[davidvanderbilt]

Hello everyone,
 
 
    I am looking to upgrade from my portable Ibasso D4 mamba i have been using at work. I'm looking to purchase a good DAC and seperate amp, or a DAC+AMP combo. I would prefer the amp+dac be under 700 but if need be i can stretch more. Here are my ideas so far, and any advice on which is more "bang for my buck" or better than others would be greatly appreciated:
 
Dac Magic Plus
Dac Magic + Schiit Asgard
Xonar Essence One
AudioLab M-DAC
Schiit Bifrost + Asgard
Yulong D100 (with or without Asgard)
 
 
If anyone has compared any of these, or has a link to comparisons i would definitely appreciate it! I don't want to spend a lot, but if there is a significan't difference in sound quality between say the Audiolab M-DAC vs Dac Magic Plus, then i might have to
 
 

 

[mbd2884]

http://schiit.com/schiit-faq/warranty-returns/
 
Schiit Audio has a 15 day satisfaction guarantee.  You can listen to your Schiit Audio products for 15 days, evaluate before making a decision to keep or return.  
-  You do pay for the shipping fees and they subtract 5% from your refund, but you get it back.  That's much better than what other companies offer.
 
Give it a go.  Trust your own ears, then you can find out if it's $700 worthy upgrade over your well liked, reputable iBasso DAC/Amp!  It may be love at first hear and you won't wonder about any other products and be 100% satisfied!

 

[davidvanderbilt]

Thanks!   Has anyone else compared any of these?

 

[Denys]

Hi,
 
I think you should strongly consider Audio-GD.....especially this one which would fit in your budget....
 
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/NFB-10.1/NFB10.1EN.htm
 
Denys

 

[dyl1dyl]

Hey, just checking, what headphones are you using? In general though, I would go for a Bifrost>Asgard/Lyr depending on headphone to stick within your budget. However, if you can afford to push your budget, a Audiolab M-dac would offer a big improvement, especially when paired with say a littldot mk6+ with some tube rolling. However, that set-up will run you about 1.5k before recabling (assuming your headphones are not balanced currently)

 

[davidvanderbilt]

Sorry for the delayed response! I am using HD 598's right now - I prefer a really warm sound with rolled off treble and decent bass - punchy. I just purchased a Schiit Asgard (using my D4 as a stand alone Dac) , but the bass/midrange isn't enough for me using the HD 598's, so i will most likely be returning it. Now I don't know WHAT to do.

 

[Head Injury]

Don't buy amps because you want to change your sound signature. Stick to a neutral amp and get a different pair of headphones. If you like warmth, you might want to try the HD600 or HD650. The iBasso D4 should be able to drive them both.

 

[davidvanderbilt]

Thanks - I was thinking that same thing actually. However, I have had both the Hd 600 and Hd 650s and I definitely didn't enjoy them through my D4. Something was lacking - I just really dont think the D4 did them justice.

 

[raysclim1568]

Quote:

Hey, just checking, what headphones are you using? In general though, I would go for a Bifrost>Asgard/Lyr depending on headphone to stick within your budget. However, if you can afford to push your budget, a Audiolab M-dac would offer a big improvement, especially when paired with say a littldot mk6+ with some tube rolling. However, that set-up will run you about 1.5k before recabling (assuming your headphones are not balanced currently)

I second that . Audiolab M-Dac is amazing if you could sketch your budget further . 
I am pairing it with Violectric HPA-V200 and couldn't be more happier .
 
Now running in the M-Dac and going thru' the instruction manual. there's several digital Filter selection but I just don't know which is better. 
currently on Optimize transience  mode.
 
Cheers. 
Raymond Lim 

 

[Blurpapa]

Quote:

I second that . Audiolab M-Dac is amazing if you could sketch your budget further . 
I am pairing it with Violectric HPA-V200 and couldn't be more happier .
 
Now running in the M-Dac and going thru' the instruction manual. there's several digital Filter selection but I just don't know which is better. 
currently on Optimize transience  mode.
 
Cheers. 
Raymond Lim 

 
x3!
I am currently only amping it with a SR-71B and am wondering if my LCD2r2 (having read that it doesn't scale upwards very much) would benefit considerably if I were to join the V200 party.... Nonetheless, the MDAC allows me to enjoy my music much more than before.
 
 

 

[davidvanderbilt]

Thanks for your suggestions! I think i forgot to mention a crucial aspect of the DAC - I will be using primarily USB connection through my labtop at work. I know there are usb to spdif converters, but then you get into the whole realm of comparing those and I would rather have good usb implimentation built into the DAC.

 

[davidvanderbilt]

 Currently I am considering the Yulong D100 (using DAC section only) , Audio GD 2.1 or 3.1, and Arcam Rdac - judging by the reviews, it seems that it would be reccomended to get a  a Spdif to USB converter for the Audio GD, but the Yulong D100 has great usb implimentation. Since I am going to be purchasing the headphone amp seperately, the DAC doesn't need to have a headphone amp.

 

[Saintly]

If you stretch a bit further, you can get a used Benchmark DAC-1 USB.  
 
I think the HRT Music Streamer II and II+ sound very good though.  They're asynchronous USB Dacs and will leave you a good chunk of money to spend on a dedicated amp.

 

[WarriorAnt]

Quote:

 
x3!
I am currently only amping it with a SR-71B and am wondering if my LCD2r2 (having read that it doesn't scale upwards very much) would benefit considerably if I were to join the V200 party.... Nonetheless, the MDAC allows me to enjoy my music much more than before.
 
 

I 'm using the LCD-2, V200 combo with the W4S DAC-2.  
 
http://www.head-fi.org/products/violectric-hpa-v200/reviews/5331

 

[Blurpapa]

 
Quote:

I 'm using the LCD-2, V200 combo with the W4S DAC-2.  
 
http://www.head-fi.org/products/violectric-hpa-v200/reviews/5331

Sweet combo WA! Ok I'll do it! I hope to find a nice 2nd hand 220v one! Wish me luck!