Buying tips for a DAC

Audio Gear Talk
21

I will take your opinion when you will have received :slight_smile:

22

The only one who can give you “sound quality” is you. That is why you need to test the various DACs to decide for yourself, if possible. What someone else hears and enjoys, you may not.

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23

I agree with @Rugby that it’s a fundamentally bad idea to buy a DAC without hearing it. But if you are going to go that route, consider also doing one or both of the following:

  1. Buy from a place that will accept returns.
  2. Buy used. You get more for your money if it is used, and with a DAC there isn’t much to go wrong. But equally valuable is that you can probably resell it for about the price you paid.

If you aren’t tapping your feet when you are listening to it, its the wrong DAC. Life is too short to learn to like something that fundamentally doesn’t suit you musically.

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24

Where do R2R DACs fit into the chipset designs? Im not sure my Aqua fits those designs

25

Completely different category of DAC.

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27

I think Chord and Naim would argue with that statement.

28

ok……gotcha

29

I agree, but it is complicated to be able to test the references … my resellers have only 5/6 dac to offer me.

30

A DAC is more than the DAC chip(s) used. As the example of the Topping D90 shows, a well-implemented single chip design is preferable to a poorly-implemented dual chip design.

The OP didn’t state whether his amp has balanced or single-ended inputs. Obviously, that would be a determining consideration in choosing a DAC.

Since the OP is in France, Audiophonics is an obvious source for many of the DACs under discussion.

31

Connection will be 2xRCA or XLR, it doesn’t matter in my case.

The headphone jack will be useless

32

For single-ended output, then it’s hard to go wrong with the Topping E30.

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33

It’s a silly line of reasoning, but given the price, I tell myself that there are bound to be concessions in quality or reliability.

Am I wrong?

34

I think so.

But there’s only one way for you to find out. :slight_smile:

35

Chord Qutest Just bought one myself.

@pl_svn

2 Likes
36

You are right. On the other hand, Chord Dave and Hugo TT2 and the Naim Dac’s require a financial budget beyond € 1500. Next to this, listening to music is personal. In the past I had a Naim preamp with supercap and Quad ESL 63 loudspeaker with in my opinion a real musical direct and rhythmic nature that invited to dance (even on classic music). Several friends preferred the more veiled sound of the old Quad tube amplifiers.

37

Have a look at Lindemann Limetree network.
Roon ready. So plug and go.
Suports all kind of formats natively.

1 Like
38

Great product ! Sound well ?

39

I can recommend both Topping DX7s and DX3s, both work great with Ropieee and are properly recognized as 32bit/768K and DSD512 capable. They’re based on XMOS and ESS chips and sound pretty good.

Neither are very expensive.

40

I bought my RME ADI-2 dac in preference to Topping D70 & Chord Qutest. I think they are all good, suffice to say the host of on board tweaks within the RME sold it to me.

If you place measurements high o your list - it measures very well.

Topping D90 was not out then & I would certainly look into that.

Cheers.

41

Are they Roon Ready?