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Mid Priced DACs - What have people gone for?

quad2fan said:
I don't think John Westlake is capable of producing a bad sounding DAC.
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I am sure of that J.W. does know his job but if you don't mind (don't get me wrong...), I am afraid of "Made In China" mark on the back. :( There were some problems with Audiolab 8200CD too.
 
I have had many dac's through my system in the last year.
The MDAC is an incredible bit of kit but I would say a little controlled.
For me it is still the Young M2 Tech DAC that really sings, speak to Keith from Purite Audio.
 
Purite Audio said:
The M2Tech Young does 24/384 ( not a lot of.music at those sample rates mind)
Keith.
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Hi Keith,

if you don't mind, pleas tell us about youre experiences with Palmer Power Station from M2Tech in combination with Young DAC. How do they sound together? How much better?

Thanx!
 
Dacmagic at £200 is all that is required.
If you must spend more the MDAC has a built in pre and has good pedigree, so will sound transparent.
 
MDAC and young have opposite sound characters, neither is 100% neutral. both very system dependent IMHO. young brighter and HF tilted, MDAC a bit darker and HF recessed. both very good for what they cost. if you want 100% neutral, look elsewhere.
 
anubisgrau said:
MDAC and young have opposite sound characters, neither is 100% neutral. both very system dependent IMHO. young brighter and HF tilted, MDAC a bit darker and HF recessed. both very good for what they cost. if you want 100% neutral, look elsewhere.
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Any advice perhaps?
 
Rocketride said:
Hi Keith,

if you don't mind, pleas tell us about youre experiences with Palmer Power Station from M2Tech in combination with Young DAC. How do they sound together? How much better?

Thanx!
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I had the palmer on trial in my system for a week (thanks Keith).
I can only compare it gainst the stock PSU, never used an after market one.

With the Palmer the Young simply sounds better, but two are the areas where I've noticed the bigger differences: bass extension (not quantity) and voices, especially choir. The overall sound signature is similar, but the Palmer is a bonus. I could have probably lived with the stock PSU if didn't listen to the Palmer...but I did, and decided to keep the Palmer.
 
I had a Young, which is an excellent DAC, I only sold it because the wife was nagging me to get a CD player since she could not work the mac! Ive now got on order a CDQ, all said though I can reccomend the M2Tech Young
 
I use a Northstar Essensio DAC (£800 I think). It has an asynchronous USB (theoretically up to 32/192). I just use the SPDIF with a Rega Apollo as the transport. I was a CD sceptic before buying the DAC, but I know better now.

Like most decent kit, you can get one on a 14 day home trial.
 
I will be demoing Caiman and (thanks to another member) MDAC at Scalford. If anyone would be able to throw in another DAC, I think there is room for another. Let's hear how it "blows away" the others!

Tim
 
Caimans are nice little DACs (as are DACMagics), but both weren't so strong over USB IMO. The newer DACMagics have most likely sorted this.

I went from the above to several older high-end Thetas which I really liked, and thought quite an improvement over my Caiman.

Then I got a Young DAC which was much better still, but it's somewhat unfair to compare a Theta or a Young to a £200 Beresford.

Caiman sounds great with the 'Passive' mod, or the 'Gator' output board upgrade, provided it can drive your power amp (NVA didn't like it though :mad:).
 
One shouldn't forget with all these options, that John Westlake will also be debuting an external PSU (with extra's such as analogue inputs) for the MDAC at some point this year - I guess that will offer a further performance boost, and means one can buy the MDAC for a good price now, and extend that performance later on as/when funds allow.

£600 really is my current limit (unless I part with my SP-10 Mk.II afterall).

- John
 
Alan Brown said:
I think you'd have to have the Wyred 4 Sound DACS in there, the new MYTEK stereo 192, Calyx DAC, M2Tech Young DAC (Which I have & rate), probably something Wavelength too...
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Exactly what I was thinking.

I have a Young Dac.


If I'd have had £1,400 to spend, I would have the Calyx - to my ears it completely won the ''dac bake off'' (USB source dac comparison)
 
Rocketride said:
Hi Keith,

if you don't mind, pleas tell us about youre experiences with Palmer Power Station from M2Tech in combination with Young DAC. How do they sound together? How much better?

Thanx!
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Rocket Hi, the Young does sound a bit better with the external power supply,although the stock supply is absolutely fine, we encourage everyone to listen to everything at home and make up your own mind.
KR Keith.
 
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