[czarofspades]

Hi guys, I have really spent some time trying to find the best dac for my laptop now and finaly decided to make a thread and hope for suggestions. So at the moment I have got the dragonfly (which I can still return) paired with Fiio11 and lately another amp which I had for ages iBasso D4+ i think is the name, and I am pretty happy with sound I am getting. Using Audio Technics 50x as well as Pre Sonus HD7 and might get a pair of Beyers 160. But I have noticed that I am not at all satisfied with the dragonfly sound as a separate device and the soundstage is too narrow, with everything sounding less natural and digitalized, it lacks a lot and is just powered to much, as if it was made for mass use an looks, similar to Beats in the DAC world. On the other hand the sound with everything connected together is impressive and really decent. 
I have been looking at other bigger dacs which fit the 300 dollars budget, and ended up somehow confused. The ODAC was one I would go for but Im not sure of the results I am going to get with international delivery wait and additional money, because some reviews suggest that it sound exactly like an iPhone 5s wich apparantly has a good dac and is decent, but I find even my current setup much better in all terms. Also there is the Audinst which I know less about but heard that its less clear. So could someone please help with this choice between these or suggest something else or say that its insanity and i should keep what i have ) 
Thank you !

 

[billybob_jcv]

If you like the sound of the Dac + Amp, why are you sometimes running with only the DAC? Why not just always run with the DAC + Amp?

 

[czarofspades]

If you like the sound of the Dac + Amp, why are you sometimes running with only the DAC? Why not just always run with the DAC + Amp?

Well I am not actually using it alone at any time, I was just checking for comparison reasons. I like the sound I have now but what if with an ODAC it would be even better with wider soundstage ? I can still connect the iBasso and Fiio to ODAC if needed I suupose and probably get better results, what do you reckon ?
 
Came across Meridian Explorer 2 which it seems came out several days ago, maybe someone has feedback on this one already ? However it supports some very own MQA format and seems it is actually not that usefull in my everyday mp3 experience

 

[czarofspades]

BUMP
guys really looking for your help on finding best natural sound or am I tripping and DACwise there is no particular difference ?

 

[czarofspades]

Maybe Audio-gd NFB-11.32 would be a better choice of a desktop dac/amp over dragonfly ?

 

[czarofspades]

Bump I suppose it it is the best option available at this price ?