners!
welcome to HFG, Kelephant! 
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Personal experience with the 788, dirac is pretty cool on certain music and movies but the EQ is just plain awful. It doesn’t change the sound much at all and is a pain to actually use. It also has that sterile compressed sound until dirac is used.
I really think your money would be better spent on a modious and a lokious for almost the same money. I personally really enjoy my D90>lokious>singxer sa1. It plays very well with most of my headphones.
Get a way to EQ them, no dac will have the effect you want, the liquid spark is linear and has flat frequency response like pretty much every other dac or amp…
The only actually "warm"solid state thing I know of is the original FX DAC X6 and that’s cause it’s kinda bad, not an actual feature.
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Budget increased to around $215. Currently looking at the Loxjie D30 and the Dilvpoetry dt-1.
what about a tube pre-amp?