[Shike]

Hey guys,

I have an Entech and have been getting the itch to upgrade. I was wanting a few opinion on what you guys would suggest as replacements for a substantial upgrade.

 

[Herandu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shike /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hey guys, I was wanting a few opinion on what you guys would suggest as replacements for a substantial upgrade.

Just about anything. It is all down to your budget. But in practical and financial terms there are at least three DACs below U$300 that are a major upgrade to the Entech. They are the Zero DAC, the Yulong, and the Beresford. You can spend more if you must, but I am yet to hear anything at twice the price of any of those that can be deemed even 10% better. The point of rapidly diminishing returns appears to be the $300 price point. After that, it is mainly all show and flashy cabinets.

 

[1UP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herandu /img/forum/go_quote.gif The point of rapidly diminishing returns appears to be the $300 price point. After that, it is mainly all show and flashy cabinets.

ahem, lower noise and properly bypassed, regulated power supplies, less jittery input circuits, higher spec DAC ICs, reclocking and upsampling circuitry, serious analogue output stages (tube/discrete), dual mono, fully balanced toplogies - you can put these in a cardboard box but they don't cost nothing to design or buy - and they absolutlely affect sound - you can add Herandu's models to your shortlist, but the rest is subjectivist nonsense posing as fact

 

[Shike]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1UP /img/forum/go_quote.gif ahem, lower noise and properly bypassed, regulated power supplies, less jittery input circuits, higher spec DAC ICs, reclocking and upsampling circuitry, serious analogue output stages (tube/discrete), dual mono, fully balanced toplogies - you can put these in a cardboard box but they don't cost nothing to design or buy - and they absolutlely affect sound - you can add Herandu's models to your shortlist, but the rest is subjectivist nonsense posing as fact

I think I see where you're coming from, but more in terms of component quality. From what I've been seeing law of diminishing returns truly kicks in around $1000 due to profits etc. Still, it seems $300 is a good price point to be looking at this year.

Currently I'm eyeing the Moonlab Concept, Shek D1, and Beresford (trying to find out caps used and if it's possible to use a resistive passive I/V stage). I've been looking at the Lite AH, but I don't know what stock caps it uses and don't want to have to bother with recapping the whole damn thing with WIMA, Panasonic, or other.

If Yeo wasn't being such a butt killing the kits off I'd probably have bought a Monica by now with a Guido clock