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Great sub-£1000 DACs

Contact me and I can do you a deal on my Mytek Brooklyn plus separate Linear PSU. My new DAC arrived today so it's best I move the Mytek on (it's my one that was mentioned earlier on this thread). It's a really decent DAC with some cool features, including an integrated MC/MM/line-level switchable analogue input, which held its own against my Dynavector P75 enough for me to sell that phono stage. It also has remote, volume control (bypass possible), balanced and non-balanced outputs and a nifty OLED display.
 
Thanks for all the great ideas everyone. I'm not that familiar with some of these brands, so I'm now doing some research.

I forgot to mention is that I prefer new and that I am hoping to use balanced outputs.

As for RME, it's a bit of a long story. I got one, the display was not stuck in quite the right place (not to spec I was told), so it was replaced. The second one had a very loose volume encoder, as well as having some scratches. The sound was great, although I was a little concerned about how hot it gets; surely the caps and other components won't last decades if they're getting that hot.

Thanks again, Matt
 
Can't beat the Exposure 2010S2 DAC. Unfortunately they stopped making them a while ago, but you could pick one up s/h.
 
The fun part of these topics is that they soon become a catalogue of all the DACs ever made, as each post will suggest the poster's preferred model.
 
As a couple of others have said, I can't imagine that threads like these are of any help. But, just to add to the noise and a recommendation above, on the basis of my longstanding good experience with my Audiolab Mdac, I would recommend Audiolab's current model, the Mdac+. Reputable company, reasonably good and accessible product support, solid performer.
 
the Manhattan II significantly betters it (to my ears) but it cost around £5k

Would you be willing to elaborate a bit on the differences between the Manhattan and the RME? I have an RME and am happy with it for my preferred application (cough cough, internet radio) but I imagine that Tidal could sound a bit more refined. Thanks!
 
I wouldn’t expect any DAC to last 10-15 yrs tbh and if it did I imagine it’d be quite outdated by 2031/36 anyway. What would you have now if you had the same idea in 2006/07? I don’t think USB was even standard back then was it?

Things have moved along at quite a pace over the last 5 years wrt DACs, probably more so than any other component.
I paid £400 for a Soncoz DAC and I’ll be pleased to get 3-5 years out of it, if I eventually don’t sell it first. I expect to see DACs with more flexibility being released with streaming, EQ, subwoofer connection all inclusive and becoming the norm.
They’ve wrung just about all they can performance-wise from the DACs so hopefully function and features will be next and by the time I need a new DAC hopefully I will get all those functions for £400 as well!
 
I think there's a place for minimally featured, well-specced DACs that can last. The chips themselves can really only be improved in an academic sense now. New connectivity might come along but existing ones are unlikely to be rendered obsolete. DDCs can be bought to handle that. Other features can be separated to other boxes too. Eg streaming is likely to keep evolving quickly so better to break that out.

MQA unfolding is really the only major, recent DAC feature to come along, I think, and that is not of ubiquitous utility (best to just leave the comment at that!).
 
Would you be willing to elaborate a bit on the differences between the Manhattan and the RME? I have an RME and am happy with it for my preferred application (cough cough, internet radio) but I imagine that Tidal could sound a bit more refined. Thanks!

Using the line out (XLR), both are excellent when it comes to detail, with the RME sounding a little lighter than the Manhattan. The RME sounds a little hard (relatively speaking!) in the mid and seems to present less of the natural warmth in acoustic instruments and voices than the Manhattan. Here goes the subjective! The Manhattan seems to put me in the concert hall or at the gig and preserve the atmosphere and emotion of the performance more effectively than the RME. Basically, I forget the HiFi and get lost in the music from the first note with the Manhattan, whereas I sometimes end up analysing the HiFi with the RME. It's a small difference though and could be system/room dependant.

One of the main differences in how these DACs are constructed is in their power supplies and analogue circuitry. The RME has a single switch mode supply and simple stepped analogue attenuation levels intended to mitigate any down side associated with the digital volume control it employs. The Manhattan includes two separate linear power supplies, one for the analogue side and the other for the digital. It includes a good analogue preamp section (which, to my ears, equals or beats some well respected alternatives) with a fully analogue volume control (which I prefer to the digital control that can be used as an alternative) that I use all the time.

You mentioned Tidal. I have it but don't use it much because of its heavy reliance on MQA, which I don't like. The Manhattan can fully decode MQA, but I find the sound to be artificial (not just on the Manhattan). If you turn the MQA decoder off, Tidal then feeds you a degraded 16/44 file of less than CD quality. The RME does not decode (unfold) MQA. Qobuz (16/44 and higher) is far better on both DACs and is my default streaming service.

On the other hand, to my ears, the RME is the better headphone amp (that is its main use for me). Its sophisticated DSP features are very helpful in this application, as they allow you to fine tune the frequency response on the individual channels to compensate for differences between your ears and to tame any peaks in your headphones' respond curve very effectively.

Hope this (sorry rather long!) post helps!
 
I wouldn’t expect any DAC to last 10-15 yrs tbh and if it did I imagine it’d be quite outdated by 2031/36 anyway. What would you have now if you had the same idea in 2006/07? I don’t think USB was even standard back then was it?
What I was getting at is that I tend to keep my gear for a long time. I also tend to use a simple setup in terms of mostly listening to CDs and to 44.1kz/16bit FLAC files on a NAS via USB, so I'm not hugely worried about the feature set. Hell, until a few years ago, I was using a '90s Rotel CD player and thought the DAC was fine in it.

However, I take your point and as such, have been thinking maybe I should get something like a Gustard X16 with the intention of updating my DAC more regularly. I've also heard that there is likely to be a new Exposure DAC next year, which will be interesting...
 


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