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Looking for the best Dac

post #1 of 24
12/2/09 at 10:56am
Thread Starter 
Looking for the best Dac for music listening in less than 1000$.

These three Dac I'm interested:

AD1865
ad1865

Behringer Ultramatch PRO SRC2496 with AK 4393
Behringer

Four TDA1541A
fourTDA_dac

Sound Preference are:
Powerful and tight bass, warm and “liquid” midrange, quality smooth treble with 3 dimensional image.

What DAC is recommended?
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post #2 of 24
12/3/09 at 8:01am
Thread Starter 
Anyone?
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post #3 of 24
12/3/09 at 8:17am
BuffaloDAC

ESS Sabre DAC?
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post #4 of 24
12/3/09 at 8:34am
Thread Starter 
"UPDATE about the latest Twisted Pear Buffalo board version 2

TP added their opamp based analog stage. The bitter truth is that it sucks. The music is bad, mechanical, closed in, not high end at all.
I must warn all tube fans folks who are excited by the ESSTECH DAC to stay away from your buffalo."
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post #5 of 24
12/3/09 at 8:38am
WOW ok then, there’s a strong opinion.
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post #6 of 24
12/3/09 at 8:41am
I don't know what that Lampizator guy looks for in terms of sound quality (though his "reference system" tells a lot about his interpretation of "High Fidelity") but I can say that my original Buffalo 24 was a few light-years ahead of my heavily modified SRC2496.
Moreover, my current Buffalo 32S (with dual-mono Placid PSUs) is even better in all aspects of the sound reproduction..
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post #7 of 24
12/3/09 at 8:41am
Thread Starter 
The text is from your link..
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post #8 of 24
12/3/09 at 8:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by FOXY View Post
The text is from your link..
Yes I see now, I had read the link months ago - the update wasn’t there at that stage.
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post #9 of 24
12/3/09 at 8:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheShaman View Post
I don't know what that Lampizator guy looks for in terms of sound quality (though his "reference system" tells a lot about his interpretation of "High Fidelity") but I can say that my original Buffalo 24 was a few light-years ahead of my heavily modified SRC2496.
Moreover, my current Buffalo 32S (with dual-mono Placid PSUs) is even better in all aspects of the sound reproduction..
Did you get to try the LCDPS and LCBPS as a comparison? Just out of curiosity.
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post #10 of 24
12/3/09 at 8:51am
Thread Starter 
How you can define the sound of Buffalo?
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post #11 of 24
12/3/09 at 9:45am
Why do you place so much stock in what Lampizator says? He mostly just throws tubes and boutique caps at everything, then claims he is the second coming.
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post #12 of 24
12/3/09 at 10:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beefy View Post
Why do you place so much stock in what Lampizator says? He mostly just throws tubes and boutique caps at everything, then claims he is the second coming.
QFT

He thinks the Buffalo 24 was the best thing ever created because he could easily add a tube output to it. Then when the Buffalo 32 came out with an opamp I/V that he couldn't replace with one of his cobbled together tube hacks he trashed it. In his world opamp = automatic garbage, I like tubes, but personally I don't think they have any place in a DAC.
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post #13 of 24
12/3/09 at 10:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by johnwmclean View Post
Did you get to try the LCDPS and LCBPS as a comparison? Just out of curiosity.
We are a bit off-topic but anyway..
I went from 1x LCBPS, 1x LCDPS to a dual mono Placid Configuration so it was kind of a massive change in the power supply section.
Certainly worth it. Everything is more.. "black" and quiet now which benefits all frequencies but the real shock for me was at the lower frequencies. The bass is just crazy now..
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post #14 of 24
12/3/09 at 10:44am
I wouldn't put very much stock in anything that guy says.
If it doesn't have a tube somewhere in it then it must be teh suck.

He can't even solder an electrolytic cap straight... I mean, they naturally sit straight so how do you **** that up?
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post #15 of 24
12/3/09 at 10:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by nattonrice View Post
I wouldn't put very much stock in anything that guy says.
If it doesn't have a tube somewhere in it then it must be teh suck.

He can't even solder an electrolytic cap straight... I mean, they naturally sit straight so how do you **** that up?
Indeed! I have posted this a number of times......



Aside from the horrible cap work, the diodes and resistors next to the heatsink are designed to sit flat.

I'm also a 'fan' of efforts like this:

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