I have a Zen DAC, I want to replace it and need suggestions. I do not care about MQA, but would prefer to keep balanced connections, I do not want a combo unit only a DAC. Thank you in advance.
1 Like
Welcome!
What’s your budget, and what are you hoping to change from the Zen DAC? Also what headphones?
At that price point and requiring balanced your best bet is waiting a couple months for a Schiit Modius…
4 Likes
Yes, welcome to the forum!
What amp will you pair it with?
By most accounts the Modius is a great DAC. I don’t disagree with the recommendation at all.
But I’ll keep plugging the Soncoz LA-QXD1. It doesn’t get much love on this forum, but the sound is very neutral and includes a few features the Modius doesn’t have. Namely a volume control and a Coax pass through. The volume is the one that really comes in handy for external speakers or taming a hot amp (I’m looking at you Erish). Coax passthrough is nice if you want to use a second DAC without running another USB cable (or another output of your network steamer).
Also, for what it’s worth, the Soncoz DACs are designed by the same guy who designed the Kadas Tone Board, and includes the fix he came up with to correct the ESS Saber DAC THD “hump”.
I’m using the Soncoz DAC with a Geshelli Erish, Asgard3, and RNHP amp. All three sound excellent. And to my ear the Soncoz helps give a little more clarity and detail to the A3 over the E30 DAC. If I had to guess why, it’s probably because the Soncoz is slightly cooler than the E30. In my opinion the E30 is neutral leaning slightly warm. And the Soncoz is closer to neutral neutral.
Also, it’s worth considering waiting for the Geshelli JNOG2. It should be available soon. If it’s as good as the JNOG1 it’ll be a solid option in your price range.
3 Likes
200-300$ish budget, I’m wanting to get away from IFI products. I have few headphones right now, got 6XX, 58x, Meze Noir, AKG k361, KPH30i and some cheap IEM’s.
Something like the Atom stack, Liquid Spark stack, Modi 3+/Magni 3+ stack, Modi 3+/Asgard 3, Modi 3+/Vali 2+…lots of options that are tough to go wrong with in that budget range if you have access to them from where you are located.
Those all seem great, I like the simplicity of the Modius. Is the coax on the Soncoz only a pass through?
There is both coax in and coax out. The coax in works like any other coax input. The coax output is generated from the USB input. Toslink and Coax in don’t pass through to the coax out (at least that I’ve been able to see).
1 Like
This comes out Friday April 30th. Might be worth waiting to see the reviews.
2 Likes