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Dac choice around £1K

R

rotori

Member
Hi all,
I'm on the market for buying a standalone dac around £1000. There are a lot of brands and possible good choices around, but unfortunately is difficult to me to listen them (i'm out of uk and a demo is hard to find near) so before deciding i have to ask advice. My list of possible candidates are:

Teddydac
Mytek stereo 192 dsd
Teac ud-503
Metrum octave mk2 or Metrum Musette
M2tech young dsd

My amp is a hegel H80 with incorporated dac, but i'd like to upgrade it.
Any experience or preferences with any of them?

I could have listed a lot of other dacs but i think these of above are according to my preferences/tastes.


Many thanks! :)
 
NOS Dacs sound more natural to my ears but then i can hear little over 16.5KHz. A lot will depend upon the rest of your system. Is it Laid back too forward etc etc. It seems to me that most HiFi equipment is priced based upon its sonic hierarchy and not manufacturing costs so many DACs in the particular price point will have similar performance with a tilt if you will in its tonal balance / presentation that will either compliment your system and suit your tastes or will not.
I have owned the HUGO and metrum DACs both good. The HUGO is more focused probably more detailed The metrum open and Fluid. I currently use a Modified Jolida FX 2 and thats a nice bit of kit worth considering as with the Tube output stage you can modify both the output and Character somewhat. I have also heard / read good things about the DD Dac so that could be an option also the Schiit Audio Multi bit machines have a decent rep.
Buying used will be the best bang for buck but will sometimes require a blind purchase. Some of the DACs you mentioned can be had for way less than £500 so perhaps buy a couple try them and pass along the ones that dont suit.
 
Some of the DACs you mentioned can be had for way less than £500 so perhaps buy a couple try them and pass along the ones that dont suit.
Click to expand...

I'd do this.
 
I dont't envy your search, is there really that much difference in dacs between £300 and £1000. Good luck
 
Agree really very little difference between decent oversampling designs, but on the features you require, NOS ( non over sampling designs) will/might sound different.
Keith.
 
In my mind a second hand Chord Hugo would be about the best value and flexible choice out there, surely? Has Spdif and USB inputs and can be used in a full set up AND is a portable headphone amp (OK not THAT portable... but still).
 
Chord's FPGA DAC's trump off the shelf converters when it comes to unmolested analogue transfers imho. To my ears, they also sound quite different and better with most well recorded digital material with high dynamic range. For over compressed contemporary rock/pop I find them a little harsh, too much detail, whereas the homogenous Sabre/Sigma converters seem to be smoother and less fatiguing.
 
I'm really happy with my Young DSD (powered by the Van Der Graaf). I was thinking of going the streamer route, but now I've discovered Roon, I'll be sticking with my Mac and Young for now :)
 
Narrow your choice down to a couple based on the aesthetics you like....it's as good a criteria as any other...Go to a HiFi Show....(Bristol (UK) 26-28th Feb).;)
 
Thanks for your advices!
Although i'm sure about the excellent sound of Chord dacs, i'm trying to find something less analytic, which seems its main goal. Maybe NOS DACs are the opposite option (Metrum...), my Hegel offers me a beautiful organic sound, but i don't want to emphasize it so much, so maybe what i'm really searching is an equidistance between analytic/detailed sound and natural/musical/warm sound. My question is which of my options above (or yours suggestions) is within this parameters.

Thanks! I agree a lot yours suggestions!
 
I'm not sure what they go for in the UK, but the Line Magnetic 502ca is on my list as I've been so impressed with the 518ia (and they match). Tubes in there so maybe a little different flavor than other DACs in that range? I spent about an hour with one, but all components in that system were new to me, so I can't comment on its sound.
 
The M2 is good if you're looking for that kind of sound. It'll maybe sell better than the others too if you want to upgrade down the line...
 
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