[darknix]

I have been hunting for a Budget DAC to complete my entry level rig.
Been wondering, if a branded stereo receiver has the same DAC function would I be disappointed if I get a stereo receiver instead of a DAC in the same price range?
Well, for the record, I'm looking in a real budget: <$200

DAC choice: Lite dac-ah
Stereo receivers choice: ONKYO, Yamaha and JVC, haven't been lookin' very deep yet.

 

[VicAjax]

might want to look into the Panasonic SA-XR55 or 57 as well. under $300 PCM/PWM digital switching amp, it gets a lot of good press.

i set my father-in-law up with an XR55 and a pair of Athena monitors, and was pretty blown away by the quality of sound from a $400 rig.

 

[darknix]

Somehow I got the impression that a Home theater doesn't has a good CD DAC, but with a better DVD decoder, is it true?

 

[soundboy]

I think you're confusing your terms.

If you are looking at stereo receivers, particularly those at under $200.00, then none of them has a DAC inside them. All of them are analog models. If you are looking at a home theater receiver, which can be used in 2 channel stereo mode, then that's a whole different set of models.

You may be able to get a good-sounding DAC inside one of those HT receivers. However, you are comparing 2 different things....a HT receiver has to provide speaker amplification for at least 5 speakers, the processing of DVD audio (Dolby Digital and dts), a radio tuner, etc. A DAC just process the signal. At the same price level, the DAC better be providing better sound quality than a HT receiver's DAC.

 

[darknix]

Oh, I was using the wrong terms.....
I learn something today.
I think I just got me an answer, Thank you very much~

 

[regal]

You would be surprised at the quality of the DAC in your typical HT reciever vs a standalone DAC. There are about 100,000x more HT recievers sold than stand alone DAC's, and there is an economy of scale. Especially if you buy used/refurbished. My H/K 7200 which cost me $600 straight from H/K blows away the Zhalou I sold as a DAC/headphone amp. Granted it originally sold for $2000, but it also serves as HT duties.

 

[kocsu]

I´m using a Denon AVR-2105 as DAC and preamp to feed an 41Hz AMP5, I think it uses AD1837 DAC chip (108dB dynamic range)
source is a laptop with foobar 0.8.3 25/96 ssrc high-precision, USB box Audigy 2 NX as audio interface, coaxial digital link to the Denon Receiver
speakers are Infinity Primus 360 (I´m not using headphones, sorry)
I´m very happy with results so far, actually I forgot about Home Theater
I´ve been trying to buy a Zhaolu D2 and/or DDDAC to improve my system, I´ll keep you posted when I got there
regards

 

[russdog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soundboy If you are looking at stereo receivers, particularly those at under $200.00, then none of them has a DAC inside them. All of them are analog models. If you are looking at a home theater receiver, which can be used in 2 channel stereo mode, then that's a whole different set of models.

One easy way to tell about a receiver is to see if it's got digital inputs (optical and coax). If it's got digital inputs, it's got some DACs inside.

Quote:

Originally Posted by darnix Been wondering, if a branded stereo receiver has the same DAC function would I be disappointed if I get a stereo receiver instead of a DAC in the same price range?

Good thinking, if you ask me. I don't know, but it guess it might depend on whether you can find a fairly good AV receiver used.