Looking for an ENDGAME dac

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories DACs
21

Yeah the m500 will work just fine.

Actually the Young MkIII DAC would work too

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22

Nice to see the SU-8 get mentioned a few times

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23

It is pretty good for the price, lots of features and balanced

24

The Topping D70 is a very good DAC with balanced output and pairs well with the THX amp.

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25

Krisztian asked for a mqa endgame DAC and we find ourself recommending the usual stuff in the end :slight_smile:

26

Lol well itā€™s good and feature rich at a good price

27

Ah, I must have only read the message I wanted to see :slight_smile:

28

But the D70 does deserve a mention, its a pretty great dac too

29

So Iā€™ve searched a bit and here is my list, and Iā€™m updating the budget to 1000dollars so It would make sense with the THX. What do you recommend the most from this list? Iā€™m looking for clean, transparent sound with good dynamic and it can be clinical. Possibly with MQA support.

1.Topping D70/D90
2.Schiit Bifrost 2 or Schiit Gungir (same price)
3.Aune S6 Pro (waste of the outputs, heard good things about it)
4.SMSL M500 (Like the look but waste of Single end output)
5.SMSL VMV D1 DAC (maybe overkill for THX)
6.SMSL SU-8

30

What do you mean by waste of outputs? Most balanced dacs will have unbalanced outputs too

If you wanted the clinical sound imo, the m500 for mqa, and the SU-8 or D1 would be my picks

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31

I think he refers to the build in Amp sections with hf outs at the front of the DAC/Amps
he wants to use the THX 789 as amp and would prefer a ā€œpureā€ DAC without a build in amp

32

Ah, ok gotcha, yeah then I canā€™t think of a mqa dac that would work for you in this price range

33

I have the RME ADI-2 DAC. Canā€™t imagine it gets much better than this. Built in amp is surprisingly powerful. Donā€™t use my Burson amp much any more. Doesnā€™t have MQA support though. If your looking for DAC only, the new Matrix Audio X-SABRE might be the one:

34

A dCS Bartok would be up there tooā€¦
https://www.dcsltd.co.uk/products/bartok-headphone-dac-amplifier/about

35

So no weā€™re just ignoring his budget lol

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36

The "E"game word and budget should never appear in the same sentenceā€¦Whatā€™s the best I can get foršŸ’°is a better way to put it lol.

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37

I donā€™t even know if you could get a used dCS in this price range

38

I agree, when the word ā€˜endgameā€™ is used, you are basically saying ā€œThe best you can get, regardless of priceā€.

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39

Thatā€™s why the ā€œe wordā€ is stupid imo. It just encourages people to spend more when they could have just been satisfied with what they had. There is no endgame, you just find a balance

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40

True, I wish I could just be satisfied with what I have. But then I ask myself ā€œwhat ifā€ā€¦ Always chasing the dragon.