"Short" High End DAC Comparison

[M0N]

@db_Cooper

Anyway, back to my point, there are some devices/brands that are safe purchases. Meaning you’re not going to take a bath reselling them and that sell quick, often in less than a week of posting. Then there are others that although of the same tier or caliber, simply sit or lag and it’s not always because of their capability. It’s hard to put a finger as to what/why the delineation happens but it’s an organic process that feels a little herd like in mentality. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. lol

Yep, some dacs at this point are real bargains on the used market compared to others (at the time of writing) that have either been dismissed as old, aren’t hyped by the current market but still hold up, or are a bit more synergy dependent that are still extremely viable (or people don’t even know about them in the first place lol). You take a bit of a gamble buying one of these more uncommon dacs resale wise, mainly since it’s not easy to flip quick and typically takes time and attractive pricing on the used market, you have to find a buyer who actually knows. Take for example a berkeley alpha series 2, a 5k dac from 2012, still competes in the same price bracket today (was still sold up until 2020 unchanged for 5k as well) and now they go for like 2k, real good deal. That being said it does require a nice ddc, and with some amps synergy would be hit or miss, but it’s one of those things that shouldn’t be ignored simply due to age and less market hype. Whereas 2k is like the same price you might pay for a spring 2k kte if you could even find one in the first place, and the series 2 would smack that up lol. But that being said the spring 2 kte is much more easily flipped, and less synergy dependent and doesn’t require an extra ddc. So tradeoffs

@db_Cooper

Just that if you do research, there are quality items that will decrease in value a lot more and you’ll have a better shot at negotiating prices down because they’ve sat for a month or two but comparisons like these help us to be educated about purchasing those. Knowing what you’re getting into before you purchase it is half the battle.

There are a ton of excellent dacs out there, what I have mentioned so far is only a small group of some of those dacs I have liked enough to own, there are many many more great dacs out there. It’s just hard to find info on some of them that would lead someone to be comfortable enough to actually buy so most typically pass on the more uncommon dacs. That being said, there’s also some real meh or bad dacs laying around too, and it can be really hard to differentiate if you don’t know

[hifiDJ]

Thank you that was really helpful!

Never heard of Aqua before this thread…lol

I saw on the website about it being modular and that seemed pretty interesting.

It looks like I might prefer this aqua piece…is it relatively hard to synergize with (using a Soloist 3xp)?

[M0N]

@hifiDJ

I saw on the website about it being modular and that seemed pretty interesting.

Yeah upgradable overtime is always appealing

@hifiDJ

It looks like I might prefer this aqua piece…is it relatively hard to synergize with (using a Soloist 3xp)?

I think it would have great synergy with a soloist 3xp imo. As long as you don’t mind it being fairly neutral (personally I like to inject a bit more warmth and relaxed nature into the 3xp but the aqua would imo still be a very solid match)

[hifiDJ]

Did you test the aqua on usb mostly (which is how I’ll be using it)?

It seems like nothing “special” was done to the usb input according to their website, so I was thinking maybe it might not sound as good on usb vs its other inputs…

[M0N]

@hifiDJ

Did you test the aqua on usb mostly (which is how I’ll be using it)?

Yes

@hifiDJ

It seems like nothing “special” was done to the usb input according to their website, so I was thinking maybe it might not sound as good on usb vs its other inputs…

It does scale with a nicer ddc or streamer, but I wouldn’t complain about using it via usb either

[Polygonhell]

@hifiDJ

It seems like nothing “special” was done to the usb input according to their website, so I was thinking maybe it might not sound as good on usb vs its other inputs…

I use mine on USB occasionally, it’s a good USB implementation.
There is a slight win with something like a pi2AES or better streamer via AES (if the one your looking at has it)

[hifiDJ]

R2R DACs like the aqua and holo are NOS by nature, right?

I ask this because the May has some upsampling features (not that you’d want to use it from what I’ve heard) which had me wondering.

[Polygonhell]

Not all R2R DAC’s are NOS, but the Aqua is and the Holo lets you switch OS on or off.

[hifiDJ]

Ah, I see thanks!

Out of curiosity, what are some R2R DACs that OS?

[Polygonhell]

Anything using any of the older Burr Brown R2R chips will oversample, I’m not sure it can even be disabled. And anything with a user selectable output filter.
If it doesn’t claim NOS on the tin it probably isn’t.

[M0N]

@Polygonhell

If it doesn’t claim NOS on the tin it probably isn’t.

Pretty much the easiest way to tell

Some more examples of oversampling r2r would be like rockna products, soekris products, etc. There are a lot with switchable nos/os like totaldac and others

[hifiDJ]

Would some Hegel DACs be worth mentioning in your DAC shootout @M0N?

I think D30 would be in that price range…

[M0N]

To me they’ve always been on the “It’s ok” side of things for me, I don’t think they are stand out in any real way, wouldn’t really be my first choice. I guess unremarkable would be the word considering the price

[M0N]

As I continue to evaluate what I have and what I should do, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m likely going to slim down my main desktop setup down to 4-6 dacs, 4-6 amps, and 4-6 headphones. I’m still not sure what in the end will truly be staying and what would be leaving, but I think at the moment I will be selling the mola mola and mojo, as while I do really enjoy them, they don’t stand up to what’s currently sitting next to them tbh. But it’s hard for sure, I think about selling these dacs, go and listen to them again, and fully reconsider lol. Really pushing myself to try and downsize, future financial issues could force me to downsize lol but I’d rather do that on my own terms first.

Likely I can think I can go down to 4 dacs, but might end up upgrading some of them. I’d likely upgrade to a lampi pacific over my gg and I’d upgrade my reference to a series 3. And the totaldac stays the same as I don’t want to upgrade there lol. But that leaves one more dac, and honestly it will be a fight between the audio note and the nagra for which one gets to stay. I really like those dacs and it’s honestly a hard choice. I do think in the end the nagra is the more technical and capable option, but I honestly feel the audio note will be the more enjoyable pick. Will have to do a more head to head for those to force myself to decide lol. But so far it’s looking nagra imo.

The wavedream signature is just sitting there then on the sidelines lol, I do really like it, but I don’t think it’s enough to compete with the real heavy hitters in that setup.

Edit: this post has been in a draft for a few days, nagra def staying. It’s simply just more capable at revealing information in a more convincing manner, although I do still really enjoy how the dac 5 can sweeten things up at times.

Final lineup at my desk will likely come down to a Pacific, D1-Direct, Reference 3, and HD DAC + MPS (later on I could upgrade to the new nagra?). Although still not 100% sure lol, and I still need to get the upgraded dacs anyways

This is a thread about dacs, but I might as well talk about headphones too a bit and also amps since this is kinda just me downsizing at this point. So far it really is likely going to make it’s way down to 6 main headphones. The shangri la sr, susvara, 1266, utopia, mysphere 3.2, and th900 mk2 lawton ph (potentially another estat but idk at this point tbh). I will likely also keep a headphone for travel like the diana v2 (with travel more being extended business trips, I just use iems where I need isolation and true portability, and yes I’ve already finalized my iems and iem source), and will be keeping around some of the lower end stuff that I adore like the hd600 and dt880 that have been with me forever.

I do really like the adx5k, 007mk2.9, he60, he6se, lcd 24, beyer t1.2, aeon 2c, es-1a, gjallarhorn, and a few others I’m forgetting. But I just don’t use them as much, and that’s reason enough I guess. Still deciding though, some of these might be spared (likely one estat and 2 traditional headphones, but it depends)

Edit: adx5k and beyer t1.2 getting spared for both synergy and dual use reasons. 007 will be spared as well.

Warwick gets to live another day since it’s a studio tool to me and not something I use for listening pleasure

Forcing myself to slim down headphones will naturally slim down what amps I use and still want, so I need to get that sorted as well. Too many amps at the moment. I do think the ones that will be getting locked in would be the 3es elite, egoista 845, demone, aic-10, and studio t. Might start getting down to 8 amps first, and go from there. But again dependent on the headphones, and I want to have lower than 8

[elementze]

@M0N

But it’s hard for sure, I think about selling these dacs, go and listen to them again, and fully reconsider lol.

You know @m0n, if you need a “trial separation” with any of your gear I would be happy to provide a loving temporary home to watch after them as long as needed. I wouldn’t even charge you for doing it. Just happy to help out a fellow forum member

[db_Cooper]

I call dibs on the LCD 24 when you’re ready to pass them on.

[M0N]

I’ve tried loaning stuff out to friends to see how I feel without having it, but it almost always backfires, I end up wanting it back more, even if that shouldn’t be the case. I kinda have to feel done with something otherwise when I sell I will feel dissatisfied and miss it. Like I sold my d8kp prematurely and still miss it, although I also sold my r10 but I don’t really feel like I’m missing out since I was fully decided that I was done with it. Idk. I do have a stupid rule I made for myself which was to never rebuy something I willingly sold, and so far I’ve stuck to that pretty well, sans selling and buying a pass hpa-1 like 3 times

@db_Cooper

I call dibs on the LCD 24 when you’re ready to pass them on.

Didn’t say I was listing anything that didn’t make it lol

[Nick_Mimi]

DOWNSIZING sucks! I said it out loud, i mean it. I love all my stuff, the good and not so great, i already spent the money, i can work and make more money but I HATE missing stuff and the empty spot it leaves inside me. Good luck and more power to you! You are absolutely showing much more resolve and strength than i have currently.

[M0N]

@Nick_Mimi

You are absolutely showing much more resolve and strength than i have currently

Well, as long as I actually do it lol, I may have planned everything out so far, but until things actually start leaving my hands I’m not sure it counts lol

[db_Cooper]

Admitting you have a problem is the first step towards recovery. lol