My Entech died, so I need a new standalone DAC for under $200

Jul 19, 2011 at 5:35 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 2

mwallace573

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Yep, my faithful Entech 203.2 decided to up and die a couple of weeks ago.  The signal lock light still comes on and everything looks OK on the inside but I get nothing but silence out of the poor thing.  I even ordered a OPA2107 to replace the LM4562 I rolled in a few years ago just in case that died and that didn't do anything.  The guy at the audio repair joint near here said the D/A converter might had gone out, and that hasn't been easy to source for a reasonable price, and I still don't know if that's what's wrong with it or not.  So...I'm officially lying the Entech to rest and I need a new dedicated DAC to run from the Toslink connection of my PC.
 
I've researched several popular DAC/AMP combos over the last few days, such as the Zero DAC and the Aune MUD MK2.  The Aune sounds pretty tempting, especially with that free shipping up here in Canada, but I have no real need for a new amp.  My PPA is handling that job quite nicely.  It also lacks a Toslink connection, which I would like to have for some of my hi-rez stuff.  Now if the Aune headamp is comparable to my PPA well that would be a different story.  What I'm asking for is a few good external DAC only choices for $200 max.  That's $200 to my door.  I'm making next to no money for the next year or so while I'm waiting for my residence paperwork to finally clear, so that budget is quite firm. 
 
On a side note, wow this place looks a lot different from when I was a regular a few years ago.  I've got a lot of catching up to do it seems.
 

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