CageyH
pfm Member
I am just wondering what people have moved on to as far as a DAC is concerned after owning a Caiman SEG?
I have one with a few upgrades which sounds OK to me, but not massively different to the Asus Essence STX II in my streaming PC/music library. I realise that my system could be limiting things, but I am happy with the overall sound of the speaker and amp combination (Firebottle KIN, Mono blocks and Electric Beach FH3).
I have started toying with the idea of a new DAC, as I would like more than one Coax input, so I can potentially lose the Asus DAC (which directly feeds my Pre-amp). I have been looking at things like the Audiolab M-DAC plus (but I don’t need the pre or headphone amp) and the Topping D50S, or the Sabaj D5.
The main concern is that I will be potentially spending money for no reason, as they won’t sound much different, and it is not easy to try them out before you buy. I realise that the last two only have one coax input as well, so I may have to rethink my system/plans.
The main criteria is to be able to connect my PC and CD player (Pioneer PD-S703) to the DAC using coax, as to my ears, this sounds slightly better than optical connections. Any suggestions of where I should be looking? I am keeping this at the lower to middle budget range, with about £1k to improve my system.
I have one with a few upgrades which sounds OK to me, but not massively different to the Asus Essence STX II in my streaming PC/music library. I realise that my system could be limiting things, but I am happy with the overall sound of the speaker and amp combination (Firebottle KIN, Mono blocks and Electric Beach FH3).
I have started toying with the idea of a new DAC, as I would like more than one Coax input, so I can potentially lose the Asus DAC (which directly feeds my Pre-amp). I have been looking at things like the Audiolab M-DAC plus (but I don’t need the pre or headphone amp) and the Topping D50S, or the Sabaj D5.
The main concern is that I will be potentially spending money for no reason, as they won’t sound much different, and it is not easy to try them out before you buy. I realise that the last two only have one coax input as well, so I may have to rethink my system/plans.
The main criteria is to be able to connect my PC and CD player (Pioneer PD-S703) to the DAC using coax, as to my ears, this sounds slightly better than optical connections. Any suggestions of where I should be looking? I am keeping this at the lower to middle budget range, with about £1k to improve my system.
