Which Dac?

salspag -- Fri, 02/05/2010 - 16:39

I have AR LS2B preamp, AR VT100MKIII AMP, Focal 1037be speakers, and a Marantz SA 8260 SACD player, which is connected to a old Audio Alchemy DDE3.0 and DTI 2.0. DAC and anti JItter processor. In todays world what would be a upgrade that would not break the bank but be a improvement from my current older DAC .

Robert Harley -- Sat, 02/06/2010 - 17:10

What's your budget?

salspag -- Fri, 02/12/2010 - 08:55

$1000 on low end $2000 on HIgh end. But I don't want to elimate anything below that range that could be an upgrade from what I have.
Kids college and Audiophiles don't mix.
Thanks for your response.
Sal

Robert Harley -- Fri, 02/12/2010 - 21:10

I recommend the PS Audio Digital Link III at $995 (the low end of your budget) and the Bryston BDA-1 at $1995 on the high side of your budget. If you can swing the Bryston I think you'll be thrilled with it.

salspag -- Sat, 02/13/2010 - 12:06

Thanks so much for you assistence.
Sal

Steve Dollar (not verified) -- Sat, 02/13/2010 - 21:44

The PS Audio DAC has been available at a discounted $699 from PS Audio for some time. And it's also available in modded variations online for a few hundred bucks more.

jack d ii -- Sun, 02/14/2010 - 16:09

For about $1100.00 the Lavry Engineering DAC 10 is an absolute steal. The DAC 11 adds a remote and the abillity to move the soundstage around. The Lavry Engineering site has a number of tutorials that are helpful and the people there are very good to answer questions.

Jack D II

Paul M. (not verified) -- Sat, 03/06/2010 - 23:11

HI,
Just got PS audio DAC III for $699.00 Plus shipping and could not be more thrilled!
Now I don't have to replace all my cds With vinyl which I Replaced with CDS, ETC., ETC.,....!
IT's at least worth a listen.
Good Luck,Paul

Nicholas.Bedworth -- Thu, 03/18/2010 - 01:45

The Lavry DA-11 is a fine unit at $1480, without a remote. You have to provide your own and then program it. The device has front-panel absolute phase control, an analogue attenuator with digital output, and the ability to manipulate the soundstage width of the left and right channels for the benefit of headphone users.
One of the most notable sonic charcteristics is the transient impact. It's enough to cause fillings to drop out :) and yet violins have a buzzing, fragile, complex timbre rather than the Dread Metallic Glare. Woodwinds are clearly differentiated, vocalists express every emotional nuance through slight changes in emphasis and voicing; dynamics are convincing.

YMMV, but in my system, the USB performance is not up the level of glass-fiber TOSLINK or RCA inputs...

See www.lavryengineering.com for more information...

Nicholas Bedworth
DigitalDirect Media Services, LLC Text/voice 1.808.372.2883 (GMT -10) nicholas [dot] bedworth [at] digitaldirect [dot] com (nicholas.bedworth@digitaldi)

Cheapskate (not verified) -- Thu, 03/18/2010 - 12:21

Don't waste your money. Go with the Musical Fidelity V-DAC if you are hard up or the Cambridge DAC Magic if you can spend a little more. For the system setup you have, one of these would be perfect.

studs -- Thu, 09/09/2010 - 10:50

I own PS Audio DAC that was actually available at a discounted rate of $699 at a store near my home . I was actually pretty surprised by not being able to connect and use the system . It was really hard in the beginning and I didn't actually know how to install it into my system . But with some guidelines I finally installed it and now this is my favorite audio system . I would definitely recommend you as well to get one .

salspag -- Tue, 09/14/2010 - 14:54

Thanks

Steven Stone -- Thu, 09/16/2010 - 21:14

I would also include the Wyred4Sound DAC-2 at just under $1500. It also handles USB inputs at up to 192/24 as well as 2 Toslink, AES/EBU, and RCA Spdif.

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

wrangler mathew -- Fri, 05/06/2011 - 09:55

I spent a lot of time listening to first the Sonus Faber Cremona M, and later the Elipsa and the Amati. While I could happily live with any of these speakers, I have to confess that I fell in love with the Amatis, and while I couldn't have afforded new ones, my dealer gave me a reduced price on her demo pair. My dealer recommended the Boulder 865 integrated amp. It sounded so nice that I didn't spend much time auditioning other electronics. I did hear the Amati with both a reference Meridian amp and the Boulder, and the Boulder sounded just fine. I was hoping to get some feedback on this forum about the Boulder with these speakers, but none came. I note that John Atkinson in Stereophile liked the Elipsas with the Boulder 860 power amp, which I found encouraging.

rods84@earthlink.net -- Sun, 10/24/2010 - 07:22

The life of this topic could well outlast me (then again, so could any topic). For what it's worth, I'm sold on the new unit from YBA Design and will be purchasing it shortly. I trust the reviews I've seen, but the closer for me is that it has remote volume, so I could use it as an interim pre-amp if my Sonic Frontiers bites the dust again. ... I'd be happy to provide a mini-review of its performance, if you want it.

P.S. to Robert Hartley: You folks are doing a fine job; the magazine is stronger than ever (a rare compliment from a retired inky wretch ... we just don't do compliments because it could wreck the negative view of newspaper people we worked so hard to establish).

-- Mike Rodman, at-large editor for Positive Feedback Online and struggling writer

BRsound -- Thu, 11/04/2010 - 11:21

I've got the new BEL CANTO DAC3.5VB. It sounds simply wonderful, it's reliable, flexible, morgue-silent and runs cool... it's a keeper.