[DreamKing]

I sure wish I was

It's just hype fun for me and btw, it's also not the first ebay theta link I posted.
And btw2, at those prices the one in the headfi classifieds may be cheaper.

 
Whoever had the winning bid only missed the classified's price by about 2 pounds lol. Probably on purpose.

 

[artur9]

Dunno if I missed it but...
 
What's a good cheap R2R DAC to try out?  I'm currently using a Bifrost and I'll like to compare to other things.  
 
I had  a North Star Impulso but I found it fatiguing.  I ended up drastically curtailing the amount of music I listened to.  With the Bifrost I never feel like stopping.
 
Also, are DACs built-in to other things a valid comparison?  Like the ones in CD players or pre-pros?

 

[kugino]

Dunno if I missed it but...

What's a good cheap R2R DAC to try out?  I'm currently using a Bifrost and I'll like to compare to other things.  

I had  a North Star Impulso but I found it fatiguing.  I ended up drastically curtailing the amount of music I listened to.  With the Bifrost I never feel like stopping.

Also, are DACs built-in to other things a valid comparison?  Like the ones in CD players or pre-pros?

quite a bit of suggestions about r2r dacs in previous posts...some you might want to think about are from monarchy audio, adcom, theta, among others. if you search for the dac chips used, you can usually find out what brands/models to look for. pcm1702, pcm63, and pcm1704 are among the more popular r2r chips, though certainly there are more.

 

[Sapientiam]

  What's a good cheap R2R DAC to try out? 

 
Multibit, not R2R but you probably meant multibit - http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=2013.1.20141002.7.x3YaON&scm=1007.10009.6098.i42524269798&id=42124644877&pvid=98e2c9ec-48d9-4fa0-902a-e5a25a26a948

 

[purrin]

  Purrin, can you comment on wyrd+odac?

 
I approve of that combo.

 

[artur9]

quite a bit of suggestions about r2r dacs in previous posts...some you might want to think about are from monarchy audio, adcom, theta, among others. if you search for the dac chips used, you can usually find out what brands/models to look for. pcm1702, pcm63, and pcm1704 are among the more popular r2r chips, though certainly there are more.

None of those are particularly cheap.  That is, for around the same price as a Bifrost.

 

[dan.gheorghe]

  Dunno if I missed it but...
 
What's a good cheap R2R DAC to try out?  I'm currently using a Bifrost and I'll like to compare to other things.  
 
I had  a North Star Impulso but I found it fatiguing.  I ended up drastically curtailing the amount of music I listened to.  With the Bifrost I never feel like stopping.
 
Also, are DACs built-in to other things a valid comparison?  Like the ones in CD players or pre-pros?

I currently have a Theta Ds Pro basic at home. I think you can find one at a good price(300-500$). 
 
Considering it is a few generation before Gen V, I never expected that level of quality from it. I am beginning to understand all the hype around yggy and the theta dacs...
 
Even the older Theta Dspro basic beats lots of the more expensive and newer DACS at considerable bigger prices, not in all regions but in the ones that matter to me, natural tonality, textures, leading edges, even details. 

 

[kugino]

  None of those are particularly cheap.  That is, for around the same price as a Bifrost.

you can find the adcom gda600 for around $200 and the gda700 for around $300, or even a bit less. the monarchy audio 22a, 22b, 22c DACs are harder to find, but they usually sell for less than $300. 

 

[BassDigger]

 
you can find the adcom gda600 for around $200 and the gda700 for around $300, or even a bit less. the monarchy audio 22a, 22b, 22c DACs are harder to find, but they usually sell for less than $300. 

 
+1
 
The PCM63 might be the creme de la creme, or one of, but it doesn't necessarily guarantee a great dac. Additionally, there are other great multibit chips, knocking around out there.

 

[Lohb]

PCM63 DACs
http://www.head-fi.org/t/285863/player-dac-with-pcm63#post_3662893

Accuphase DP-90
Adcom GDA-600
Akai CD69
Akai CD79
Audio Note DAC-3
AVI SC2000MC
Copland CDA277
Copland CDA288
Parasound D/AC1000
Parasound D/AC1500
Pioneer PD-8500
Rotel DCM-9PRO
Rotel RCD-99
Rotel RCD-971
Rotel RCD-991
Wadia 15
ACCUPHASE DC-91
APOGEE DA-1000
ARAGON D2A2
AUDIO NOTE DAC-1
AUDIO NOTE DAC-2
AUDIO NOTE DAC-4
Balanced Audio Tech. VK-D5
CARY AUDIO DESIGN CD-300
COPLAND CDA 266
COPLAND CDA 289
EAD CD-1000
EAD DSP-1000 SERIES II
EAD DSP-1000 SERIES III
EAD DSP-7000 SERIES II
EAD DSP-7000 SERIES III
KRELL KPS 20i
KRELL KPS 30i
LINN NUMERIC
MONARCHY AUDIO MODEL 22B
MONARCHY AUDIO MODEL 22C
MONARCHY AUDIO MODEL 24
MONARCHY AUDIO MODEL 33
PARASOUND D/AC-1100 HD
PARASOUND D/AC-1600 HD
PASS LABS D1
PATHOS InTransfer
PIONEER PD-73
PIONEER PD-93
PROCEED PCD3
PS AUDIO SUPERLINK THREE
ROTEL RCD-990
STAX DAC-TALENT
T+A CD1220R
T+A CD1240R
THETA DS PRO GENERATION III
THETA DS PRO GENERATION V
WADIA 6

 

[Sonic Defender]

  Dunno if I missed it but...
 
What's a good cheap R2R DAC to try out?  I'm currently using a Bifrost and I'll like to compare to other things.  
 
I had  a North Star Impulso but I found it fatiguing.  I ended up drastically curtailing the amount of music I listened to.  With the Bifrost I never feel like stopping.
 
Also, are DACs built-in to other things a valid comparison?  Like the ones in CD players or pre-pros?

Whew, glad I dodged a bullet. I was considering the North Star Impulso, but my gut just said no. Glad I went with the M51. Assuming the Bifrost is similar to the Gungnir which I owned for 3 years I know what you mean about it being eminently listenable and never fatiguing.

 

[artur9]

 
Whew, glad I dodged a bullet. I was considering the North Star Impulso, but my gut just said no. Glad I went with the M51. Assuming the Bifrost is similar to the Gungnir which I owned for 3 years I know what you mean about it being eminently listenable and never fatiguing.

The Impulso checked all the feature boxes I was interested in but did not seem to synergize with my other equipment.  It seemed very sharp relative to the Bifrost.  Combining that sharpness with the sharpness of the preamp I use and it just wasn't a sound I could enjoy.
 
It could be that its USB input was relatively poor as I don't have USB on the Bifrost. Or perhaps the Cubox I was using to feed it has noisy USB.
 
This is through speakers so maybe it works better with headphones.
 
And its LED was ridiculously bright!

 

[Sonic Defender]

  The Impulso checked all the feature boxes I was interested in but did not seem to synergize with my other equipment.  It seemed very sharp relative to the Bifrost.  Combining that sharpness with the sharpness of the preamp I use and it just wasn't a sound I could enjoy.
 
It could be that its USB input was relatively poor as I don't have USB on the Bifrost. Or perhaps the Cubox I was using to feed it has noisy USB.
 
This is through speakers so maybe it works better with headphones.
 
And its LED was ridiculously bright!

Synergy is always the thing isn't it? It may have worked okay in my speaker rig as my Neat speakers are the typical slightly soft British Hi-Fi flavor and my NAD M3 is also slightly soft. I think this system softness of mine is why I moved from the Gungnir as it was also toward warm so the 3 layers of softness while not significant, was enough to make the move toward a brighter DAC a good thing in my system. I think the M51 while brighter is short of the typical reported digital glare from many Sabre implementations so I feel that I have struck the middle ground. Next year is my Yggy year, unless something else comes along. Cheers.

 

[sci80899]

Purrin

Do you mind sharing how the Geek offerings from LH Labs (whichever you have listened to) would rank in your list on page 1? Thanks.

 

[purrin]

I might put the GOv2 is the "Good Stuff", somewhere from #10 to #12.