DACs below £500

[mitch65]

iMark:
It's impossible to find the price of the Rega DAC in NL. They are only sold by high end shops and they don't post prices on their websites. I imagine it will be a bit higher than in the UK.

By comparison: The DACMagic costs here EUR 399. I have seen the Arcam rdac from the same shop for EUR 429. It looks like CA need to find a cheaper middle man.

I think you're right.

 

[Anonymous]

I recently tried the Cambridge DAC magic and a Kingrex UD01Pro, the Cambridge was more flexible with it's connections, but the kingrex was far better sounding, bigger soundstage, smoother and more powerful sounding, lovely, I'm well happy.

 

[xtsili]

Helmut80:xtsili:
And this one which has received legendary reviews

http://eeaudio.com/eeaudio_20102.htm

interesting. a quick google doesn't bring anything up in terms of price. Do you know who sells them in the UK?

Benelux countries the closest

http://eeaudio.com/eeaudio_007.htm

And sorry it is beyond your price range, 835 Euros

 

[SteveR750]

Fahnsen:Grottyash:Having tried some of the DACs on your list, plus some others not on it, I'd have to say there's not a vast difference in sound quality.I agree on that, and serious tests I've seen confirms it.However, in addition to the DACs already mentioned, there's quite a few DACs that you won't find in hi-fi shops. Some are sold online, like the Firestone Spitfire and a number of Chinese DACs (Matrix mini-i, Aune and the cabinet-less Gigaworks being the most merited I think). And them, of course, there's the music shops with their semi-professional gear. For £500 you're actually well over in the professional segment.

This makes sense - the saving of £200 or so on a DACmagic over a Rega would probably be much more significant if spent on better speakers or amp.

 

[pete321]

My advice would be get something like the DacMagic and get it modded as funds allow, you'll get more for your money. Opamps in the output stage can make a massive difference to the sound produced. You could buy a DacMagic and have Burson opamps fitted + a few other mods for a total outlay of £500 and get a DAC that would probably be a match for DAC's costing twice as much. The only area that lets the DacMagic and other cheaper DAC's down is the power supply, but there's a good upgrade solution for that now as well, or the cheaper Little Pinkie option.

 

[Helmut80]

thanks for all that info pete. Didn't even know DACs could be upgraded. is it as simple as taking it to local hifi store and getting it done, or does it require a personal interest and know-how, because I don't have much patience or interest in fiddling and DIY I am afraid.

 

[pete321]

Helmut80:thanks for all that info pete. Didn't even know DACs could be upgraded. is it as simple as taking it to local hifi store and getting it done, or does it require a personal interest and know-how, because I don't have much patience or interest in fiddling and DIY I am afraid.

I'm the same, I don't trust my soldering skills enough to do it myself. I use Fidelity Audio (previously Audioupgrades), just send it away to them with a budget and any specific requirements and they send it back modded. Brent is the person to speak to there. I've had my DacMagic modded to Level 4 + Burson opamps. My feeling is that a DAC is the ideal piece of hifi to modify. Once you've got a good DAC in your system, you're unlikely to change it too often, whereas CD/Blu-Ray players or amps tend to get replaced more frequently. Having said that, I'm sending my newly purchased Marantz Blu-Ray to them next month for a new clock and some mods to the analogue 2 channel output.

With regard to opamps, when you consider that one of most respected audio opamps in the output stage of hifi is the LM4562 (as used in the DacMagic) which costs about £5.00 to likes of you and I, however, most manufacturers use even cheaper opamps than that. The Burson opamp costs about £120, and don't know if any manufacturers DAC's use this opamp, but I suspect the ones that do would be pretty pricey. Once run in, the Burson opamps give a completely classy sound, they keep the detail of the LM4562, but are less clinical, giving a superb midrange and bass, altogether more musical.Whilst some of the other upgrades produce subtle improvements, the leap forward sonically with the Burson's is unmistakable. I'd say the Fidelity Audio Level 2 + Bursons is the best value.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi

I'm interested in using a dac to interface with my i tunes library as an alternative to i pod, which really is a poor sound quality in comp to cd. This would play via phono through my hi fi. I'm confused as to how to set up my pc to enable a co ax or optical output, as usb only takes 16 bit signal. I cannot get any help from the taiwanese manfcter as their website is useless for me, and my local pc shop who sold me the unit haven't got a clue what I am talking about! Help. I assume it needs an audio card, but which? and which outputs would I need to use? I am a digital illiterate, but an analogue audiophile with a high grade system that I wish to be able to play my digital collection on at the highest standard poss. I am looking at the spitfire mk 2 dac. Any advice appreciated.

 

[Singslinger]

I've no experience with the Rega DAC but I do own the Cambridge Audio DACMagic and the MF M1 DAC and have found the MF to be a significant upgrade over the CA.

The US magazine Stereophile has a glowing review of the M1 in its March issue, in case you're interested.

 

[Anonymous]

Wonder when WHF are going to review the rega dac, would love to see what they think.

Im hopefully going to be picking one up in june when im back in the uk (i live abroad at the moment)

 

[TALON1973]

i'm looking at them hopefully comparing the dac of the audiolab 8200cdq against £500 dedicated dacs , asi'm saving for one

 

[jockey.wilson]

Running a MF V-DAC between my Cyrus transort and the Naim pre-power. This is a temporary arrangement until I can afford the DAC I want.

In comparison to my previous setup which had the Cyrus Qx DAC in the pre-amp, the V DAC shows its limitations. It is very detailed but dynamics and dynamic contrasts are weak, and struggles to resolve complex music. That said in less revealing set-ups it would no doubt sit better.

At the end of the day, it only cost me £140 new and it does make music enjoyable, but it is not really great hi-fi.

 

[shooter]

I don't rate the Chordete Gem DAC (pre APTX) at all.

Had this DAC in the system some time ago and all i can say is it's, okay. The bluetooth didn't work very well and the sound was pretty awful with it. Hardwired is when it worked it's best and at the time i thought it was pretty good and the bass was but in time i realised the detail really wasn't there in the mid and treble. Shame really as the build quality is high.

The only other sub £500 DAC i've heard is the Apple AE. For £80 odd it's good value but the best part is the toslink out to stream CD quality audio into a dedicated DAC.

 

[Anonymous]

when does the new exposure dac comes out?