How did you choose your DAC?

[Calypso]

Choosing any piece of equipment can be a journey. How did you choose your DAC? What were your criteria?

 

[Todd Anderson]

Wow. big question. I'm super curious to hear responses about this, because I have a reaaaaalllly tough time hearing differences in DACs. I'd probably hazard to guess that my criteria would center around other functionalities and connectivity associated with the DAC.

That said, I believe that some can hear differences. I'd like know how - and what - you're listening to!

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

I hate thinking about DACs.

For the theater, the DAC in my Anthem is all there is. I bought the Anthem for features other than the DAC.

For my 2ch setup, vinyl is the primary format involved there, but I do currently have a Bluesound Node 2i in that system. I did a head to head last year with a Node X and didn't hear any difference at all when A-Bing them, nor did any other member of the household. And the DAC was supposed to be the huge improvement.

The only thing that has me considering replacing the Node is the Eversolo A6, and ONLY because of the Apple Music integration. I hate having to AirPlay from AppleMusic, I want it to just take the stream over on the deck and drop from my phone.

I've dropped Tidal and Amazon Music HD. I don't have CDs or SACDs or Blu-ray Audio or any optical media. I don't keep a big file server of FLAC files. AppleMusic is just the best situation for me. The Eversolo is the only device with AppleMusic built-in aside from Sonos or the HomePods, neither of which fit my use case.

 

[Sonnie]

I don't choose. I just accept whatever is included in my processor, but I know I would never hear a difference, and it wouldn't influence me psychologically enough to warrant adding something else in the chain of equipment.

 

[Calypso]

That’s the appeal with this hobby, one can choose! What I am learning is that a proper implementation of a DAC should not colour the stream, so for me it’s helpful to review the independent testing of various manufacturers and their respective DACs. Once I narrowed it down to a handful, then I started to focus on interface support, UI, reliability, and cost.

Similar to other purchases, one can spend a lot on DACs but one can find very good affordable kit with impressive specs on the market. As with speakers, you can listen to them at your favourite audio store but the true test is when they are in their final place, your home. Some folks want their system all digital till the speakers, others well, lessor so.

Anyway, as I mentioned above, the fun is you can choose.

 

[Tim Hector]

Well, I've been a 2 channel junkie since 1979. I've had at least a dozen dac's. Probably 7 of them was under $300. You know, you can hear the difference between a $100 dac and a $300 dac, but the differences were minor.
In brand names, I've had a Schiit, Modi 2... it was in line with my $200 dacs and only $100. I had a Chord MOJO, Slightly better than the Schitt, but not a different world. I had a Chinese balanced dac that was close to $400 (no name), I liked it, just a tad richer or more organic presentation. I got an SMSL SU-9 MQA. Never turned it off, it was the best so far. Smooth, detailed, good sound stage, good imaging and minimal digital glare that seemed to pop up its ugly head in all of the lower priced dacs. Recently, I purchased a Denafrips Enyo. This dac actually needed a fair amount of break in time, after that I found that It is a bit less detailed than the SMSL, but just a bit, what it does does do different is the way it presents music. A warm rich presentation without any glare that just feels more like music than the others. To be fair, this dac does retail at just about double of any of the other dacs and I do run it balanced in a fully balanced system. Overall, I have been enjoying this Dac more than any other that I have owned. I hope this helps in some way. Tim

 

[Calypso]

Well, I've been a 2 channel junkie since 1979. I've had at least a dozen dac's. Probably 7 of them was under $300. You know, you can hear the difference between a $100 dac and a $300 dac, but the differences were minor.
In brand names, I've had a Schiit, Modi 2... it was in line with my $200 dacs and only $100. I had a Chord MOJO, Slightly better than the Schitt, but not a different world. I had a Chinese balanced dac that was close to $400 (no name), I liked it, just a tad richer or more organic presentation. I got an SMSL SU-9 MQA. Never turned it off, it was the best so far. Smooth, detailed, good sound stage, good imaging and minimal digital glare that seemed to pop up its ugly head in all of the lower priced dacs. Recently, I purchased a Denafrips Enyo. This dac actually needed a fair amount of break in time, after that I found that It is a bit less detailed than the SMSL, but just a bit, what it does does do different is the way it presents music. A warm rich presentation without any glare that just feels more like music than the others. To be fair, this dac does retail at just about double of any of the other dacs and I do run it balanced in a fully balanced system. Overall, I have been enjoying this Dac more than any other that I have owned. I hope this helps in some way. Tim

Most definitely it does! Interestingly enough, one of the DACs I am looking at is the SMSL SU-9 MQA from a price and performance perspective, along with the SMSL DO400 ES9039MSPRO Full Balanced Headphone Amplifier Audio Decoder DAC. My only headphone access point is on my CD player, so it checks another box for me. Just in case, the SQ change is minimal or not perceptible to me, I still have a win. Mark

 

[skid00]

I originally searched the internet, and then reviews for units that fit my price range, and that were portable. I wanted to listen to Sennheiser 800s headphones with a laptop.

After I digitized all my music, I wanted a good measuring DAC for my main system. I used Audio Science Review's reviews to find DAC's with the best measurement in my price range, and then narrowed that down to units available on Amazon.

Did the same thing again when I moved my headphone listening to a desktop PC, after my battery powered portable DAC's batteries died, and I couldn't find replacement batteries.

Properly designed DACs and amps should sound indistinguishable from each other. Even if there are sub-dB level differences on the deep and high ends of the frequency range, most speakers level differences, and the room they are in, will hide the DAC/amp's minor differences.