[Mr.Shadow]

Hey dear Headfiers,

I was thinking about a nice dac to pair with my SqueezeBox3 lately, though he is good and I am satesfied with it, as any Audiophiles I allways want more.

I have seen a lot of Bel Canto Dac2 on AudioGon recently, at good prices, 650-700$ before shipping (which should be much of a problem dou to its small size and whight).
I have also seen Musical Fidelity A3.24 for around the same prices on "Gon".

My question is (addressed to the Bel Canto Mainly), for its price, should I consider something else ?
I know it is regarded as a very good DAC around here, what are its main qualities ? will it suite any listening purpose/music/system ?

I basicly dont need all the "Mumbo Jumbo" that comes along with most of the DACs on the market, such as: Headphone Amp, Balanced I/O, digital dispaly and lots of inputs and outputs, Etc...
I really am looking for a simple and minimal dac that will give the best sound for a given price, and it seems hard since most of the DACs are far from Minimal and/or Simple.

Thanks.

P.S: Signature below, please take it in mind when posting comments

 

[Bones13]

Kinda where you are Mr. S. I have the spitfire, but it does not match up to the nice DAC in my Headroom unit, and feel I can find something better to run in my Raptor system. I too am not looking for a headphone out, and the balanced out of the new favorites will be an inconvenience.

Currently considering

Apogee MicroDAC with USB. (there is an apogee specific ASIO, and can run line out from the eigth inch jack to RCAs for the Raptor) with a digital from my DVD player, and the computer being hooked up either via USB or optical, this unit would allow source selection as well.

Lavry Black - this being the current favorite of the month here. Balanced only out, and a headphone out.

Benchmark - has both balanced, and unbalanced out. Described as "cold" and "analytical" might be a good balance for my warm system.

Channel Island VDA-2 with powersupply. This combined unit is a couple hundred less than the others. RCA out x 2, and can be utilized for balanced out with an adaptor. This unit also would allows switching between optical and coax inputs with a switch on the front. This unit still has not been reviewed officially here, just a few comments from pleased owners.

Wavelength Tech USB DAC Brick. "audiophile" USB only unit, runs with a 12AU7 tube. Only USB in, and RCA out, plus the power in. Very simple. Pretty expensive - $ 1800. Out several years now.

Stello DA100. Nice unit, a bit too deep a box to fit on my 11 inch deep shelf by the time you plug all the wires in the back.

The dAck! 2.0 with the upgrades is popular too, I don't have patience for the battery thing.


Have yet to find the actual size measurements of the Apogee MicroDAC (chime anyone that owns this unit please) but its currently my front runner. The Bel Canto 2 unit is several years old in design as well, and the new Bel Canto 3 is coming out. The Bel Canto 3 looks very large, and is $ 3K ish I understand.

I know I have not answered your question, but more arranged my thoughts about the same manner. If you have the opportunity, listen to one of the Bel Cantos, and see if it matches your need. Where I live on the Gulf Coast of Alabama, I don't get to hear much, even true audiophile stores are hard to find (well we have one, but mostly you have to order stuff there, and they have no headphone gear.)

 

[EdipisReks]

what kind of upper budget limit are you looking at?

 

[stryker]

You need to give the Channel Islands VDA-2 a serious look. When the reviews come out on this one, everyone will see what an incredible sound it can generate for $600. It would easily go for double or more if Dusty didn't sell direct and had to go through a distributor and then a seller. You'll need the VAC-1 PS for another $150 to get it to really sing, but it's still in your budget.

 

[JahJahBinks]

u know bel canto is $1500 right? Getting them for 650 should be a great deal.

 

[Mr.Shadow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bones13 I know I have not answered your question, but more arranged my thoughts about the same manner. If you have the opportunity, listen to one of the Bel Cantos, and see if it matches your need. Where I live on the Gulf Coast of Alabama, I don't get to hear much, even true audiophile stores are hard to find (well we have one, but mostly you have to order stuff there, and they have no headphone gear.)

I live in Israel, most of my purchases are Blind and based on reviews, Opinions, budget, etc...
Its hard and I hate it, but in most cases, I dont have much of a choice.
So your condition is somewhat better than mine. Bones13

I think you summed the Dacs that are common here at Head-fi (for that budget) pretty nice, for some reason I have seen a lot more dacs on the market, which were not mentioned here at all, and it makes me wonder

Quote:

Originally Posted by EdipisReks what kind of upper budget limit are you looking at?

I think around the 700$ not including shipment.


Quote:

Originally Posted by JahJahBinks u know bel canto is $1500 right? Getting them for 650 should be a great deal.

Its actually less than 1500$, from what I have seen, it is been selled at around 1300$ or even less. It is indeed a good price, but as you probably understand allready, most of my purchases are made after a deep and thorough learning and reading, so I cant just jump on deals.
I am an Audiophile at the wrong country

Someone Care to explaing some more about the CIAUDIO VDA-2 DAC ?
It looks nice and I like the idea that he is not Upsampling the source, and dosent have all the "Mumbo Jumbo", plus for additinal 150$ you can add a nice Power Suplly.

 

[ezkcdude]

I think the Bel Canto is is a good buy for $650. Yes, it is a few years old, but the chips used by it have not changed (i.e. AD1896). There are many DIY DACs built around the same design. Just go to the DIY forum, and see for yourself. Now, if the price is higher than $650, you probably should start looking at the Lavry.

 

[JJ15k]

If you are looking for the best bang for the buck, you could try a zhaolu

.
Granted it s not a 700$ dac, but it seems to be an incredible value

 

[TigzStudio]

Zhalou! (with some diy skills, and some opamp rolling you will have an insane source)

 

[Mr.Shadow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ezkcdude I think the Bel Canto is is a good buy for $650. Yes, it is a few years old, but the chips used by it have not changed (i.e. AD1896). There are many DIY DACs built around the same design. Just go to the DIY forum, and see for yourself. Now, if the price is higher than $650, you probably should start looking at the Lavry.

Did anyone made a comparison between thise two: Bel Canto Dac2 Vs. Lavry Black DA10 ?

The Zhalou is still a bit new for me to order, I am waiting for more respected reviews for me to seriously consider it.

 

[surfboardz26]

good call shadow

 

[Mr.Shadow]

I was Thinking...
Any Info/Comments/Opinions on the ack! Dack 2.0 (with Hi-Res) ? for a second hand price which is around 600$ ?

Thanks.

Earth to Earl (Sacd lover), can you hear me ?

 

[stryker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Shadow Someone Care to explaing some more about the CIAUDIO VDA-2 DAC ? It looks nice and I like the idea that he is not Upsampling the source, and dosent have all the "Mumbo Jumbo", plus for additinal 150$ you can add a nice Power Suplly.

The one thing I liked about the VDA-2 is no opamps in the output. Just 1 transistor in the signal path. When the signal comes basically straight off the DAC chip like that, there's nothing to color or smear the sound. I felt it gave a really pure and and detailed yet very smooth sound. What comes off of a DAC chip needs to be converted or boosted from current level to voltage level. Some methods use op amps, some use tubes, and some use a discrete output stage. I felt the sound was extremely pleasant in this dac.

There's not much out there on it, but you can check out some opinions on Audiocircle or try Google. There's nothing Dusty makes that isn't extremely good for the money 'cause he makes some good stuff.

 

[ezkcdude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Shadow I was thinking about a nice dac to pair with my SqueezeBox3 lately, though he is good and I am satesfied with it, as any Audiophiles I allways want more.

You may want to wait for the Sterophile review John Atkinson will be doing of the SqueezeBox. There are quite a few people who swear by the analog outputs of the SB3 even compared to some of these more expensive DAC. Your money may be better spent in a better amp or speakers/cans. Just a thought.

As for comparing the Bel Canto vs. Lavry DA10, I don't know of any formal comparisons. The DA10 is very new. Obviously, the Bel Canto had a lot of great reviews when it came out, but I guess everyone moved on. It seems to me that audiophiles just want the latest and greatest, but with more emphasis on the latest. Like I said in my earlier post, the Bel Canto has everything you could want in a DAC made from off-the-shelf chips. I think significantly more needs to be spent to improve upon it. The Channel Islands DAC (VDA 2) has a better D/A chip (PCM1794 vs. PCM1738) than the BC2, but the BC2 does upsampling with the AD1896 chip, which reduces jitter. Funny enough, there is a long and detailed thread about building a USB DAC over in the DIY forum here, and they appear to have settled on using AD1896/PCM1798, so that is sort of like a hybrid between the Bel Canto and CI DAC's. Well, this probably hasn't helped you make a decision, but maybe it has convinced you that it isn't going to be such an easy decision

 

[TigzStudio]

you mean has to get stamp of approval from 6m00ns or something? Or just in head0fi?