[iPodschun]

Working on a setup for my iMac C2D with optical out. The plan as of now is:

iMac -> Toslink cable -> DAC -> Gilmore Lite -> HD580

Was looking to budget about $150-200 for the DAC. Suggestions? I read up a little on the Zhaolu, and the $129 AD-1852 model seemed appealing (don't know anything about the offered upgrades on the site though). I figured I'd ask for other opinions before going straight for that though.

 

[Kira Yamato]

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=205736

 

[iPodschun]

Actually, that has optical output rather than input. Back to contemplating the Zhaolu!

 

[Packgrog]

The UD-10 has an optical OUTPUT, not input.

There's a whole thread of DACs here. Have a look. The HeadRoom Micro DAC is one option for around $300. If you can do soldering (or know of someone else who can do it for you), you can try to create a Monica II if you can find a TOSLINK to S/PDIF convertor.

There's others, but the get more expensive beyond this.

-Packgrog

 

[Macwizard]

I'm sure someone will or has mentioned it, but the entech 203.2 is a pretty good deal. Very simple circuitry, crystal semiconductor, and jitter-free.

Simply an amazing dac and surely beats the one out of the imac.

 

[iPodschun]

Thanks for the responses. Decided to grab one of these:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=227531

 

[mrarroyo]

It does sound like a great deal. The other one I was going to mention was the Lite Dac-Ah at about $165.