DAC $1000 or Less (Help me choose!)

[llewin2014]

Hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Question: been reviewing DAC's to hook up to my NAD 370 and Marantz CD player - so, who has suggestions
on what unit will give me improvements playing CD, SACD and Reference Recording CD's?

Thank you!
Lance - Atlanta

 

[Glareskin]

This is my sincere advice: Styleaudio Carat Sapphire DAC with BOTWS linear power supply. From my own experience I can say this is a real high-end DAC that you will not equal unless you pay a lot of money.
The DAC is under 400 USD on eBay (new) and the PSU is 136 EUR.

If you connect one of your devices with an optical cable and the other with SP/DIF you can switch between the sources.

Here are a few links:
Styleaudio: 2010 New : Carat-SAPPHIRE

Squeeze-upgrade | Plug & Play upgrades voor d/a converters - Squeeze-upgrade | Sbooster | Audiophile power supply upgrades

 

[cmalak]

Problem with outboard DACs is that you will not be able to decode SACD layer off of your Marantz spinner (unless you buy a Marantz DAC). What Marantz CD player do you have? Two options to consider to replace your Marantz CD player are 1) the Oppo BDP-105 which is a universal player plus has digital inputs (USB/Coax/Optical) so you can use its DAC with PC/Music server sources and other spinners if you like, and 2) thee Marantz SA-8004 CD/SACD player which also has a USB-accessible DAC to connect a PC or music server to. Both units will play your SACDs but of course they are disc spinners so redundant with your Marantz player. If playing SACD through an outboard DAC is not an issue (i.e., you want to use an outboard DAC to play CDs from your Marantz player plus hi-rez files from a PC or music server), there are many outboard DAC options that are excellent in the up to $1K range:

Budget DAC (<$500):
1) Meridian Explorer USB DAC ($295) https://www.meridian-audio.com/en/collections/products/explorer-1000/4/
2) Micromega MyDac ($399) MyDac

Mid-level DACs ($500-$1K):
3) Music Hall DAC 25.3 ($599)...did very well in a shoot out done by members on another audio site to be nameless against McIntosh D100, AMD DP-777, McIntosh MDA-1000 and others, punching well above its weight. Has a tubed output stage. .:: music hall audio :: dac25.3
4) Meridian Director ($699) https://www.meridian-audio.com/en/collections/products/director/37/
5) Musical Fidelity M1DAC ($799) Musical Fidelity | M1SDAC DAC
6) Rega DAC ($995) Rega Research Limited
7) Used Wadia 121 DAC (under $1K) 121
8) Used Bryston BDA-1 (should be able to get one in the $1K range) or a used Bryston BDA-2 (probably closer to $1.3-$1.5K if you can stretch the budget) BDA-1: Bryston Limited: BDA-1 External DAC or BDA-2: Bryston Limited: BDA-2 External DAC

Hard to tell what will be an upgrade as not sure what your current spinner is but this is a pretty good list for you to consider. Again, if playing SACDs is important to you via the new DAC, your only option is to get a new spinner that plays SACDs and has an accessible DAC as well. otherwise you will need to get digital separates from Esoteric or dCS or EMM which have transports that can play SACDs and can strip out the DSD stream and output it to one of their outboard DACs but then you are talking tens of thousands.

Hope this gives you some options to research and read up on. Good luck.

 

[llewin2014]

Wow…lots of options: The player is a DV6001. The sound on CD and SACD is great, but hoping to improve on sound - like one would find on low level detail/listening, chamber music, and especially jazz and vocals. Really appreciate your advice!

 

[cmalak]

llewin2014...my guess is if you like the Marantz house sound that the Marantz SA-8004 would be a nice step up and an outright replacement. It's DAC is accessible via USB if you want to add a PC or music server as an additional source. If you check the link to the Marantz unit, you will see it got very nice reviews. The Oppo is the other option to outright replace your Marantz player and will give you even more flexibility with added digital inputs. But hopefully the list above will give you some food for thought and you can research some of these options to figure out what direction you want to take. Good luck.