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Need a good first time dac in the $100 price range.

post #1 of 13
7/19/11 at 9:10pm
Thread Starter 

Well title says it all. I have been looking everywhere and I just cant seem to find a good sub $300 DAC. Creative has the X-fi and Nuforce has there's but the uDAC is USB in only and the creative X-fi is a pain to set to set up. Anyone have any other suggestions? I was looking into a Zero DAC but shipping pushed it out of my price range.

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post #2 of 13
7/19/11 at 9:44pm

Have you looked at the V-dac from musical fidelity?

Has a pretty solid reputation.

 

The new Schiit Bifrost could be interesting too. $249. You'd have to wait till august though.

 

Muse audio has a cheap option.

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/512389/mini-dac-tda1543-x-4-nos

 


Edited by Stitch - 7/19/11 at 9:48pm
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post #3 of 13
7/19/11 at 9:48pm
Thread Starter 

yea...the V-DAC is about $200 out of my price range. I was thinking along the lines of 50-150.

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post #4 of 13
7/19/11 at 10:15pm
Thread Starter 

Been looking on head-fi for feed back about the Fubar DAC's anyone know about those?

 

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post #5 of 13
7/19/11 at 10:27pm

You could always stretch your budget to maybe 110 and get a HRT music streamer II used.

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post #6 of 13
7/19/11 at 10:38pm
Thread Starter 

yea I was thinking about that. I really would like an Optical in so I could use if for my console games, but beggars cane be choosers some times.

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post #7 of 13
7/20/11 at 12:42am

Ok, you confused me a bit. Thread title is $100 range and the op said sub $300.

But still, for 60 bucks the Muse quad TDA1543 may be worth it and get a cheap psu to keep it from frying.

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post #8 of 13
7/20/11 at 1:11am
Thread Starter 

yea the muse is a good option but there isn't much info about it. the V DAC is in the 300-400 range is what I said.

 

OH YEA, Maybe I will save up for the bifrost....but it's also an extra 100$ for USB out, aslong as it has Spdif it should be fine, not much info on the site about it.

 


Edited by WhiteCrow - 7/20/11 at 1:13am
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post #9 of 13
7/20/11 at 1:24am
Thread Starter 

Okay no Frost DAC, they start at $349. The MUSE dac would be great, but it seems like no one has them so I don't really trust the lack of reviews or information on them.

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post #10 of 13
7/20/11 at 2:18am

There's also the AMB gamma1. It has USB and optical as well. Either DIY it or commission MisterX to build it.

http://www.amb.org/audio/gamma1/

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/390701/1-gamma-1-dac-thread

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post #11 of 13
7/20/11 at 2:57am

Look at the Mini dac TDA1543x4 thread. Link is my first post. Several impressions are scattered throughout the thread, together with upgrade/mod possibilties and one or two alternatives.

 

I've seen the V-dac on several places for 300 bucks. Also there where a few in the for sale section.


Edited by Stitch - 7/20/11 at 3:01am
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post #12 of 13
7/20/11 at 11:46pm
Thread Starter 

yea i saw those, I may look into the muse DAC again, or that DIY one, but I'm not so good with electronic or reading the specs for them or the circutry "maps".

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post #13 of 13
7/21/11 at 11:37am

What about an Audio-gd Sparrow?:

 

http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/Sparrow/SparrowEN.htm

 

The basic version only costs $140 (excluding shipping) & it also has a HP amp.

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