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£300 / $500 DAC suggestions?

post #1 of 8
8/20/11 at 1:53pm
Thread Starter 
Afterpurchasing a pair of Pro900s recently I've finally found the sound signature for me. Brilliant detail and tons of bass (perhaps too much bass sometimes). Time to sell my HD600s I think and the next logical step is to upgrade my source. I'm currently using a Focusrite Saffire 6 which I originally bought for digital dj'ing and to use as an interface for music production. I'll still be keeping it for those purposes but I'm now looking for a DAC which will pair well with my LD MKV & Ultrasones with the long term plan to buy some HE-500s so I'd like it to be up to the job for those as well if possible. The DAC must be USB, natural sounding and preferably around the £300 mark. I'd imagine I should get a good upgrade in quality for that price?
Any advice is greatly appreciated as always :-)
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post #2 of 8
8/22/11 at 2:25pm

HRT music streamer 2+ or DACport LX. There are others, but those come to mind.

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post #3 of 8
8/22/11 at 2:32pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks i'll have a look into them over the next few days. I was thinking about maybe pre-ordering a Bitfrost on payday then getting an Ayr with a view to eventually getting HE-500s. Still lots more research to go though!

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post #4 of 8
8/22/11 at 2:57pm

DacMagic is good.

 

The Yulong D100 costs about $500, and combines a design very similar to the Benchmark DAC1 with Chinese cheap labor wink.gif

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post #5 of 8
8/22/11 at 4:19pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Head Injury View Post

DacMagic is good.

 

The Yulong D100 costs about $500, and combines a design very similar to the Benchmark DAC1 with Chinese cheap labor wink.gif



Thanks mate! :-D Looks like the D100 could be right up my street. I'd imagine i should be getting a significant improvement over what i already have if i went with that, plus the USB interface is meant to be solid after reading some reviews. One of my main concerns about buying a new DAC is that a lot of people seem to beleive you have to spendd around 1k to get a noticable upgrade from the level im at now :-|

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post #6 of 8
8/25/11 at 6:54pm

I also have pro 900 and am looking for a dac at that price point, but i think i've made my mind and gonna buy the Apogee Duet mk1 since i want something for guitar and stuff. How much better would be a dedicated dac instead of an audio interface of this kind? I'm as well considering to retire my old kenwood amp, and wonder if the Duet's HP amp is sufficient to drive the ultrasones.

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post #7 of 8
8/26/11 at 5:42am
Thread Starter 

I currently use a Focusrite Saffire 6 interface which is really good for £150 since it also include 2 line in options for recording and a headphone amp as well. I'd imagine a dedicated DAC at around double the price point should be a significant improvement? I'd at least hope so anyways!

I think i'm going to pre-order a Schiit Bifrost. I know there hasn't been any reviews or anything since it hasn't been released yet but it's a brilliant looking piece of kit.

in my experience, the Pro900s don't benefit too much from a good amp. Of course they sound better from my LD MK V than they do straight from my Saffire 6, but i'm not sure if the price is worth it for the increase. I bought my MK V for my HD600s.

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post #8 of 8
8/26/11 at 6:41am

Apogee Duet(2) is wonderful with the Pro 900s.

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