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$750 - $1,000: DAC choices?

post #1 of 8
12/10/03 at 10:58pm
Thread Starter 
Hi folks,

I believe I'll be upgrading my DAC soon. I'm looking at a pricerange of about $750, give or take a couple hundred.

I'm a fan of highly detailed, neutral sound. "Warmth" and "tube lushness" aren't my gig.

What are my choices? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
- Chris
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post #2 of 8
12/11/03 at 12:23am
well if you want highly detailed, i have to recommend the bel canto dac2.i haven't heard other dacs in it's price range, and the only item i have to compared it against is the philips 963.it retail sfor about $1300 new, but i see it regulary on audiogon for about $700 to $900 used. i love this little unassuming black box, and i'm hearing things on my cd's i've never heard before. here are some reviews if you're intrested

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/bcd/bcd.html

http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/belcanto_dac2.htm

since you have your computer listed as a source, you might be intrested to know that the bel canto has both a toslink and coaxical inputs, and to switch between the two is as simple as pushing a button.
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post #3 of 8
12/11/03 at 1:16am
Thread Starter 
Thanks, Doug... I'll look into that. I need something that mates well with Stax....

- Chris
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post #4 of 8
12/11/03 at 8:29pm

Re: $750 - $1,000: DAC choices?

Quote:
Originally posted by minya
Hi folks,

I believe I'll be upgrading my DAC soon. I'm looking at a pricerange of about $750, give or take a couple hundred.

I'm a fan of highly detailed, neutral sound. "Warmth" and "tube lushness" aren't my gig.

What are my choices? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
- Chris
JOB DA48. USD$499.

www.jobsys.com

Can only be ordered from the net though.
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post #5 of 8
12/11/03 at 11:36pm
I would second the DAC2. I picked up one of those used from Audiogon and agree 100%.
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post #6 of 8
12/12/03 at 12:22am
Thread Starter 
Thanks, guys. I'll keep an eagle eye out for the DAC2.

- Chris
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post #7 of 8
12/12/03 at 3:47pm
benchmark dac1!

it also has a nice little headphone amp built in... Haven't heard the bel canto, but i assure you its a great piece of equipment, i've owned it since the summer. I use it at school with my computer and hd600's, also used it with external amp HR2... I rate it at the quality level of big sources, like amongst the best i've heard. It gives my sacdmods 555es a run for the money.

The price is 850, and essentially your getting a headphone amp for free, should you ever decide to use that feature. Its more dac then amp, but the amp is good enough to satisfy my hd600s.
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post #8 of 8
12/13/03 at 9:44am
I'll second the motion for the Benchmark DAC1. It sounds great feeding my Max. I tried out quite a few DACs at the local Hi-Fi and Pro-Audio stores around town before picking the DAC1.

From what I've read, the DAC1 is one of the best DACs out there when it comes to jitter control. Looking over the links to the Bel Conta, I'm pretty sure the DAC1 uses the same chips (but takes both SPDIF and AES inputs and outputs both balanced and unbalanced . . . gotta love that!).
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