[KingStyles]

It uses the 1704K chips which they managed to figure out how to make them do 24/192. There are a few good reviews out there(not on this site) if you google it that would probably do it more justice than me doing one.

 

[SoupRKnowva]

Quote:

It uses the 1704K chips which they managed to figure out how to make them do 24/192. There are a few good reviews out there(not on this site) if you google it that would probably do it more justice than me doing one.

that 1704 chips can do up to 24/768....its just a receiver chip thing that holds it back in other implementations. Yeah i was looking for a review, but i couldnt find any of the new model, just the old one, and it was 6 moons at that...i need to get back to a national meet next year it seems, i really want to hear the anedio as well. And while it would be a pipe dream i would love to hear a Phasure NOS 1 as well...
 
 
thanks for the info though KingStyles

 

[KingStyles]

There isnt much difference between the new one and the old. The new one the usb can handle 24/96, but the rest of the inputs are all the same. You can buy the updated input board if you need the 24/96. The only other thing they did was change a little bit in the power supply which would be a bigger factor if you are using it as a preamp with some speakers. Otherwise the dac board, tubes, caps etc are all the same.

 

[livewire]

HRT MSII DAC.
I can't believe how good this silly little $100 box sounds.
Never heard the $2K+ DACs.
Have tried a fistful of "cheap" $200 - $500 DACs and a $1500 Neko.
They all had their obvious flaws. I guess so far ignorance is bliss.
Cant afford the top flight stuff...

 

[DaveBSC]

Quote:

that 1704 chips can do up to 24/768....its just a receiver chip thing that holds it back in other implementations. Yeah i was looking for a review, but i couldnt find any of the new model, just the old one, and it was 6 moons at that...i need to get back to a national meet next year it seems, i really want to hear the anedio as well. And while it would be a pipe dream i would love to hear a Phasure NOS 1 as well...

As I understand it, the reason why most 1704 implementations don't support 192kHz isn't the receiver but oversampling. If you support 192, there's not enough headroom left. 96kHz with 8X oversampling is 768, there's nowhere left to go.

 

[Radio_head]

Quote:

that 1704 chips can do up to 24/768....its just a receiver chip thing that holds it back in other implementations. Yeah i was looking for a review, but i couldnt find any of the new model, just the old one, and it was 6 moons at that...i need to get back to a national meet next year it seems, i really want to hear the anedio as well. And while it would be a pipe dream i would love to hear a Phasure NOS 1 as well...
 
 
thanks for the info though KingStyles

I have an NOS1 on order but am not aware of any other Head-Fiers who have one (only recently available w/ async USB for Mac.)  It's a pretty good time to order right now as the euro has dropped pretty low in the last couple months.
 
 

 

[SoupRKnowva]

Quote:

Quote:
I have an NOS1 on order but am not aware of any other Head-Fiers who have one (only recently available w/ async USB for Mac.)  It's a pretty good time to order right now as the euro has dropped pretty low in the last couple months.
 
 

Thats awesome! you guys really need to bug peter to see if you can get him to write a ARC prediction Oversampling filter to use with audirvana, so you wont be missing out on anything they get on the windows version....
 
And yeah, ive tried a couple time to get conversation going about it, but its failed everytime, it looks like an extremely interesting dac for sure, and i would love to hear it
 

 

[Radio_head]

He actually said Audirvana is better than all the alternatives he's tried on Mac and when he gets enough users pushing for it he'll do it.  Frankly I think some of the hype he's been getting on computeraudiophile and elsewhere is going to make him pretty busy with the hardware side of things for the near future.

 

[fangsi2009]

MSB Platinum

 

[hma101]

HRT MSII +

 

[Audioexcels]

Best DAC I have heard is ANY input board with a beautifully done output stage.  I don't think much can go wrong on the input portion of the DAC, but it's how the designer is able to properly implement the analog/out stage that is most important and is 80-90% of what we hear IMHO.  I personally prefer a dac input board driven directly by a preamplifier/line driver+analog section.  This keeps things very short path wise and the only thing I could ask for is a nice I2S implementation of an exceptional or even good enough (i.e. Modded Hiface/AP2/Off-Ramp) so I could carry one USB cable to the PC while having everything with short leads inside one box.
 
Oh...and my favorite is an Oritek Audio OMZ Pre/Dac and excellent headphone amp to boot!
 
 

 

[PhoebeFairchild]

It is no longer available for sale, but I still love my Resolution Audio Opus 21 CD Player and Power Centre with the Extra Sources box and the S30 power amplifier. It has a wonderful analog sound that makes listening to CDs and high resolution loss less audio files such a pleasure. It tends to err on the side of warmth and smoothness while retaining a "wet" sound that is purely addictive. The newer Resolution Audio Cantata Music Center is also a step up in terms of sound quality. I have heard both and I prefer the newer Cantata Music Center with the C50 amplifier.

 

[adamlau]

MSB  Diamond Platinum IV + FemtoSecond Galaxy Clock. Soundstage and instrument separation were its hallmarks. But then again, I knew the price the owner paid for the system. A severe case of psycho acoustics was certainly at play during the audition. Regardless, the Diamond Platinum IV + FemtoSecond Galaxy Clock has been the best and most expensive DAC I have heard in person. Just attend any one of the regional audiophile shows and they should have some top performers on hand, including the elusive dCS Scarlatti.

 

[Currawong]

The best commercial DAC I've heard was the Esoteric K-01. It was rather scary how much further it reached into recordings than what I own. At the moment, my favourite DAC is the Metrum Acoustics Octave. Up-sampled via an Audiophilleo 1 using a proper USB power supply it has managed to both sound "organic" like a vintage DAC as well as detailed. 
 
The very best DAC I've heard was hand-built, however. I've posted about it elsewhere but the story is worth re-telling. I was at the Tokyo Fujiya Avic headphone show, plugging my headphones into various rigs and dropping my iPhone or a CD into whatever was provided (usually a Marantz SACD player). One rig had a very expensive amp ($3-4k) sitting on top of a crusty and battered old CEC CD player. Knowing what I did about the company and their designs, I suspected the DAC was behind the table. Now normally I flick through a handful of tracks with which I'm intimately familiar and note the usual good and bad, but I found myself continuing to listen through one of my favourite, 8-minute tracks not wanting to stop. That has never happened to before. I immediately asked what DAC was being used. The answer was a hand-built ladder DAC (ie: like the Total DAC).

 

[pabbi1]

I was not a DAC believer, per se, until I heard the PS Audio Perfect Wave... and how it destroyed my Ayon CD1 (the original). Now my question is how much better is the PWD than a Buffalo III? Guess I could spend $6k on a source (love me some Ayon), but then couldn't buy the SR-009.
 
And, x2 on the pre-1986 date codes on 6h30. I have some 1982 in my CD-1, and sourced a pair of 1979 date codes, but @ $400 a pop. Not there just yet.