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February 28, 2008 - 8:35pm
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Recommend a DAC?
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Check out Musical Fidelity A324 DAC. Really nice especially considering you can get it for around $600 on Audiogon
I have the same issue. BTW, the AppleTV DAC is significantly better than the Airport Express DAC. I am considering a Benchmark DAC as well, but I think I am going to end up with a good CD player that has optical in - best of all worlds.
I have the Cambridge Audio 840C and it's pretty great; I run my Squeezebox through it. I hear Accuphase players do a great job in acting as DAC...
There's the critical part. The interface between computer and DAC.
Relying on any computer media player software and operating system to play your music files presents a host of issues now and in to the future.
Using USB to transfer data from computer to DAC presents a host of issues.
Buy the Squeezebox first. Enjoy the slight improved performance from it's DAC for a while. Then consider an outboard DAC to take the sound to the next level.
SOTA DAC's are $750.00 - $2,500.00. There's a bunch of superb ones at $1,000.00 retail.
RG
I also hear a lot of great things about 47 Labs Shigaraki DAC, especially from people who are not fond of digital sound... supposed to have real analog-like warmth if you're into that kind of sound.
Thanks everyone. I'm leaning towards the DAC1 with a SqueezeBox at the moment. For what I want to do with it I can use it instead of my NAD pre and run it straight into the Hafler. Seems like a good solution since I really only want my iTunes library as a source.
The guy at my local high-end audio store recommended that I look at the Apogee line, since I already have a HD recording system built around a MOTU HD 896 (he also runs a small recording studio and claimed the Apogee gear is much better than the MOTU). They recently came out with a small firewire interface - The Duet. Today I picked up one, figuring it might work for my home audio system and I could also use it for remote recordings and messing around with Logic. Hooked it directly into the Hafler, and oh my. Sounds great, especially for under $500 and given the other things I can do with it beyond playing back music. Plus it boils down my system to the Hafler and this little thing (which draws it power from the firewire cable). What am I going to do with all this extra shelf space?
I'm sure I can improve things even more, but for now I'm enjoying a large leap forward in audio quality. Anyone interested in a used MOTU HD 896....? I've got to start saving up for an Ensemble.
Again, thanks for everyone's input.