[DrNope]

Was just looking at used equipment and saw someone selling a MF A3.24 DAC at $300. Are those still worth having for that kind of money or are there much better DACs out there today at the same price? It would fit snuggly in my system though Since I'm using Musical fidelity A3 CD, radio, preamp and power amp. Guess the DAC would be an upgrade with the A3 CD as well.

 

[Uncle Erik]

That's a good DAC. After a lot of research a few years back, I almost bought one. There's no reason it wouldn't give you great sound today. That price is awfully good, too. They were going for $500-$600 when I was looking at them.

 

[computerparts]

I owned the A3 cd player and my understanding is the A3.24 is supposed to be a step up.

 

[dura]

A friend of mine owns one and recently a buyer for another dac brought the 3.24 to my house, IMO it is a very good dac, nice sound and solid build. It was a close match to the Audio-GD Reference5DSP I had in my system, beat it in single ended, though the Audio-GD was slightly better, and I mean slightly, with its balanced output.
$300,- is a good price I think.

 

[DrNope]

Thanks for the input, buying it and see how it performs. At the moment mostly because it fits nicely in my system for looks. Was only worried that the DAC's outdated by now, but I guess SQ is more down to the analog circuitry around it.... 

 

[DrNope]

Hooked it up and yes, it did improve. The attack in the low frequencies are so much improved, instruments are also more easily detected, not that they were not there before, but they seem to be less interfering with each other somehow. Vocals are clearer, didn't think they sounded muddy before but aparently they did. Also seems be more depth in the sound-stage. Very nice, even though I've only used it for a few hours. Improvements are however not that easy to really pin down when switching between head-phone outputs, it's all there when trying to seek out a sertain sound, it' just clearer overall, when focusing on a particular sound it's still there without the DAC and I can't say if it's better, but when listening to the overall sound it's simply.... better and clearer. Well, apart from the punch in the bass, that is very obvious.