[drandall]

so i finally have my first decent rig together...HD600's with a little dot mkIII but now i'm looking at the uDAC and wondering what the next step up should be. is there a dramatic upgrade to be had around the $300 mark or is it subtle at best?

thanks

 

[lampee]

I think the best dac you can buy for that money is the Gamma2 DAC from misterX. It costs 375$ and it sounds really great. Another possibility is Little Dot Dac I or II. I heard that those two sound great too. They cost around 300$.

 

[drandall]

i was interested in the little dot dac I, but i have zero knowledge about which DAC chips are desireable and what constitutes a good DAC design. at the present time, they're all just names to me...which makes things hard.

i'll investigate the gamma2 DAC. thanks for the suggestion.

 

[audiofil]

Why not enjoy what you already have and worry about it (much) later?

 

[the search never ends]

OP......seems like your hometown would be more than large enough to have meets in the area. Haven;t been there in years. I agree with the above post. Take time to enjoy what you have, plenty of time for obsession down the road, after your ears get all the gear pumped through them you can get near.

 

[drandall]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audiofil /img/forum/go_quote.gif Why not enjoy what you already have and worry about it (much) later?

i am enjoying it, very much...but the uDAC was bought as an experiment to see whether it could improve my computer's audio output. it most certainly did and now that i have a nice little dot mkIII amplifier, i'd like to get a DAC that will bring out the best in my existing investment and basically complete my system.

i'm not the sort of fellow who is endlessly changing and tweaking their system. i assemble what i like, and then use it for a very long time. given that, i wanted to ask the question and see whether there is a reasonably priced upgrade to the uDAC that will bring a substantial improvement in audio.

which brings me back to my original question. what would the next level of performance be, and how much does that level cost? thanks to all respondents.

 

[graben]

I'm an owner of the Nuforce icon. I am wondering the same thing. Will buying a $300 dollar dac be a significant improvement or not?

 

[TheWuss]

the next level of performance at the best price would be one of the chinese dacs.
the european and american made dacs are considered (around these parts anyway) to be way overpriced.

check out:

Audio-GD Dac19
Keces DA151 MKII
Keces DA131 MKII
MHDT Audio Paradisea Dac
Musiland MD Dac

and exploring those will probably expand the list even further...

 

[drandall]

will check these out.

many thanks!

 

[Shizdan]

I have the Little Dot Dac_II and the Nuforce Udac. The Dac_II is a huge upgrade.

 

[drandall]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shizdan /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have the Little Dot Dac_II and the Nuforce Udac. The Dac_II is a huge upgrade.

since you have both, could you elaborate a bit more about the sonic gains of the LD DAC. how have bass/mids/treble changed. how about clarity? soundstage?

i'd welcome any insights you had.

many thanks,


d

 

[Mullet]

I was using my iPhone as a transport/DAC and it was actually quite good. I was considering the uDAC and then put out a similar post looking for a sub $400 DAC. I got one response and it was a recommendation for the Gamma 2. I did some research and found that the y2 was the most bang for the buck. Some would say it's a mid level DAC. I'm not sure what it compares to, I've been looking for answers to that too. Anyways, I've been extremely happy with my purchase. Contact MisterX and see if he'll build you one. You can also source out the parts and build one yourself if you're not afraid to solder. The total cost in parts is around $250 I believe. $375 should be the going price for a completely built full y2.

The sound is great. It's very liquid and neutral. I'm getting more separation between instruments and it has a slight holographic feel. This is with my MacBook Pro > y2 > LaFigaro 332c > HD650s.

Hope that helps...

 

[drandall]

it does indeed....many thanks for the information.



Quote:

Originally Posted by Mullet /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was using my iPhone as a transport/DAC and it was actually quite good. I was considering the uDAC and then put out a similar post looking for a sub $400 DAC. I got one response and it was a recommendation for the Gamma 2. I did some research and found that the y2 was the most bang for the buck. Some would say it's a mid level DAC. I'm not sure what it compares to, I've been looking for answers to that too. Anyways, I've been extremely happy with my purchase. Contact MisterX and see if he'll build you one. You can also source out the parts and build one yourself if you're not afraid to solder. The total cost in parts is around $250 I believe. $375 should be the going price for a completely built full y2. The sound is great. It's very liquid and neutral. I'm getting more separation between instruments and it has a slight holographic feel. This is with my MacBook Pro > y2 > LaFigaro 332c > HD650s. Hope that helps...

 

[pdferguson]

If you're happy with the uDAC, you might check out the just released HDP from NuForce. There is a long thread in this forum about it; I bought one of the first units and have been very pleased with it.

 

[tim3320070]

I have the iBasso D10 which is in the ballpark of the uDac in terms of SQ. I also have the Audio-gd Ref-1 DAC and Roc amp. The leap in SQ from the D10 to the Ref-1/Roc combo (about $2500) is maybe not as huge as you might expect but definitely there. So, as a perspective, if you are really looking to upgrade, I think a $300 DAC upgrade from the $100 uDac would be subtle and possibly disappointing. DAC's like the DAC19 (or similar level) are what I would consider the minimum upgrade to be able to really hear what that money can give you. BTW, I use a HD580 with the system mentioned above to great success.