It is official - my laptop and Grado 325is are now my main squeeze for musical interludes at home and as of this week, the Centrance DACPort is the mortar that holds them together.
Much as I love my RSA Predator, I wanted a USB powered Amp/DAC which wouldn't need charging or an additional power source, so I could hook it up semi-permanently to my Macbook Pro and return the Predator to my mobile iMod rig where it really belongs.
Although I have my sights set on eventually getting a nice desktop tube amp, at the moment I am living light and will be emigrating before too long, so I can't afford to weigh myself down too much!
With this in mind and after much online research I had narrowed my choices down to the DACPort and the Nuforce Icon HDP.
After further discussion with members of Head-Fi and Michael from DACPort and comforted by Centrance's 30 day money back satisfaction-guarantee, I pulled the trigger and placed my order.
Nearly a week later I am one happy camper.
The DACPort does exactly what it says on the tin - it is a portable, high-quality "audiophile" (for whatever that is worth these days...) DAC and class-A headphone amp and it serves my needs perfectly.
Using Fidelia-powered Apple Lossless rips running off a 2010 Macbook Pro to my aforementioned 325is, I have been very impressed with the sound quality thus far.
Although I have yet to A/B, I believe that compared to my RSA Predator, sound-stage, separation and bass-punch are all noticably improved. The DACPort also seems to have tamed my Grados slightly and the occasional harsh sibilence I noticed on some recordings (Joanna Newsom anyone?) has been deftly rounded off.
The unit has bags of power for for the low-impedance Grados - for most my recordings, 10'Oclock on the volume dial is plenty loud enough thank-you.
Build quality is solid - the cigar-like DACPort has a sturdy brushed-metal casing and a pleasing mimimalist approach to its design.
Other reviews and comments I have read have expressed concern/surprise over how hot their DACPort got during usage, but this is not something that I am having an issue with. Certainly it gets slightly warmer than the surface of the table it is sitting on, but really not so much as to worry about it! Michael from Centrance assures me there should be no problem leaving the DACPort plugged in and powered 24-7 and thus far I have been happy to do so!
Negatives?
Well as mentioned in the summary, there are alternative devices out there with a wider feature set. S/PDIF and Line-out would have been nice to have, but I would not want to compromise on the form-factor or audio-performance of the DACPort to achieve this, so I am not too disappointed on this front!
I suppose there are also cheaper alternatives around - though I think as far as the DACPort SQ goes, you get what you pay for.
Overall I would thoroughly recommend the DACPort to anyone in the market for this kind of device. It sounds great, it looks great and the pre-sales support I recieved from Centrance was above my expectations.
