[fabio-fi]

Burson Conductor Dac section is pretty good, transparent and detailed. I like it over the benchmark DAC1 in some aspects (musicality) i dont know how it stands against the DAC2 yet 

 

[preproman]

Speaking of High End products:
 
AMP:
The GS-1 / GS-X / GS-X mk2 / DIY Dynahi = The ultimate in "Transparency"  IMO
 
DAC:
The PWD2 is a good one.  I'm now looking very hard at the Master 7 by Audio-gd.  I have not heard it yet.  However, It's said to be a very revealing dac to the point of if will put a spot light on bad recordings. 
 
USB:
The USB implementation is very important if USB is what your using.  
 
This is just IMO:  The ODAC use old technology.  USB audio has come a long way sense the release of the ODAC. ie..  (XMOS / USB32).

 

[MrViolin]

mistake

 

[plakat]

Based upon what I read about them, the Violectric V800 DAC and V200 amp might fit your bill as well. Done by a studio-oriented outfit called Lake People with the premise of 'No sound', i.e. aiming for transparency in the sense of avoiding coloration (their G109 amp might also be worth a look).

 

[Monir]

Quote:

Based upon what I read about them, the Violectric V800 DAC and V200 amp might fit your bill as well. Done by a studio-oriented outfit called Lake People with the premise of 'No sound', i.e. aiming for transparency in the sense of avoiding coloration (their G109 amp might also be worth a look).

I dunno about V800, but V200 isn't exactly that neutral. Sure there's plenty of detail and good instrument separation but it tends to move toward the warmer more analogue sound - so in a way I would say there is a certain amount of coloration to the sound through the V200.
 
Maybe the Grace M902 is a good alternative to for example a DAC1?

 

[Poladise]

The V200 I demoed was far from neutral. Big bass lacking texture, hard sound and rolled highs.
 

 

[RustA]

Still prefer DAC2 HGC - available measurements are stunning!
 
But for 2000USD, I would rather save a bit more in order to get Smyth Realiser.

 

[Meremoth]

I'm looking for a list of neutral and transparent amps and DAC's.  Is there one around anywhere?  
 
From reading this thread, it looks like some neutral/transparent amps are:

1. O2
2. GS-X

 
Neutral/transparent DAC's:

1. ODAC
2. Concero
3. Probably Concero HD
4. Benchmark DAC1 and DAC2
5. Yulong D100
6. Centrance DACmini
7. PWD2
8. Master 7
9. Grace M902

 
Neutral/transparant all-in-ones:

1. Fostex HP-A8
2. Probably Concero HP

 
Is the Soloist and Conductor consider neutral and transparent?  
 
Anyway, this list was made quickly based off just a hand-full of posts.  What should be added/removed?  
 
Thanks for any help.

 

[GaryPham]

From a more affordable perspective, the Audio GD 11.32 and Compass 2 are probably unbeatable in their price range. Both feature Sabre ESS9018 DAC chips with usb32 implementation, very powerful amp sections as well too.

 

[formula1]

Quote:

 
Is the Soloist and Conductor consider neutral and transparent?  
 
Anyway, this list was made quickly based off just a hand-full of posts.  What should be added/removed?  
 
Thanks for any help.

 
The overall presentation is very neutral. 

 

[Currawong]

You could add the Anedio D2 to the list, however none of the serious DACs are other than neutral. More so that they have subtle differences in presentation due to differences in their design and choice of parts.