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Best cheapest dac?

Hi Keith a few years back I bought a second hand Abrahamsen DAC 1 still use it and showed it at Scalford meet in 2016. I have heard several of their dacs and imho great sound and value for money
Kind Regards
Dave
 
All competently designed oversampling designs are going to sound pretty similar, really you are buying on features , the RME does appear to be extremely capable and extrmely well specified.
Keith
 
Apart from the XLR output impedance, which at 200 ohms is a little higher than the best available for DAC-pre duty IMHO.
 
Keith they seem remarkably well specced, I wonder how they sound vs the Brooklyn. If you're going to make one available for demo I'd be interested.
 
I would be delighted to send you one Simon, I can’t guarantee the sound quality will be any better but it has all sorts of interesting features including EQ, they arrive tomorrow!
Keith
 
Keith - I'd be interested in hearing your impressions as to how it sounds direct into your ATC 50's, as, I have these also. I'm still using the mk1 Young DAC I got from you in 2010 & it may be time for a change.
 
I have been listening to it all day long, I can’t promise it will sound better than the Young but it has hugely added functionality, drop me a PM with your address and you can compare it at home and let me know your thoughts.
Keith
 
If it follows the normal RME mould then the ADC part will be brilliant with a fairly decent but not necessarily exceptional DAC for monitoring.

Recording industry is what they do as a firm and I certainly wouldn't be in any hurry to change the HDSP9624 on the recording side of my system, but based on that I wouldn't have high expectations of the DAC half (or should that be 5%).
 
Yes it is such a shame they can’t make a decent dac when their adc is so fine, why oh why do RME let themselves down so!
Keith
 
Purité Audio said:
Yes it is such a shame they can’t make a decent dac when their adc is so fine, why oh why do RME let themselves down so!
Keith
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So what are you telling us here - the DAC on this "best, cheapest DAC" doesn't sound good, doesn't measure good or the specs tell you it isn't good - exactly what are you trying to say, Keith?
 
It was supposed to be a satirical retort to “colasblue” , why oh why can RME make a decent ADC but their DACs are so poor!
The ADI -PRO2 is a fantastic bit of kit, two headphone amps, cross feed, two or multi channel USB and it is extremely intuitive to use, it just does everything .
Just sending digital AES to the Dutch&Dutch 8Cs at the moment, it could do with a remote to make it perfect!
Keith
 
Strangely enough RME's reputation is built almost entirely on their ADC's and Digital interfaces.

That is their game and they are extremely good at it.

They have in the past never been particularly renowned for their DAC's and in fairness I don't really think their existing customer base expects them to spend much on any "built in" DAC which comes with their gear. The bulk of the money and performance are expected to be spent on the ADC and digital interface elements. Pro gear is a price sensitive market so you rarely get top notch performance on every aspect of a multi function device.

If it isn't better than a Young DAC at around half the price new (and a lot less used) and you aren't likely to use the ADC part much then what exactly is its place in the audiophile market?

It seems to me a competitor for the Lynx HiLo which is also very good but never really made it as a crossover product from pro audio to audiophile since most users don't use the ADC bit and don't want to pay for it.

For the user who does want all the functions how would it compare with say a BM or Lavry blue ADC plus a DAC3 HGC?
 
RME’s reputation is built on solid engineering why on earth would you believe that they are capable of engineering ADcs but not the relatively much simpler DAC?
Who are you, I might respect your opinion more if you weren’t posting under a pseudonym.
In my experience ‘pro’ gear offers excellent performance and value for money .
If you just require a dac then I agree an M2Tech ‘Young’ is an excellent choice I required rather more functionality hence the RME.
Keith
 
Purité Audio said:
RME’s reputation is built on solid engineering why on earth would you believe that they are capable of engineering ADcs but not the relatively much simpler DAC?
Who are you, I might respect your opinion more if you weren’t posting under a pseudonym.
In my experience ‘pro’ gear offers excellent performance and value for money .
If you just require a dac then I agree an M2Tech ‘Young’ is an excellent choice I required rather more functionality hence the RME.
Keith
Click to expand...
Keith, tell us how DAC engineering is "relatively much simpler" than ADCs, please?
 
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