What is the hot new DAC now?

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Originally Posted by Ctsooner
I agree with you. I also feel that it's difficult to buy from a company where it's basically a one man show. There are many and I owned an Empirical Audio DAC, but as great as Steve is as a designer/builder, he's going to retire soonish I assume and then what happens when the DAC blows up etc... I got the Ayre for the SQ, but also because they upgrade the firmware and will eventually offer any hardware upgrades in the future and they won't gouge us. They kept the 9 relevant for over 7 years. That's an amazing thing in the audio world. Most just keep coming out with mk 2,3 and new models over a 7 year span. Once they figure out they have maxed their market, it's time to change a few things and even the box and say it's a new model and make folks want to trade in, sell and buy new rather than offer an upgrade like Vandersteen and Ayre do. I'm sure there are plenty more who also offer them, but I own these two lines so I know the policy. Things always keep changing, but not always for the better ;)....





wisnon said:
On the contrary, like most great breakthroughs, it will be the ONE man/woman who will shift the paradigm.

The revolution will most likely come from there than from the big consensus team.
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I surly may, but I was talking more about what makes a smart buy today. I was discussing the problem with purchasing from the smaller company. I also think that for many of us, we don't like chasing the DAC of the day and like the idea of knowing we will get software and hardware updates as they become available etc.. and it won't cost the loss of our current DAC and purchase of a new one.

As you know from the AG thread, Matt and I have been having long in depth conversations about servers and where that is heading. I believe that's what you also said in your post above. That can't be lost on folks as you hit the nail on the head. It's probably best for another thread, unless folks want to talk about it here. Servers are going in so many different directions.
 
I have not heard any of the four DACs, so I cannot comment on their sound. However, I have recently been reading up on the Denafrips DACs from China. The Singapore based distributor is a guy named Alvin. I have contacted him about an audition. I'm undecided if I want to try the Pontus or the Venus DAC.

Let's see if the link works now that this is my tenth post.
Sigh....No.

Michael
 
The Schiit Yggdrasil was hot and new when it appeared last year, but maybe it still is, as just earlier this month it got a rave review from Robert Harley.
 
Mike Lavigne said:
I heard the new MSB Reference dac at the L.A. Show 2 weeks ago in the same system as the MSB Select II, an hour apart.

they are cut from the same cloth, but different in degrees. the MSB Reference dac is very, very good.

I ended up buying the Select II.
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Mike,

I think the biggest difference between the Select II DAC and the Reference DAC is not the doubling of the DAC modules from four to eight but the sophistication of the Select II DAC's variable linestage. This is the main reason that the Select II DAC consistently sounds better being run directly into the amplifiers rather than with a high quality preamp in the signal chain.

Ken
 
Alpinist said:
Mike,

I think the biggest difference between the Select II DAC and the Reference DAC is not the doubling of the DAC modules from four to eight but the sophistication of the Select II DAC's variable linestage. This is the main reason that the Select II DAC consistently sounds better being run directly into the amplifiers rather than with a high quality preamp in the signal chain.

Ken
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Ken,

you could be right, but I tend to think it's more that (1) the additional output of the 8 DAC modules per channel allow for the elimination of the analog output stage, (2) the lower distortion of the additional DAC modules, and (3) the added solidity of the higher build standard and more exotic power supply.

if one has a top flight active preamp then you are going to be able to neutralize the internal passive line stage advantage. I would expect in my system using the dart pre with both the Select II and the Reference the Select II would still be clearly better. and at this point I 'believe' that the dart pre has a better line stage than the one resident in the Select II (but we are still early in the game and at some point I may be able to test this idea).

my opinion is also that a tubed line stage will have a hard time competing with the internal line stage of the Select II, since those tubes become an artifact in the way of the astonishing inherent purity of the Select II. the dart pre does not have that issue. there are not many sources of any kind, and maybe none other, that can make a demand on a line stage for transparency like the Select II.

that is just my 2 cents.
 
Mike Lavigne said:
Ken,

you could be right, but I tend to think it's more that (1) the additional output of the 8 DAC modules per channel allow for the elimination of the analog output stage, (2) the lower distortion of the additional DAC modules, and (3) the added solidity of the higher build standard and more exotic power supply.

if one has a top flight active preamp then you are going to be able to neutralize the internal passive line stage advantage. I would expect in my system using the dart pre with both the Select II and the Reference the Select II would still be clearly better. and at this point I 'believe' that the dart pre has a better line stage than the one resident in the Select II.

my opinion is also that a tubed line stage will have a hard time competing with the internal line stage of the Select II, since those tubes become an artifact in the way of the astonishing inherent purity of the Select II. the dart pre does not have that issue.

that is just my 2 cents.
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Mike,

You may be right. Have you tried running directly from the Select II DAC to your Dart 458 monoblocks? A direct comparison with and without your Dart pre would be an interesting exercise. Vince claims the Select II's variable linestage has so few components in its signal path that the addition of any preamp would result in a degradation of sound quality.

Best,
Ken
 
PS Audio DS Dac with the latest Huron firmware. Its a brand new DAC released a week back that can easily take up on far most costlier ones in the market today....
 
Alpinist said:
Mike,

You may be right. Have you tried running directly from the Select II DAC to your Dart 458 monoblocks? A direct comparison with and without your Dart pre would be an interesting exercise. Vince claims the Select II's variable linestage has so few components in its signal path that the addition of any preamp would result in a degradation of sound quality.

Best,
Ken
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at some point we will try that. but likely not for awhile. the 50 ohm BNC 'zeel' interface needs to be investigated for the MSB.

and as far as parts count in the signal path, and ideal interfaces with amplifiers, well.....darTZeel wrote the book on that one.
 
Mike Lavigne said:
at some point we will try that. but likely not for awhile. the 50 ohm BNC 'zeel' interface needs to be investigated for the MSB.

and as far as parts count in the signal path, and ideal interfaces with amplifiers, well.....darTZeel wrote the book on that one.
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Mike,

Given that everything in the SELECT II is modular, including the analog audio output modules, why don't we lobby Vince & MSB to come up with a Zeel output module? t shouldn't be that hard for them to implement, and would make a few folks happy! :)
 
Mike Lavigne said:
at some point we will try that. but likely not for awhile. the 50 ohm BNC 'zeel' interface needs to be investigated for the MSB.

and as far as parts count in the signal path, and ideal interfaces with amplifiers, well.....darTZeel wrote the book on that one.
Click to expand...

Hi Mike,

Another crazy thought, maybe you could run balanced XLR directly from the Select II DAC to the Dart 458 amps and retain the unbalanced RCA for your Dart pre and other source components that run through the Dart pre. Just a thought.

Ken
 
Two DACs that I am hearing very good things about are the Exogal Comet and TotalDAC

The Exogal is supposed to be stunning value for money in the $3,500 range
A friend of mine who just got it says that even the preamp stage is no slouch.

Two top rooms at Munich (Marten and Absolare) had TotalDAC d1 12 stacks.
But even the d1 Core recently got a 6moons Blue Moon award ...
 
Audiohippo said:
Devg said:
PS Audio DS Dac with the latest Huron firmware.
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I am hearing great things about the new firmware, can't wait to load it on my unit and give it a listen.
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Yes, much much better than the Torreys, at least to my ears. Also check out the PS Audio forums for new firmware loading gotchas....you might need to install Torrey and then re-load Huron if things doesn't work out the first time. many of us had to go through these extra steps....
 
Devg said:
PS Audio DS Dac with the latest Huron firmware. Its a brand new DAC released a week back that can easily take up on far most costlier ones in the market today....
Click to expand...
I confirm that Huron sounds insanely good! I could not imagine this was possible with a firmware update.
I don't know some of the exotic brands mentioned here but I am sure that PS Audio with the new Huron firmware is somewhere in the top of the list.
 
Glareskin said:
I confirm that Huron sounds insanely good! I could not imagine this was possible with a firmware update.
I don't know some of the exotic brands mentioned here but I am sure that PS Audio with the new Huron firmware is somewhere in the top of the list.
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Hans - have you found any Aurender type device that has i2s output (for the DS)?

Good for the gang at PS Audio for making their DAC better and better and better. If they add MQA, holy crap...
 
Mike said:
Hans - have you found any Aurender type device that has i2s output (for the DS)?

Good for the gang at PS Audio for making their DAC better and better and better. If they add MQA, holy crap...
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Mike, so far I haven't searched for that as the built-in BridgeII sounds great. However it is maximized at DSD64 so if you would go full blown DSD i2s would be necessary.
But again the BridgeII sounds great as is and this is the part in the Direct Stream that is doing the streaming, Roon, and soon to come MQA.
I learned that the Musica Pristina A Capella is a Roon endpoint with i2s and so are the Sonore products.

MQA has been confirmed. I understand that PS Audio is working with the MQA folks on the T's and C's......
 
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