[murphythecat]

really interesting, Metrum pavane, phasure nos1a, the Soekris http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/vendors-bazaar/259488-reference-dac-module-discrete-r-2r-sign-magnitude-24-bit-384-khz.html, Yggdrasil, ec designs mosaic t, are all very close to each other design wise.
 
that would be my choice of dac to try. MAybe try to contact each company to see if they can offer you home demo. EC designs offer home demo for their Mosaic T. would be amazing to have a shoot out between Metrum, Yggdrasil, phasure and Mosaic t.

 

[Thenewguy007]

Heard a lot of good things about the Audio Note DAC 5.

 

[listen4joy]

go to ear the EMM labs if you have money for it. i heard it my balls fell of.. hell if can also buy trinity dac for 59k or audio note 5
if can look on my little list...
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/725435/music-alchemists-ultimate-wish-list-thread-feel-free-to-add-your-own-items/30#post_11078578

 

[wink]

  I already have one Yggdrasil in my office listening rig, paired with a Ragnarok.  So far it is the best DAC I’ve had the pleasure of listening to, even compared to much more expensive gear – including my Linn Akurate DSM.  Having just bought a Woo WA5 LE for my main music room, I am needing another dedicated DAC to feed that, I find myself wondering what else I should seek to audition.  Originally I just figured on buying a 2^nd Yggdrasil, and absent finding something better that's still the plan … it’s a bloody marvelous device, but before I spend the money I thought it worth asking what else I should be considering.
 
Also, despite the Yggdrasil being as good as it is, it might be interesting to have something else as well “just because”.
 
On my current list to go spend some time with I have the MSB, TotalDAC, Chord and maybe PS Audio products, but not sure if there are other DACs I should be trying to spend time with.
 
It’s worth noting that I have no interest at all in Lampizator, Light Harmonics/dCS or the Merging stuff. Beyond that, I’m not terribly interested in products that couple $50 off-the-shelf DAC chips with $10,000 clocks, $5,000 PSUs or $2,000 network interfaces.
 
I’d prefer R2R (or some other discrete, unique/custom or FPGA-based implementation), though that’s not a hard requirement.  I have no need for DSD – nothing against it, but my music collection is all lossless PCM.
 
So ... are there brands/models that I’m missing or have I managed to isolate the options already?
 
Thanks in advance for your input!

Get the second YGGY.......  

 

[Torq]

Phasure NOS1a. Best NOS DAC for redbook PCM at many times its price IMO. Wipes the floor with MSB Analog which I sold.

 
I did a fair bit of reading on this, after your recommendation (thank you), yesterday.  As interesting as it looks, and as positive as everything I read is about it, it seems like a very fiddly arrangement if you want to get the best out of it.
 
There was a time, many years ago now, when my pursuit was simply the best sound quality I could achieve - and if it involved a lot of work and wasn't very convenient that was fine. Over time my desires have shifted and now I'd have to summarize my biases as "the best sound quality I can achieve, with gear that looks good and doesn't require a lot of fiddling around".  So, this thing probably won't work for my desired "plug it into an Aries and drive it via Roon" model.
 
I shall still keep it in mind, but it would be for a different rig than the one I need to source a DAC for at the moment.

 

[Torq]

  My understanding is that bit-perfect DAC playback (that avoids approximations inherent to oversampling) is only possible in two instances:
* Schiit's MB DACs with Mike M.'s closed-form upsampling algorithm
* NOS R2R
 
Since the brickwall filter is more a pain than of use, better avoid it altogether and go filterless. Of course FL will feature aliasing, but from what I see aliasing can be avoided in the audible band by using 96 kHz material. Lastly, only NOS R2R can perform native playback of PCM...
 
This is why I was going to suggest, as it was done above, looking into Metrum:
http://www.metrum-acoustics.com/Design%20Philosophy%20Metrum%20Acoustics.pdf
 
And since you're looking into non-off-the-shelf designs, this chapter by Jason S. will likely be of interest:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/701900/schiit-happened-the-story-of-the-worlds-most-improbable-start-up/7635#post_11904537
 
Another option definitely not off-the-shelf is the recently introduced (and elegantly named) Soekris dac1101:
http://soekris.com/products/audio-products/consumer-line-dac1101.html
 
It comes with the same price tag as Bifrost MB, but only accepts USB input which is a pity. Some people seem to prefer it over Schiit's Bifrost MB... At this price, it's not much of a gamble to take it out for a spin...

 
The Soekris DIY DAC boards actually look more interesting to me than their finished unit, since I could do something with them that didn't involve USB (and especially not for both power and data).  At the prices they are asking it would seem almost criminal not to give one a try - they're incredibly inexpensive for a fully-discrete R2R implementation!
 
I have Metrum on my audition list now, since that's come up a couple of times.
 
Thanks!

 

[landroni]

  I have Metrum on my audition list now, since that's come up a couple of times.
 

I'm curious: Which Metrum are you eyeing?

 

[Torq]

  I'm curious: Which Metrum are you eyeing?

 
The Pavane.

 

[pippen99]

I use the Auralic Vega with my Woo WA5.  Handles everything I have.  Dual femto clocks with a variety of filters to play with.  It also has variable output with a useful remote so I don't have to be within arms reach to adjust volume.

 

[landroni]

  I use the Auralic Vega with my Woo WA5.  Handles everything I have.  Dual femto clocks with a variety of filters to play with.  It also has variable output with a useful remote so I don't have to be within arms reach to adjust volume.

Mike Moffat and Jason Stoddard seem to have some strong opinions on single femto clocks, let alone dual...

 
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[Youth]

Audio-gd Master 7 perhaps

 

[landroni]

  Audio-gd Master 7 perhaps

I'd second that. There is a segment of head-fi'ers who feel Master 7 goes hand in hand with Yggy in terms of performance, or even does better as it sounds "more natural" whereas Schiit gear is "bright". For Purrin Master 7 comes in as best of the rest:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/693798/thoughts-on-a-bunch-of-dacs-and-why-delta-sigma-kinda-sucks-just-to-get-you-to-think-about-stuff

 
The other that definitely deserves mentioning is the Theta DSPro Gen V-Va, if you can find someone willing to part with theirs. Some find the Theta to still beat the Yggy in some areas:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/msb-analog/reviews/13668

 
For someone who appreciates the Yggy, a Theta Gen V would certainly be fitting...
 
For what it's worth, Master 7 uses PCM1704 and Theta Gen V uses PCM63. Mike M. has some strong opinions on which is the better of the two:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/701900/schiit-happened-the-story-of-the-worlds-most-improbable-start-up/3330#post_10976190
http://www.head-fi.org/t/693798/thoughts-on-a-bunch-of-dacs-and-why-delta-sigma-kinda-sucks-just-to-get-you-to-think-about-stuff/2400#post_11291298

 

[IceUul]

   
The other that definitely deserves mentioning is the Theta DSPro Gen V-Va, if you can find someone willing to part with theirs. Some find the Theta to still beat the Yggy in some areas:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/msb-analog/reviews/13668
 
For someone who appreciates the Yggy, a Theta Gen V would certainly be fitting...

Theta DAC's very hard to find on market at the moment. At most of them are in bad condition.
 
I already have Yggdrassil, i also wanted to get second DAC for myself, but something different. So i can recommend this:
Sonic Frontiers - tube output, R2R design, most analog type voice, very smooth sound, warm, euphonic,  natural presentation.
Best with same type Amp together, like WA5. Almost same good as Yggy, but not so clear and more dirty sounding.
 
Models i can suggest are:
Sonic Frontiers SFD-1 mk2 and Sonic Froniers SFD-2 <- last one has fully balanced design and more clear sounding.
 
Prices run same like Yggy, around 2000$ used!  

 

[Youth]

 
I'd second that. There is a segment of head-fi'ers who feel Master 7 goes hand in hand with Yggy in terms of performance, or even does better as it sounds "more natural" whereas Schiit gear is "bright". For Purrin Master 7 comes in as best of the rest:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/693798/thoughts-on-a-bunch-of-dacs-and-why-delta-sigma-kinda-sucks-just-to-get-you-to-think-about-stuff

 
The other that definitely deserves mentioning is the Theta DSPro Gen V-Va, if you can find someone willing to part with theirs. Some find the Theta to still beat the Yggy in some areas:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/msb-analog/reviews/13668

 
For someone who appreciates the Yggy, a Theta Gen V would certainly be fitting...
 
For what it's worth, Master 7 uses PCM1704 and Theta Gen V uses PCM63. Mike M. has some strong opinions on which is the better of the two:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/701900/schiit-happened-the-story-of-the-worlds-most-improbable-start-up/3330#post_10976190
http://www.head-fi.org/t/693798/thoughts-on-a-bunch-of-dacs-and-why-delta-sigma-kinda-sucks-just-to-get-you-to-think-about-stuff/2400#post_11291298

 
That's true. I forgot about the Theta's.

 

[Baldr]

  The other that definitely deserves mentioning is the Theta DSPro Gen V-Va, if you can find someone willing to part with theirs. Some find the Theta to still beat the Yggy in some areas:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/msb-analog/reviews/13668
 

 
The Theta Gen V-Va has only one advantage over an Yggy.  That is, the analog PCBs are teflon without solder mask.  Everything else on the Yggy is radically better - From the Power supply to the Digital implementation to vastly superior DAC chips to the analog circuit are all VASTLY better on the Yggy.  The teflon PCB is an impossibility for the Yggy, since teflon PCBs without solder masks are completely unsuited for surface mount assembly.