Most neutral budget DAC?

Get one of the Hotaudio DAC's in your price range.  For example, the "Extasy".

Keep your eyes out in the for sale section as you can usually get good deals there.

HRT Music Streamer II - for 150 bucks, HANDS DOWN (imo) - stretch your budget a bit and mate it w/ a decent USB cable, like the Locus Design Polestar or Furutech gt2 and you're going to have a DAC system that outperforms many at twice and three times the cost. 

I just took a job working for their distributor recently because I loved their products so much in the last two years.  I've heard a ton of DACs since I got into the High End game (back in 96, when I was a young music freak just looking for amazing sound - and ended up at TAS) and in terms of bang for the buck, you just can't beat HRT right now, I think.   - and a big part of that is because you can upgrade its performance trying different USB and RCA interconnect cables.

Stick to something aimed at pros rather than audiophools, pro gear is least likely to be colored.

EMU 0404, Behringer, etc. http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/499185/how-much-do-i-need-to-spend-on-a-dac?utm_campaign=subscription&utm_source=subscription_digest&utm_medium=email#post_6751324

What he said above- or believe the sales rep who likes $250 USB cables 

There are $250 usb cables!?!

I've GOT to see a picture of these.

Yeah, I'm just a "sales rep".

It's not like I got my first job answering phones at The Absolute Sound, working my way up to Harry Pearson's set-up and acquisitions man, after proving my dedication and love for music and audio - or, that after that I went to work for Arif Mardin (the Grammy-Award winning producer, including a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award) at Atlantic Records, learning about album production from Mr. Dowd, (Tom Dowd), and Mr. Wexler, or that I worked my ass off to get the respect of Mr. Ertegun, and that I was BLESSED to call them my friends.

These guys had nothing to do with the foundation of American pop music, or anything like that.

Not like I've been writing about music and audio since I was a teenager.

All these people have NOTHING to do with PRO!  Not like I spent YEARS in NYC, workin w/ S.I.R., doing backline work at Sessions at West 54th Street, or helped to build recording studios (after asking to learn about pre-and post production facility design) w/ John Tamburello from Burello Sound and Central Media Systems.

NO, I'm just a sales rep.

I've dedicated my whole life to this, both consumer and pro - so don't be so quick to jump to conclusions.  It's beyond amateur - and just because something is considered "pro" doesn't mean it's any less colored, and I'm sure Frank Filipetti would back me up there.  and, he's got NOTHING to do with pro.  Oh, HERE's a link to my interview with Frank, in case you think I'm full of it.

man these kinda ignorant posts make me lose my faith sometimes.

and, at least I answered him - gave him an "option" in his price point, and thats not based on years of exploring/trial and error, and listening myself.

Haters - why is it so hard to trust anybody else???

I am trying to be more active here, and anybody who knows me knows I don't say I like something unless I truly do.  I wrote about HRT products years before I was even offered a job working for their distributor.

Interesting...

Quote:

Originally Posted by tim3320070 

What he said above- or believe the sales rep who likes $250 USB cables 

LOL? Cables are a lie, I laugh and cry every time I see an expensive one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikemercer 

Yeah, I'm just a "sales rep".

 

It's not like I got my first job answering phones at The Absolute Sound, working my way up to Harry Pearson's set-up and acquisitions man, after proving my dedication and love for music and audio - or, that after that I went to work for Arif Mardin (the Grammy-Award winning producer, including a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award) at Atlantic Records, learning about album production from Mr. Dowd, (Tom Dowd), and Mr. Wexler, or that I worked my ass off to get the respect of Mr. Ertegun, and that I was BLESSED to call them my friends.

 

These guys had nothing to do with the foundation of American pop music, or anything like that.

 

Not like I've been writing about music and audio since I was a teenager.

 

All these people have NOTHING to do with PRO!  Not like I spent YEARS in NYC, workin w/ S.I.R., doing backline work at Sessions at West 54th Street, or helped to build recording studios (after asking to learn about pre-and post production facility design) w/ John Tamburello from Burello Sound and Central Media Systems.

 

NO, I'm just a sales rep.

 

I've dedicated my whole life to this, both consumer and pro - so don't be so quick to jump to conclusions.  It's beyond amateur - and just because something is considered "pro" doesn't mean it's any less colored, and I'm sure Frank Filipetti would back me up there.  and, he's got NOTHING to do with pro.  Oh, HERE's a link to my interview with Frank, in case you think I'm full of shit.

 

man these kinda ignorant posts make me lose my faith sometimes.

Listen, you've suggested a $250 USB cable to a guy looking for DAC under $150. Congrats on the list of notables in your career. $250 USB cables are ultra snake oil. You might convince some, but not me....ever.

the 0404USB is full of nasty 5532's, not the nicest sounding opamp. 

Originally Posted by SanJoseCanJunkie 

There are $250 usb cables!?!

 

I've GOT to see a picture of these.

http://www.locus-design.com/cynosure_usb.html

"Starting at $2849 for 3FT", and there's a huge restocking fee of course.