Best £500 DAC for Naim/Avondale setup
- Thread starter glancaster
- Start date
sq225917
Bit of this, bit of that
Avole, advertising perhaps, but not marketing, I'm presenting an opinion not researching to develop one.
Given that the only dac to match the USB input of the young is the new top end DCS i don't think it's unfair to call it future proofed, and the sound is certainly above the bread and butter dacs in the £500 region.
Given that the only dac to match the USB input of the young is the new top end DCS i don't think it's unfair to call it future proofed, and the sound is certainly above the bread and butter dacs in the £500 region.
I agree with try before buy.
How did you find the Caiman (and Stan) as I don't remember you posing you had tried one before. I didn't think that the Benchmark was better in my brief tests even though it costs quite a bit more.
Glancaster, Stan the designer does return and money back if you are not happy. Doing this would at least appear to provide you with a less risky "benchmark" test.
Regards
glancaster
In the silicon vale
Thanks for all comments. I now reckon it's going to be tough to keep to my £500 budget for this - I would go a bit higher I suppose. Also,
@prowla: You are right that more than 16/48 is not needed for CD. However, it would be nice to have for the higher res downloads that we all hope will come in increasing numbers soon. The point I was trying to make is that the USB input is the Rega's weakest input. For a new DAC costing £500, the USB limitations are disappointing.
@sq225917: I'm beginning to think along similar lines - that I can't get what I want at the price I want. Keith at Purite has asked me if I want to dem the Young DAC, and I said yes, however there is a lot of demand at the mo apparently, so he hasn't managed to send me one yet. Will PM him, just to show I'm still interested.
@Dan.Scott1234: Interesting that we're in the same boat with respect to the AAA5. Which DACs have you tried and rejected?
I may visit the Bristol Show to get a chance to hear some of the new models. (Although some of the comments on the Bristol Show thread suggest that it may not be all that useful an experience, I hope that I would get something out of it.)
Kind regards
- Garry
@prowla: You are right that more than 16/48 is not needed for CD. However, it would be nice to have for the higher res downloads that we all hope will come in increasing numbers soon. The point I was trying to make is that the USB input is the Rega's weakest input. For a new DAC costing £500, the USB limitations are disappointing.
@sq225917: I'm beginning to think along similar lines - that I can't get what I want at the price I want. Keith at Purite has asked me if I want to dem the Young DAC, and I said yes, however there is a lot of demand at the mo apparently, so he hasn't managed to send me one yet. Will PM him, just to show I'm still interested.
@Dan.Scott1234: Interesting that we're in the same boat with respect to the AAA5. Which DACs have you tried and rejected?
I may visit the Bristol Show to get a chance to hear some of the new models. (Although some of the comments on the Bristol Show thread suggest that it may not be all that useful an experience, I hope that I would get something out of it.)
Kind regards
- Garry
Do you get paid for this service? Do you feel it is ethical to use PFM this way?
Perhaps you should make it clearer why you choose to plug certain products.
The Arcam rDAC has the same asynchronous USB input as DCS - Arcam have licensed the technology from DCS. Young have a different implementation. Moreover, there is a wireless version of the Arcam available well within a £500 budget
Lordhenley
pfm Member
From me experiences with Dac's which is quite limited to say the least but having tried the Naim Dac, which was not worth £2k IMHO and then going through with the purchase of the EE Minimax Dac which I no longer have, I would definately look out for a Dacmagic, to my ears these are the most dynamic sounding dacs Ive had the pleasure of hearing. I have also heard the Audiolab CDQ and the Arcam rDac all beit in a local delaership which was an adhoc impromptu demo and I can say that these did not tick any boxes for me either. I aint convinced about the sabre chipset myself which the EE and CDQ has, to me it kind of sounds a bit flat.
These are my opinions and take a listen for yourself, we all have different hearing to say the least and different musical presentations.
Lee
These are my opinions and take a listen for yourself, we all have different hearing to say the least and different musical presentations.
Lee
sq225917
Bit of this, bit of that
Avole, I was simply pointing out to you the difference between 'advertising' and 'marketing' as you seem not to understand the terms. Advertising is the presentation of a viewpoint relating to a product, marketing is the process by which products are specified and brought to the market- two very different things.
I certainly wasn't saying that what I was doing in mentioning a product was any different to any other poster mentioning any other products. Seemingly you have some bee in your bonnet either about me or the Young dac for some reason, I neither know nor care why, but let me state this just so you understand.
I have no commercial arrangement that provides for any form of remuneration, payment, discount or otherwise with any product, brand, retailer, manufacturer or distributor/importer of any product related to audio electronics. If I mention a product I do so solely because I either own it, intend to buy it or am interested in it from a technical viewpoint. Does that satisfy you need to impugn my objectivity?
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I understand that the Rdac uses an Async USb implementation licensed from DCS, however I was referring to the ability of the DCS and Young dac to receive 384khz over Async USB, something the Rdac cannot.
I certainly wasn't saying that what I was doing in mentioning a product was any different to any other poster mentioning any other products. Seemingly you have some bee in your bonnet either about me or the Young dac for some reason, I neither know nor care why, but let me state this just so you understand.
I have no commercial arrangement that provides for any form of remuneration, payment, discount or otherwise with any product, brand, retailer, manufacturer or distributor/importer of any product related to audio electronics. If I mention a product I do so solely because I either own it, intend to buy it or am interested in it from a technical viewpoint. Does that satisfy you need to impugn my objectivity?
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I understand that the Rdac uses an Async USb implementation licensed from DCS, however I was referring to the ability of the DCS and Young dac to receive 384khz over Async USB, something the Rdac cannot.
Dan.Scott1234
pfm Member
I think everyone would have a bee in their bonnet for the latest thing they've purchased - just human nature I guess. We've all become quite suspicious of viral marketing after a few certain incidents/products which is a shame as enthusiasm is all too often branded as marketing.
Deleted my previous post.
Lordhenley
pfm Member
In the end it did not work out, its a really nice Dac but overall it was not for me, it started off a nice Dac but over a period of a couple of weeks there was a degree of sibilance in the sound, I got my DM back from my mate who I had leant it too, when the DM was put back into the system the sibilance vanished, in the end the Dac went back. The dealer could not find anything wrong with it and it remains a mystery to this day, the sound was something that got on my nerves and I couldnt stand!
I aint convinced about this sabre chip set in Dac's, just my opinion of course and other people on here will probably love it. I have noticed that there has been some EE dacs for sale recently and even more recently a W4S Dac 2 which has the sabre chip set so it may not just be me.
For the time being Ive given up on the Dac upgrade and am currently looking at changing my speakers.
Ive also recently gone to balanced inputs from the DM to the Luxman, must say this is much better and the next dac I do try will have to have the balanced ouputs as standard.
Hope this helps out
Lee