This one is easy. The best you can do for £400 is to buy £400 active speakers and use PC as a source.
Vladimir said:
You have forgotten to factor in the cost of the PC which you are using as DAC, preamplifier and media player.
Vladimir said:
I thought it might be nice to end up with a little standalone system at the end of this exercise. Perhaps something that I can recommend to a noob, the price of which doesn't make their eyes water. Although you are probably right that a PC and actives offers the most performance for the least outlay, it's not very sexy is it.
You factor in a HTPC, network player or CDP if you buy an external DAC. If you already own a PC (not HTPC), money saved.
If you want sexy, you gotta have a turntable.
If you want sexy, you gotta have a turntable.
Vladimir said:
The Dac 1 costs £130-140 and works very nicely with a pair of HS5s when I tried it.
It drove my 56 ohm Superlux 668B without issue, why would you use (expensive) hard to drive phones with a budget dac/amplifier?
I am also interested if you can suggest an alternative that has similar functionality that costs less?
As a Spotify only user, I have looked into simple systems in some depth. My idea of a good budget system would be a dedicated streamer such as the Fire TV for Spotify Connect, dac/headphone amp and active speakers.
Can be done for about £400, though you will need a device to control Spotify, not an issue as i have several iThings.
Vladimir said:
Crikey! That is incredible value for money!
EDIT: £342 shipped to the UK so £200 (£100 DAC + £100 PreAmp) budget blown unfortunately. Still cracking value!
Gazzip said:
Exactly, not available in the uk so no chance to try, no backup etc.
If you are going down the direct inport route and want to stay in budget, try this...
http://www.mav-audio.com/base/product/tube_magic_d1
I'd still go with the Micromega Myamp package (or different speakers) after the alternatives mentioned here ...
... and yes, for a 'sexy' hifi system, you will need a turntable. Can't be done without imho.
... and yes, for a 'sexy' hifi system, you will need a turntable. Can't be done without imho.
davedotco said:
That is neat. But I have to admit, the little Audio Engine scores points for me just on cuteness alone. Cute as a button and looks to be well sorted.
drummerman said:
Perhaps sexy was the incorrect word for what I am trying to achieve as this is not my aim. I want to conclude my exercise having put together a full "super budget" system which gets me as close to my current reference as I can get. I don't just want to settle for my PC and a pair of actives.
£100 per component is the ceiling not the aspirational spend. I may well have to go through quite a number of different components before I find what I am looking for, so If I can pick up certain components for well under £100 then all the better.
So far I have invested £21.76 in powered stereo pre-amplifier and £5.95 in a 24/96 DAC, both brand spanking new, which I am very much looking forward to receiving and getting set up. This is rather exciting!
bigboss
Moderator
http://www.amazon.com/Dayton-Audio-DTA-120-Digital-Amplifier/dp/B00HFG3FYA
Remembered this from a system I saw posted by jaxwired:
https://youtu.be/5IvfE63B1XY
Remembered this from a system I saw posted by jaxwired:
https://youtu.be/5IvfE63B1XY
drummerman said:Can't wait for the ten quid speakers
Indeed. I expect the speaker to be impossible to match so that will be the last component I look at. However the rest of the system is definitely worth a go.
Any thoughts on schitt audio? They do a passive pre-amp which looks to be reasonable value, although this may limit me to a dedicated power amp instead of active speakers due to the need to get some gain in to the chain ASAP.
steve_1979
Well-known member
Gazzip said:
A £200 DAC/pre? That'll be the Nakamichi Dragon AV1 Processor.
http://www.nakamichi.co.uk/products/nakamichi-7-1-power-processor
steve_1979 said:
As it stands the Nakamichi is looking like a very good option for the pre/DAC sections of my new system. Does it say in the manual what the DAC chipset is?
I am however also really, really tempted by the Schitt SYS as a pre amp simply because it is passive and only £49. I don't have any experience with passive pre-amps. Anybody?
Infiniteloop
Well-known member
steve_1979
Well-known member
Also worth noting (as you're on a tight budget) is that the Nakamichi price doesn't include postage (I think it was about £10 or £20 extra) where the Teuful price does include postage. So the Nakamichi works out at about £30-40 more expensive than the Teuful.
steve_1979
Well-known member
Gazzip said:
As your budget is £100 per component does that mean £100 for the power amp and £100 for the speakers?
If so then you can cheat and get some £200 active speakers.
steve_1979
Well-known member
Gazzip said:
I don't know what the chipset is but in an A/B comparison with my O2 DAC it seemed to sound the same. I say "seemed" because there was a 20 second delay when swapping cables so I can't be 100% certain that they sound identical but I'm pretty sure they do.
Another good (and slightly cheaper) option is the Teuful DecoderStation 5 Mk2 for £180. I've compared this one to my O2 DAC with a proper instantanious A/B comparrison so I'm 100% certain that they both sound identical and are audibly transparrent. The only issue with this DAC is that there's often a short 1/4 second silence at the start of tracks so that when you press play you sometimes only hear the second half of the first note played. It's not a big deal but I found it slightly irritating.
steve_1979 said:Gazzip said:
As your budget is £100 per component does that mean £100 for the power amp and £100 for the speakers?
If so then you can cheat and get some £200 active speakers.
That's the plan! (Without preconceptions)
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