[KyPeN]

It was a bit of an impulse buy, but it just arrived. $45 shipped new from a seller on Amazon. I'm going to this from just using my M-Audio Transit as my DAC. Were there changes? HUGE.

It just arrived about a half hour ago, but I've noticed a couple things. It puts out a significantly stronger signal than the Transit. I guess it wasn't a true line out? It is significantly brighter, but not to the point where I don't like it. I listen to lots of Metal.

I can certainly here more, I don't quite know how to describe it. The sound is more in-your-face, but I have to give it more burn-in time.

The packaging is quite nice, but smells.

You certainly will now have something to show off to your friends. "Hell yeah, thats a $45 DAC that I'm using to feed signal to my $500 setup." The build quality is quite good for the price. Solid outer metal casing. It is about half an inch wider than my Gilmore Lite, twice as tall, and about the same depth. There is no power switch, it just goes into a 'stand-by'-esque mode when it gets no signal. According to the manual, it uses no more power than a clock.


I'll provide more details later, but that is where I'm at. I'm quite pleased with it so far.

 

[clarke68]

I ran a 205.2 for a few years...it was my first DAC. Only reason I sold it was curiosity (I had too many DACs) and I needed the money, I certainly didn't have any serious complaints about the sound.

Definitely a "sleeper hit" of a unit...they never got as popular as they deserved, but that keeps the prices down on the used market. Still, $45 is an awesome deal...that a lot of killer sound for a little cash!

BTW, here's a review you might like, by digital mastering legend Bob Katz...

 

[qwerpoi]

I got this dac a few days ago for my brother's pc setup, even with a freebie toslink cable this thing sounds awesome, actually a bit better than his esi juli@ sound card (using a t-amp and athena bs-1 speakers). Give it a couple days to burn in, it can be a bit, well, crunchy in the beginning, but it warms up nicely. Also, if you don't know already, this thing retailed for $300 and was considered a bargain at that price point, so $50 is an absolute steal. Thanks head-fi for the various heads up on this deal (or should that be a "curse you"?

)

Quote:

Originally Posted by KyPeN The packaging is quite nice, but smells.

Strangely enough, my brother said the same thing

 

[cmirza]

I have my Number Cruncher paired with my Headfive and love it. The Number Cruncher leans on the bright side just a little, the Headfive leans to the warm side so it comes out pretty close to neutral but very impactful and detailed. I've finally reached the sweet spot in my setup, the only other change im considering is swapping HD580s for K601, since the HD580s are just too laid back for the Headfive.

I only have the optical input occupied, so I just use the coaxial/optical switch as an 'on/off' switch. Having a lit LED even when I'm not using it kind of bugs me.

Buy these DACs while there is still NOS available.

And yes, these things must have been sitting in a musky, old warehouse for a while because they do smell funny.