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Head Room Mirco or Ultra Micro DAC?

post #1 of 11
8/10/08 at 4:15am
Thread Starter 
Going to buy a DAC soon but having a problem deciding on which on to get... the Micro for $400 or the Ultra for $700. Is the Ultra worth spending the extra $300 for? Can 56 yr old ears tell a difference? It will be used with a Xfi Fatal1ty sound card> DAC> Travagans Red amp> SRD-7SB> Stax Lambda mainly for gaming for now. Trying hard not to catch the dreaded wallet wasting disease (which I was cured of in the '70s) but might want to get back into music again. New headphones (Denon D-5000) will be coming in the future and maybe some sort of a better amp down the line. Nothing ass kicking just something in the 5 to 9 hundred dollar range if I can't shake the bug.
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post #2 of 11
8/10/08 at 10:32am
This isn't really the right place. You will get better feedback either in the Sources Forum of the Headroom Premium Sponsor Forum.

But no doubt in my mind that if you can aford the extra $400, you should go with the Ultra. I say $400 because if you are getting the Ultra you really should get the Astrodyne power supply with it.
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post #3 of 11
8/10/08 at 10:47am
I moved this thread to the Source forum.

BTW - I've not yet heard the Ultra Micro DAC, but I've heard lots of HR DACs, have the Balanced Desktop DAC and have had the Coda/Overture set (preceeded the original Micro series). So I think I can make a reasonably informed suggestion:

If the extra $$ isn't too much of a reach, I'd get the Ultra Micro DAC.

The Micro DAC is a great DAC for a second system. I used it in my work rig for several years, and was very happy with it. You have some nice stat gear down the chain, and I think you'd notice and appreciate the difference.

That said...stat gear for gaming?!
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post #4 of 11
8/10/08 at 1:03pm
The Ultra is so much more value for the money. It truly is a high end DAC with the chip selection etc. I think if you can swing it, it is far and away worth the $400 extra.
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post #5 of 11
8/10/08 at 5:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigEat View Post
The Ultra is so much more value for the money. It truly is a high end DAC with the chip selection etc. I think if you can swing it, it is far and away worth the $400 extra.
Let me start by saying that I agree with BigEat. You know, I heard both of them at the same time. While I think the Ultra is better overall, I have a hard time quantifying how much better it is. I think this should really be a question about one's budget instead of the comparison between the two. If you can afford it, it really makes no sense to pass up the Ultra DAC. And by virtue of the fact that you are asking, I'm going to assume that you can afford the Ultra.

So gas up the credit card and prepare to enjoy!
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post #6 of 11
8/13/08 at 1:51pm
Thread Starter 
Today I came very close to getting the Ultra DAC. Went to Headroom, logged in and put it in my cart. Chickened out... when I added the 1/8 plug to dual RCA cable and thinking about the upgraded power supply. When the price came to almost $900.00 maybe the Benchmark DAC1, Stello or even a cheap Zero etc might be a better choice. What is really killing me head wise is the adapter cable and the need to upgrade the power supply for something of this price range. After reading that thread about Headroom stuff being over priced has got me looking again. So I seek advice... what DAC comes with a good power supply (built in if it is available... don't like "wall warts") and has regular RCA output connectors (no mini or 5 Pins)? Wish I would of left the Stax in the closet... didn't use them in over 15 years.
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post #7 of 11
8/13/08 at 6:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oberst Oswald View Post
Today I came very close to getting the Ultra DAC. Went to Headroom, logged in and put it in my cart. Chickened out... when I added the 1/8 plug to dual RCA cable and thinking about the upgraded power supply. When the price came to almost $900.00 maybe the Benchmark DAC1, Stello or even a cheap Zero etc might be a better choice. What is really killing me head wise is the adapter cable and the need to upgrade the power supply for something of this price range. After reading that thread about Headroom stuff being over priced has got me looking again. So I seek advice... what DAC comes with a good power supply (built in if it is available... don't like "wall warts") and has regular RCA output connectors (no mini or 5 Pins)? Wish I would of left the Stax in the closet... didn't use them in over 15 years.
One of the reasons why I passed on the HR Balanced (besides the lack of preamp output) was that I didn't really like the idea of having to buy a separate power supply to get the best out of the unit. In addition, since I'm moving soon, I wanted to keep my gear as simplified as possible. The DAC1 has the power supply built in and it has the preamp out. Case closed.
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post #8 of 11
8/14/08 at 1:56am
I have the HR Micro Dac (got it for $200 here) and a Benchmark Dac-1 (got it or $750 on audiogon) non-usb. I run the Headroom Dac through USB (limits to 44.1kHz, 16Bit and it does not go to the dac part from the USB receiver, it makes a round through the spdif receiver)..

The Dac-1 i run through Optical, it sounds excellent.

Most of my collection is CD rips (44.1KHz, 16 Bit apple lossless) and i set sampling to the same frequency.

Overall they sound very great, although the dac-1 stands out sometimes as the winnder.. the 192KHz upsampling by the Dac-1 isn't very noticeable with most songs, i listen to Jazz the most and Vocals sound better on the dac-1. The Micro Dac is more sweet and the Dac-1 more open.

Just for reference i run a WA6-> sennheiser, that i swap between the two dacs and the other will be running a prima luna prolog 2 amp -> vienna mozarts..

Id say the HR dac is a great dac, for the price (USB is great, but if you run optical i can only think of it being better from the circuit design perspective).

If you are looking at 500+ $ then get the benchmark - Dac-1, it is one killer Dac..
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post #9 of 11
8/15/08 at 12:53pm
Thread Starter 
Made my decision... A Stello DA100 is on its way.
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post #10 of 11
8/15/08 at 1:01pm
The ultramicro is awesome, but not portable, just small, since it requires an external power supply. Glad you made your decision tho.
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post #11 of 11
8/15/08 at 1:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oberst Oswald View Post
Made my decision... A Stello DA100 is on its way.
Awesome. I've always been interested in this DAC. I'd like to get your impressions once it arrives. From all the reviews that I've read on Head-Fi, I think you'll be pleased.
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