DAC for around 1500$ to match my HD800
May 21, 2011 at 2:07 AM Post #16 of 63


Quote:
sridhar3 said:
I'm sorta in the same boat as you, but I don't really need an amp.  I'm looking at upgrading my dedicated DAC, at approximately the $1500 price range.  Of course, not all the items I've looked into are exactly $1500, but somewhere within the ballpark.

Things I've been looking into:
Audio-gd Reference 5
Audio-gd Reference 7.1
Audio-gd NFB-7
Bel Canto DAC 1.5
Electrocompaniet ECD-1
Lavry DA11
North Star 192 MkII
Grace m903
Cary Xciter
M2Tech Evo
M2Tech Young
Calyx
Red Wine Audio Isabellina (tube, 16-bit)
Monarchy NM24 (tube)
MHDT Havana (tube, 16/96)
 
To be honest, I'm leaning towards the Calyx.  It supports 24/192, asynchronous USB, has both balanced and unbalanced outputs, and uses a Sabre32 ES9018 chip.  I'd probably use it with a Kingrex PSU MkII.  The only problem is that nobody seems to own one, and nobody's reported hearing one, so it'd be a blind buy.  I don't know if I have the stones to drop 1.5G on something for which no impressions exist.  The Xciter also seems like a pretty damn good option in the price range.  I'd prefer to keep my DAC solid-state, so though I have looked into the Isabellina, Havana and Monarchy NM24, I doubt I'd invest in those in the end
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I looked at all those DAC's.  Didn't look at the Calyx though.   Here is a review, you might have seen it already.  http://www.digitalaudioblog.com/2011/02/review-calyx-dac-24192.html
 
Burson just put out a DAC.  http://www.digitalaudioblog.com/2011/05/burson-audio-dac-160.html
 
May 21, 2011 at 2:42 AM Post #17 of 63
It's such a difficult choice especially if you take into conclusion that you might not hear a difference at all.
one more thing that's bothering me is that the DACS section is improving with each moment and I know that there are better dacs with better chips to come out soon, so maybe I'll be missing out on those..
as opposed to amps that are less predisposed to changes..
 
May 21, 2011 at 9:35 AM Post #23 of 63


Quote:
jackmccabe said:
You may want to listen to a high end dac before you buy one, because sadly in reality you are very unlikely to be able to differentiate a $300 dac and a $1500 in a blind test.
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This, definitely this.  I owned a Cary Audio Xciter and "downgraded" to a Cambridge DacMagic.  The highest price DAC I'd recommend would be a Benchmark or Lavry, because quite frankly they're proven.  Even then, only the USB versions since otherwise the DacMagic is nearly identical in performance to the BM's (DacMagic tends to hate noisy USB power quite a bit unless ran off a battery ala laptop).
 
May 21, 2011 at 9:51 AM Post #25 of 63


Quote:
dadab12 said:
I'm so confused :/
maybe I should be saving and just buy the WA22 with balanced cable for the HD800 and be done with it for now 
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Let's put it this way.  If jitter was properly measured and spec'd on the Saffire (they claim less than 250ps) that would probably be the way to go . . . though really, I wouldn't expect huge gains and differences depending on what you're currently using now to drive the HD800.
 
EDIT:
 
Re-read your first post and noticed you're using an auditor.  Does anyone know the output impedance of it for headphones?  If it's below 30 ohms or so it should be working well with the HD800s since you'd at least have a damping factor of 10 across the audio band.
 
May 21, 2011 at 9:57 AM Post #26 of 63
probably just different sound I guess. but I was told that the HD 800 improves greatly when used balanced
it is a recommended amp to drive the HD800.. it's very transparent, revealing and natural sounding.
It's connected with balanced interconnects from the saffire TRS outputs to the Auditor XLR inputs..
 
Edit: i'm using Izotope Ozone 4 with SPL Twintube to adjust the sound it's really working wonderfully with the HD800. those are really powerful mastering tools no doubt. the SPL Twintube harmonics really refines the sound
 
May 21, 2011 at 10:00 AM Post #27 of 63


Quote:
dadab12 said:
probably just different sound I guess. but I was told that the HD 800 improves greatly when used balanced
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Well, if you're wanting it balanced you're going to need a balanced amp.  I imagine your money will be better spent changing the amp than pushing for largely questionable returns on a new DAC myself.
 
May 21, 2011 at 10:03 AM Post #28 of 63
I think that I will be greatly appreciate different kind of amps for different sounds not particulary better. and the WA22 amp although is an expensive amp is really appealing to me. but I wouldn't want to spend that much right now for small improvements.
 
Quote:
shike said:
Well, if you're wanting it balanced you're going to need a balanced amp.  I imagine your money will be better spent changing the amp than pushing for largely questionable returns on a new DAC myself.
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May 21, 2011 at 2:46 PM Post #29 of 63
The wa22 can be shown to make an audible difference, where as a $1500 dac cannot be measured to show an audible difference when compared to say an emu 0404.
I probably wouldn't buy the wa22 because it is pretty expensive and probably won't make a gigantic difference; I suggest the Little Dot MK VIII SE.
I say you buy a new tube amp, leave head-fi and be happy.
 
May 21, 2011 at 4:44 PM Post #30 of 63
Hmm, yeah it's quite an expense, I think the Auditor is doing a good job so far and i'm content with it for the next couple months, but I have a weird hum/buzz noise at regular listening volumes, I have no idea what it is. and it's annoying :/
 
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