HEAD3AD
New Head-Fier
Hello,
Disclaimer: I know this is a subjective topic, and I also know some believe that DACs don't change sound characteristics. I also acknowledge that there is little evidence to support that dacs at its core sound sound diffrent from one other, as at its core its just converting 1's and 0's. Not here to argue just need some advise!
At first, I owned the Ifi Zen Dac V2 and Zen Can. Then I upgraded to Neo IDsd 2 and loved it, but eventually returned it due to the unit having some issues. After that, I tried various DAC/amp combos(questyle cam15,cma 18, topping 90 stack, fiio k7,k9) and a few Daps(cayin n3 ultra, n8ii, LGPT) but ultimately came back disappointed. All of them lacked the smoothness in vocals; My ears are pretty sensitive in that region. Almost everything other than ifi products sounds shouty to me; I would even say some brought on a piercing sensation. Some of them solved the vocal issues but felt too warm. Some lacked soundstage width and or separation of instruments. So ultimately, my question is this: what other options are there under 3.5K USD that sound similar to the ifi house sound? I know the pro idsd signature exsists but want to explore other options before i pull the trigger.
Disclaimer: I know this is a subjective topic, and I also know some believe that DACs don't change sound characteristics. I also acknowledge that there is little evidence to support that dacs at its core sound sound diffrent from one other, as at its core its just converting 1's and 0's. Not here to argue just need some advise!
At first, I owned the Ifi Zen Dac V2 and Zen Can. Then I upgraded to Neo IDsd 2 and loved it, but eventually returned it due to the unit having some issues. After that, I tried various DAC/amp combos(questyle cam15,cma 18, topping 90 stack, fiio k7,k9) and a few Daps(cayin n3 ultra, n8ii, LGPT) but ultimately came back disappointed. All of them lacked the smoothness in vocals; My ears are pretty sensitive in that region. Almost everything other than ifi products sounds shouty to me; I would even say some brought on a piercing sensation. Some of them solved the vocal issues but felt too warm. Some lacked soundstage width and or separation of instruments. So ultimately, my question is this: what other options are there under 3.5K USD that sound similar to the ifi house sound? I know the pro idsd signature exsists but want to explore other options before i pull the trigger.
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