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Any DAC is good for Adam A5X

post #1 of 9
6/29/11 at 3:14am
Thread Starter 

Hi Guys,

 

Is there any good DAC which is good for Adam A5X? I love natural Sound, and which can work as a Pre Amp, my budget should be around 1.5K USD.

There are some people suggested me to get a W4S DAC-2, which is better then Benchmark DAC-1 & Lavy DA11, what do you guys think?

 

HP Amp is not a must for me, I have MF X-Can V3 + X-PSU V3 with DT990 already, the advantage for a DAC with HP Amp is saving places.

 

Thanks!!


Edited by wahjaja - 6/29/11 at 3:22am
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post #2 of 9
6/29/11 at 6:42am

Adam speakers are very neutral, clear and revealing, you might want to pair with with a Dac that is on the Lush side of neutral.

 

Something tubed, or with Wolfson chips perhaps. 

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post #3 of 9
6/29/11 at 11:50pm
Thread Starter 

Tube maybe not a good choice for me, there are too many fake tube in the market, seems that which is not easy to start with...

Wolfson chips? Can you pls help to suggest me some? Thanks!!

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post #4 of 9
7/1/11 at 4:00am

Seems a shame to own such a lovely pair of cleam and detailed, genuine studio quality monitors (albiet small and lower and of the range) and then spoil them by adding a DAC element which deliberately colours the sound permanently?

 

Studio monitors of that quality deserve a studio quality DAC and if you have that much cash available then it's a no brainer.

 

You want one of these. http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_overview_firewire.php I'd have the Fireface UC or even the UFX if I could afford it but I suspect you will be best off with the babyface. 

 

You have probably bought music recorded using RME (and ADAM monitors) so you are not going to improve on that.

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post #5 of 9
7/2/11 at 2:37am
Thread Starter 

At the very beginning, I would like to get a RME 9632, but the shop keeper told me that if I don't setup a computer(PC) for music seriously, an internal card will bring you lot of noise, and due to I need to hook up 3M cables to the A5X, so he suggested me to get Benchmark DAC1 / DA11 with Balanced output.

 

I know that studio equipment will match the monitor better, but the problem is not much shop can trial...

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post #6 of 9
7/4/11 at 9:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by wahjaja View Post

At the very beginning, I would like to get a RME 9632, but the shop keeper told me that if I don't setup a computer(PC) for music seriously, an internal card will bring you lot of noise, and due to I need to hook up 3M cables to the A5X, so he suggested me to get Benchmark DAC1 / DA11 with Balanced output.

 

I know that studio equipment will match the monitor better, but the problem is not much shop can trial...



Why not just go with someone who lives in your own area....Kingwa of Audio-gd.

 

He makes great Dacs which are neutral.

 

And use a Squeezebox Touch instead of a computer.

 

Actually out of the thousands of Dacs on the market there are a lot that would sound nice with the Adams.  I could probably suggest 20 different Dacs and someone could find something wrong with each and every one. 

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post #7 of 9
7/5/11 at 6:51pm
Thread Starter 

My wife had bad experience of China products, she was suffered from poisoned food and the fan burn up itself... so she wound't let me buy the products from China... and they are not selling in HK too.

 

We will watch videos and play games, so we have to use the A5X with the computer.

 

So which means that this price range DAC are normally good enough to work with A5X? 

 

Thanks.

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post #8 of 9
7/6/11 at 12:42am

Hmm, how about a Bel Canto 1.5e? Balanced and variable outputs, assuming your other sources are also digital, it could serve as a pre :)

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post #9 of 9
7/6/11 at 1:53pm

I'd say that the best match for A5X in terms of performance to value, if you need volume control, is NFB-10WM from Audio-GD. You want a good digital transport for it, don't hesitate to spend as much as $300 or more.

 

I'd not go for NFB-7 or 8, as the difference is not easy to hear even on S3X-V. NFB-1 has no volume control which you apparently need. Judging from how Lavry DA-10 sounds, you'd like to try the NFBs wink.gif Yes, too bad they're from China and not quite preamps..

 

 


Edited by axw - 7/6/11 at 2:02pm
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