Starting Point Systems portable NOS DAC
Sep 27, 2017 at 2:33 AM Post #196 of 508
$350 + shipping is very reasonable for what it is, compare to Metrum Musette at $1100 (no longer being made). Unclear how they compare sonically but similar tech.
 
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Sep 27, 2017 at 3:12 AM Post #197 of 508
$350 + shipping is very reasonable for what it is, compare to Metrum Musette at $1100 (no longer being made). Unclear how they compare sonically but similar tech.
Another place of interest (?)

http://www.soekris.dk/dac1321.html

personally, I have the Starting Point Systems DAC3 which was around $200 from an auction.
 
Sep 27, 2017 at 11:07 AM Post #198 of 508
Yes, the Soekris also looks like excellent value for money.
 
Sep 27, 2017 at 11:08 AM Post #199 of 508
Once I've had a chance to put the Audio-gd through its paces properly, I'll post a proper review.
 
Sep 27, 2017 at 4:09 PM Post #200 of 508
personally, I have the Starting Point Systems DAC3 which was around $200 from an auction.

Looking at sold listings now you can get it below $100, while I feel this price is "right" for what it is, I don't know if it makes the business sustainable for the guy, the DAC-3 is probably $50 in parts alone, plus assembly, overhead, ebay fees, etc.
 
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Sep 27, 2017 at 4:11 PM Post #201 of 508
Looking at sold listings now you can get it below $100, while I feel this price is "right" for what it is, I don't know if it makes the business sustainable for the guy, the DAC-3 is probably $50 in parts alone, plus overhead, ebay fees, etc.
If he makes alot of them the larger quantities of chips become alot cheaper.
But I wonder if he builds them himself for real.
 
Sep 27, 2017 at 6:23 PM Post #202 of 508
This french dac has more realistic sound, musical timbre of real instrument, than probably any oversampling dac under 500and crush my beloved bushmaster MKII....It is not perfect but what do we like, perception of the digital plankton or the unity of the musical flow and timbre ?
 
Sep 27, 2017 at 6:37 PM Post #204 of 508
If he makes alot of them the larger quantities of chips become alot cheaper.
But I wonder if he builds them himself for real.
I just received the following email from Christophe:

This is to let you know I am currently working on the preparation of your DAC. With the increasing success of my DAC recently, I've been quite busy preparing DACs, but I'm now catching up. I should finish the assembly tomorrow, and then will do the measurements and listeningt tests. When all is ok, I should be able to ship it, most likely early next week.
 
Sep 27, 2017 at 6:47 PM Post #205 of 508
I just received the following email from Christophe:

This is to let you know I am currently working on the preparation of your DAC. With the increasing success of my DAC recently, I've been quite busy preparing DACs, but I'm now catching up. I should finish the assembly tomorrow, and then will do the measurements and listeningt tests. When all is ok, I should be able to ship it, most likely early next week.
So obviously he builds them himself.
He is going to have to get a manufacturer if his product gets big enough.
Its interesting how HeadFI makes a real impact on the sales of products.
I saw it with the Topping stuff I reviewed here, nobody knew about it and it had no reviews on any site it was on sale for.
After writing about it here, it ended up on Massdrop quite soon and now has tons of reviews and lots of people talking about the stack around the net (D30/A30).
 
Sep 27, 2017 at 7:04 PM Post #206 of 508
This french dac has more realistic sound, musical timbre of real instrument, than probably any oversampling dac under 500and crush my beloved bushmaster MKII....It is not perfect but what do we like, perception of the digital plankton or the unity of the musical flow and timbre ?

While I can appreciate the smoothness and detail retrieval that oversampling DACs usually provide I prefer the NOS sound listening to it I can just sit back, relax and enjoy the music.NOS critics say it is the frequencies not present in the original material that are present in the NOS sound spectrum due to the lack of filtering that fool your brain, but even if true why should I care as long as my brain is happy?
 
Sep 27, 2017 at 7:11 PM Post #207 of 508
While I can appreciate the smoothness and detail retrieval that oversampling DACs usually provide I prefer the NOS sound listening to it I can just sit back, relax and enjoy the music.NOS critics say it is the frequencies not present in the original material that are present in the NOS sound spectrum due to the lack of filtering that fool your brain, but even if true why should I care as long as my brain is happy?
Either way as long as you like it, it doesn't matter.
I want to try a NOS DAC at some point in time, but right now I am thoroughly enjoying my DX7.
 
Sep 27, 2017 at 7:33 PM Post #208 of 508
NOS changed my world , when I had a simple Teradak 3.1. Now I have a Scott Nixon NOS tube dac. I do not regret selling my Thetas in the least bit.

I'm amazed by the realism , that these dacs deliver. Center imaging, and holography, are off the charts!
 
Sep 27, 2017 at 8:00 PM Post #209 of 508
Hi, folks. I recently picked up a used starting point Dac 3 off of eBay (always a risk, of course) and while I can connect it over usb and get the relevant frequency indicator to light up, no audio is coming out of RCA outputs. Also, it won't recognize optical input.

The batteries were near-flat upon arrival, and the power supply that the seller included was maybe underpowered, so I gave it a couple days to fully charge and tried a couple different power supplies as well as using a powered USB hub. (And different cables/computers/etc.)

I just thought I'd ask here before trying to get the seller to take it back and refund it, if this is a familiar failure mode. In particular, I'm wondering if the issue might be with the batteries haven given up the ghost in transit. (Assuming that the seller didn't intentionally ship me a dud.) I know the batteries are replaceable, but I don't especially want to take this thing apart (or buy batteries for it) if it's unlikely to help.
 
Sep 27, 2017 at 8:12 PM Post #210 of 508

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