To DAC or not to DAC

SteveMurphy

Member
I really need some help from some DAC experts. There are so many DACs available, I'm just not sure what to get and don't want to make costly mistakes buying the wrong thing. Most appear to be headphone amps which is not what I want and keeping the price south of $1000

I have a vintage Pioneer Spec 1 & 4 system running through JBL 240ti speakers. I also have a Denon DVD 756 player (I went with it because its silver!) that has digital optical outs on it.

I'm looking for a DAC that I can play the CDP through that will improve my audio for CDs.

I also use Tidal service and for now just use the headphone jack on my LG V20 phone to go to one of the Aux ports on the Pioneer preamp.

I was thinking about setting a laptop up at the stereo to store all my offline music content from Tidal (which I prefer to play instead of stream as my internet service is always sketchy and Tidal taxes it out causing pauses and interuptions)

Is there a DAC anyone can suggest that will help me with both the Denon CD player and my Tidal service that isn't a headphone amp DAC?

Thanks in advance.

-Steve
Chico, CA
 
Sorry gvl. If this offended you and I like schitt and at the price point it works within my budget.
No offense taken, it is just there must be other decent options, and all threads here end up with Schiit, boring.
 
Sorry you are bored gvl..
To the op, it is tough to say if getting a dac at any price point will net you gains or not. Most people who get new dacs seem to like them although some swear that there is no difference. I really like the Schiit Modi MB but others claim that they are not as good as what they have (although often theirs are at 4 times the price of the Modi MB ).

Should you get a dac, and if so which one? One way could be to buy a used one and try it. Then if it disappoints you can probably sell it without loss, only you can answer the question.
 
If you're happy with Tidal and see yourself as a long-time subscriber, perhaps getting a DAC with MQA support would be a good investment.
Thats a good point. If the op does that he will need to check what is available in MQA. I know that schiit does NOT provide MQA hardware support.
 
So what is your suggestion on DAC"S

For me the winning strategy was to find DACs released in the last 5-7 years or so that had good reviews second hand and within my budget and try them for myself. In the end I found I like the NOS sound even though it doesn't look all that good in frequency domain, but I'm not going to make a recommendation based on that as this is very subjective.
 
For me the winning strategy was to find DACs released in the last 5-7 years or so that had good reviews second hand and within my budget and try them for myself. In the end I found I like the NOS sound even though it doesn't look all that good in frequency domain, but I'm not going to make a recommendation based on that as this is very subjective.

I definitely would want to capatilize on Tidals mqa format.
 
I definitely would want to capatilize on Tidals mqa format.

Do some research, I admit I'm not all that familiar with MQA and the extent of Tidals support for it, but common sense tells me it's early days for MQA and some gear may become obsolete pretty soon as it often happens with new tech. Meridian has products in your price range that support MQA but they are geared for computer and headphone use.
 
If you want Tidal and want to use MQA then look at something like the Mytek Brooklyn DAC. Unfortunately that runs $2000. The Oppo Sonica DAC will stream plain Tidal and is $800.
 
My music system sounds great. To me a DAC is good for connecting computer to amp. Not as much benefit hooking up a CD player. Generally speaking CD players have better internal DACs than computers.

I'm thinking some folks expect magic from DACs. Also jitter, I don't think my ears are good enough to hear it. The real magic is in the source music. Some CDs sound really good. Most sound good but some are special.

The OP wants to connect several devices. I would look for a DAC that has several switch selectable inputs. I would want to connect everything through the DAC and it connects to the amp. The Maverick DAC I use is very versatile.
 
I don't know much at all about DACs, but I'll throw my 2 cents in here. I just got a Schiit Bifrost Multibit a few days ago and amazed by the sound and enjoyment it brings to digital music. I listen(ed) to more or less exclusively vinyl, my system built for that sole purpose, and treated digital with disregard and no need for investment etc...an "it is what it is" sort of thing. Then I had a baby. I can't actively flip records like I could for the past 15+ years while holding an infant, so I naturally found myself leaning on digital and streaming far more than usual. It started to drive me up a wall with the lower sound quality, so I got the Bifrost and started using Audirvana. The difference, at least to me, is profound. I'll not claim it as enjoyable as my LPs, but I'm not salty anymore after like 45 minutes of digital source grating on my nerves.
 
If the OP is unsure about DACs in general, why not pick up an Apple Airport Express to play with ? They are very cheap and have really excellent DAC chips.

I run mine from a Windows laptop, using Airfoil to convert the Windows audio to an Airplay stream which the Airport then feeds to my amp. Works great, sounds great and its a super cheap solution.
 
Just to share my experience with vintage JBL speakers, I found my JBL L100s don't pair well with some of the modern oversampling DACs that tend to have more energy in the upper mid frequencies. I suppose it also depends on the amplifier and personal preferences but to my ears a slightly warmer sounding Wolfson-based Arcam rDac was a better match than say Schiit Modi Multibit.
 
I'm a fan of non-oversampling DACs and the variety of their sounds. MHDT Labs makes a few models that sell new below $1000, and has past models available as well. Another quality Chinese company is Audio-gd, who has a few DACs for reasonable prices. And, one more newer Chinese company has made a fairly good R-2R (though not non-oversampling) DAC, the Denafrips Ares. On US Audiomart right now there is a UltraFi DAC41, which has a great reputation for redbook playback, and an Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC, which convincingly won a Stereomojo blind test amongst DACs in its price range. Also a couple Bryston BDA-1 DACs, which also have a good reputation.
 
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