Has anyone heard an Audio-GD Dac?

[admin_exported]

I am looking to get a DAC to stream from either my XBox 360 (used as an extender) or possibly a WDTV Live or something of that ilk (I am still undecided) to my hifi. My search has led me to a Chinese company called Audio-gd who, according to another forum, make very high quality gear at cheap prices. I am looking to spend around £300 which gives me the choice of the usual suspects such as the Dacmagic or Caiman or I could take a punt on this company. Can anyone here comment on the quality of their products, their DAC's in particular? My system is comprised of the Marantz PM6003 and CD6003 connected to MS Mezzo 2 speakers. I find this setup a little on the bright side so I don't want anything that accentuates that, however I do like a lot of high register detail as opposed to a bass emphasis which I find drowns out other frequencies. I also find that the mid range is lacking a little so a DAC with a midrange emphasis may be appropriate. Any suggestions would be gratefully received and if anyone does know Audio-GD's products, its the NFB3 I was specifically looking at.

 

[SteveR750]

This might be of interest, although tenuous, but I have fond the biggest improvement has been in the mid / upper treble when going PC, and that is with a dacmagic. So far, even the most horrible of recordings that I have still do not have any nasty sibilance or the opposite of sounding veiled or worse muffled, in all cases a cymbal really does sound like something made of metal and hit with a piece of wood, rather than a tin full of tacks being shaken. Bear in mind that the dacmagic is supposedly a it 'edgy' in the upper registers, but then my amp and speakers are not at all bright sounding so its nicely balanced. You might want something a little less bright perhaps in your system, but my point is even a bright sounding dac might not sound harsh.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info Steve. To be honest I had already earmarked the Dacmagic as the obvious choice, the rave reviews the audio GD dac has received on another forum just got me thinking. It's always tempting when you think there's a possibility of a bargain. I guess the main requirement is that I can get a sound equal to or better than my CD6003 when streaming a quality file such as FLAC. I would be interested to know if anyone has paired a Dacmagic with Mezzo 2 speakers as I think they are the source of the accentuated treble due to the design of the tweeter. As you say, bright treble does not necessarily mean harsh and I am not against a bright sound per se.