Twice in the past year I have availed myself of inexpensive dacs to fill in while one of my dacs was away for attention. On both occasions I have been more than surprised by how near they came to satisfying my listening demands to the models I have costing several hundred percent more. The two cheap dacs: Dacmagic and Topping E30. To my ears, disregarding price, they were both in the same league as my Naim, my Brooklyn, my Hugo TT and my Qutest.
Am I missing something or are there similarly priced mini amps out there that would sit with equal comfort alongside my Masterclass, Chord 265 and Toby? Or do quality amps require greater all round input? I am aware of very good cheaper amps, but the disparity between my previously owned Arcam Alpha 8 and Alpha10 was far greater than the hardly dicernible difference between the dacs.
I am not interested in headphone amps, which I don't use.
Am I missing something or are there similarly priced mini amps out there that would sit with equal comfort alongside my Masterclass, Chord 265 and Toby? Or do quality amps require greater all round input? I am aware of very good cheaper amps, but the disparity between my previously owned Arcam Alpha 8 and Alpha10 was far greater than the hardly dicernible difference between the dacs.
I am not interested in headphone amps, which I don't use.