DAC Upgrade.

JBLfan

JBLfan

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May 19, 2013
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Thinking it is time to upgrade the DAC - looking for something that does a good job with USB and preferably still has coax. input. Don't need it to function as a pre/headphone amp. Price range is in the $ 1500-$2000 range. Suggestions ?
 
JBLfan said:
Thinking it is time to upgrade the DAC - looking for something that does a good job with USB and preferably still has coax. input. Don't need it to function as a pre/headphone amp. Price range is in the $ 1500-$2000 range. Suggestions ?
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I've got the brand new Marantz NA11S1 on order (it should arrive Thursday). It's a music server, but you can use it just as a DAC with a PC or Mac. It has Coax like you wanted and most importantly, it has native DSD capabilities. PM me for "friends of Mike" pricing.

Failing that, the Mytek DSD DAC is good, but feature wise, no where near the Marantz IMO.

It is still very new, so no reviews, but there is a review coming out in June in a German Audio magazine. Check out this snippet from their review:

"The new Marantz NA-11S1 is knocking on the door of the ADS/1 and scores with 138 Klangpunkte (points for SQ only) better than the ADSM, Lumin, NAD M50/51 and comes very close to the ADS/1."

In the description they even praise this system as "most analog sounding system on the market so far". "The Marantz is offering DSD and no Linn system does."

NOTE: ADS/1 (original) and ADSM (new) are the top of the line Linn digital music systems ($20,000 retail for those).

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Thx for the reply - much appreciated. Looks like I am still "too new" to send you a PM....
 
I had a Wyred4Sound DAC2 for a few years and was very happy with it. I understand they just upgraded it to include DSD capabilities. I believe the new price is around $2500.00 but you could find older models for around 1K.
 
audiodoctor said:
I would recommend the Chord Qte HD, at $1795 it is an amazing little dac, it sounds about 80% as good as the big Chord QBD 76 which is an $8,500.00 Dac, in my shop the Chord kills everything by a large margin until you get up the Auralic Vega or the Meinter MA 1 and by everything how about: M2 Tech Young, Cambridge Dac Magic Plus, Micromega Mydac, Hegel HD 11 and 20!

The Chord plays DSD, 24/192/32/384k and is based on all proprietary technology no ESS, or Burr Brown or Wolfson, just 100% pure Chord FPGA technology, check out the audiostream review on the Chord.
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Very cool. I've heard great things about this little DAC. Any word on whether they will make a DSD one?
 
dlb2 said:
I had a Wyred4Sound DAC2 for a few years and was very happy with it. I understand they just upgraded it to include DSD capabilities. I believe the new price is around $2500.00 but you could find older models for around 1K.
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Another vote for the DAC-2.
 
I really love my NAD M51. I've listened to the Mytek and liked it a lot, the Marantz NS-11 and didn't like it, and my go-to DAC in my other system is still the Berkeley Alpha with April Music Stello U3 usb converter that I picked up, with luck, in the OP's budget. The M51 makes for an excellent preamp, with really well-handled volume control (better than the Alpha as a pre, in my opinion) if you only have digital sources. The Stello U3 is an excellent option for adding USB to any DAC. I run it with AES/EBU out to the Berkeley. I run the original Berkeley and it is the source component that I"ve been most happy with in my entire time in this hobby. I'm not sure what they go for used, and you do need something like the Stello U3 but I've not heard anything new for $1500-$2000 that comes close. The April Music Eximus is over budget and doesn't sound as good to me as a used Berkeley Alpha w/the U3.
 
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JohnVF said:
I really love my NAD M51. I've listened to the Mytek and liked it a lot, the Marantz NS-11 and didn't like it, and my go-to DAC in my other system is still the Berkeley Alpha with April Music Stello U3 usb converter that I picked up, with luck, in the OP's budget. The M51 makes for an excellent preamp, with really well-handled volume control (better than the Alpha as a pre, in my opinion) if you only have digital sources. The Stello U3 is an excellent option for adding USB to any DAC. I run it with AES/EBU out to the Berkeley. I run the original Berkeley and it is the source component that I"ve been most happy with in my entire time in this hobby. I'm not sure what they go for used, and you do need something like the Stello U3 but I've not heard anything new for $1500-$2000 that comes close. The April Music Eximus is over budget and doesn't sound as good to me as a used Berkeley Alpha w/the U3.
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The NAD M51 is on my list - I hear lot's of good things on this unit but hard to find a dealer nearby. Thx for the suggestion!
 
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