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Anyone know if Rega has a DAC on the horizon?

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stu pitt

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Hi everyone. Great forum. I've tried searching, but came up with no results. If this has been covered, I appologize.

I have a Bryston B60 intergated amp, Rega Apollo, and Audio Physic Yara monitors. My latest foray has been into digital music - an Apple TV with all Apple Lossless files. I'm running an old Theta Cobalt DAC that I picked up pretty cheap and it has performed admirably for its age and price. But its no Rega Apollo. My ADDish tendencies have gotten the better of me and I find myself using the Apollo less and less due to the convenience. Somehow I don't have this problem with vinyl... must be my OCD.

I've heard a few DACs, and while very good, they don't do what my Apollo does. The one that surpasses it - Bryston BDA-1 is over my budget and won't happen any time soon. Instead of settling on something else, I'm wondering if anyone has any inside info on where Rega stands on developing a DAC. My dealer (I'm in the US) asked the distributer about a year ago, and they were pretty tight-lipped, but hinted that Rega was working on something.

A year later and still no more info. My fear is that I'll buy something and Rega will come out with one a moth or two afterward, or I'll keep waiting for the day that never comes.

So I ask my bretheren across the pond who are at least geographically closer to the source - anyone know anything about a Rega DAC?

A friend on another forum told me that Hifi Dave is a pretty good source.

Thanks in advance!
 
Thanks for the reply, cheviot.

I have looked into that, but there are several issues -

I'll have to remove my internal phono stage. The B60 doesn't have enough room for both. A comparable phono stage - along the lines of the Simaudio LP3 - will run me about $500 or so. I don't want to skimp on the vinyl side of things.

The only available digital input is coax. My Apple TV only has an optical digital output, therefore I'd have to get something to convert the signal.

Between the new phono stage, new interconnects, coax cable, and converter it'll end up costing more in the long run than the BDA-1. And the BDA-1 would sound better due to dual DAC chips and defeatable and selectable upsampling rates.

If I could have the DAC and phono stage together, I'd have no complaints whatsoever. The only ones that'll do both are the B100 and BP16. Both are also out of my range.
 
I also saw somewhere that Arcam showed a DAC at a show. Anyone have any information? It would definitely be worth an audition.
 
From info I got at the Bristol show, they are working on a DAC. I also asked about a streamer and was told that there were no plans at present.
John
 
Latest i was told from a very reliable source........ a Rega dac should be with us fairly soon. It will improve on the Apollo but not the Saturn. Price roughly £500. May not be in a full size box. That was all i was told.

But knowing how things change during development , any of the above may alter / be incorrect so dont take that as gospel.

Michael.
 
Dave if you're referring to the page, that's their current offers page. If you're referring to the Io, then as I mentioned, it may not be up to the modern mark. Just trying to help.
 
I did appreciate that the page was up to date, I was referring to the Io DAC which is quite a few years old now.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys. Its much appreciated.

I am aware of the Rega IO, and I believe there's one for sale currently on Audiogon. All of the pics I've seen of the IO are the old style Clam Shell chassis, which is at least a decade old in my estimation.

I'm not in much of a hurry, I plan on buying sometime this summer. If there's something definitely in the works, I don't mind waiting a little while longer - my turntable works very well, and my current Theta DAC isn't too shabby either. I just want to avoid buying something and seeing a Rega DAC that I've been waiting for for a while come out 2 or 3 months later.

Thanks again, or as many of my British friends say - Cheers, Mate!
 
One other thing - Hopefully the Rega DAC will re-clock the signal. My Apple TV has a decent amount of jitter. I know there are jitter supression devices out there, but I'd rather have it all in one box.
 
If you're waiting, then you should also keep in mind the audiolab DAC that may be the second coming... or not.
 
The DAC is still supposed to come out in the future. I'm drawing a blank on what was wrong with the CD player they introduced, however... Paper launch, no digital input? I'm quite sure there was something off, just not exactly what that might be. I'd bet on no digital inputs if I had to pick one though. Paper launch seems to run that a rather close second too...
 
Rega DAC at Apollo level for 500 quid? Not interested. Got the Lavry DA10 ($1000) recently - it literally slays the Apollo, no comparison.
 
I'm guessing that multi-input, optical/USB/ethernet DACs are the future for all of the current crop of CD player manufacturers. They know which way the wind is blowing.
 
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