Keces DA-151 MK2
Gaara
Posts: 2,415
Keces DA-151 MK2 USB DAC - Price: $150 shipped
This is a very solid USB DAC that seems to do everything well. It has a perfect black background, is neutral from top to bottom, and excellent clarity. The DAC is in a compact chassis with a smoked Plexiglas top so you can look at the impressive internals.
Condition:
The DAC is in very good condition with no apparent blemishes. The Plexiglas top does have the typical swirl marks, see pic below. See additional pictures at Flickr.
Terms:
Accepting Paypal Gift, Paypal, or USPS money order. Will be packaged well and includes power cable and USB cable. I have additional feedback on Audiogon and on Head-Fi. For sale in the US only.
This is a very solid USB DAC that seems to do everything well. It has a perfect black background, is neutral from top to bottom, and excellent clarity. The DAC is in a compact chassis with a smoked Plexiglas top so you can look at the impressive internals.
Condition:
The DAC is in very good condition with no apparent blemishes. The Plexiglas top does have the typical swirl marks, see pic below. See additional pictures at Flickr.
Terms:
Accepting Paypal Gift, Paypal, or USPS money order. Will be packaged well and includes power cable and USB cable. I have additional feedback on Audiogon and on Head-Fi. For sale in the US only.
Post edited by Gaara on
Comments
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People looking for a good USB dac, jump on this. I have one and it's a great sounding piece of gear.
H9"Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul! -
I'll take it.
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People looking for a good USB dac, jump on this. I have one and it's a great sounding piece of gear.
H9
It is a solid little DAC.audiocr381ve wrote: »I'll take it.
Sale Pending -
Be sure and run it with the ASIO4ALL plug in. What music player will you be running on your computer for this?
H9"Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul! -
Be sure and run it with the ASIO4ALL plug in. What music player will you be running on your computer for this?
H9
I was going to ask you about all of that stuff in a PM
I have a PC and I'm going to dedicate a 500 GB internal drive to music. I'm guessing I'll need a solid USB cable right? Lots to learn again. -
Is this for the main rig? Or a secondary rig where you will be controlling what you play while at the computer? I use a beefier USB cable, but nothing exotic. Atleast not at this time. I do use a little nicer power cable, but again nothing too crazy, but not stock either.
H9"Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul! -
Is this for the main rig? Or a secondary rig where you will be controlling what you play while at the computer? I use a beefier USB cable, but nothing exotic. Atleast not at this time. I do use a little nicer power cable, but again nothing too crazy, but not stock either.
H9
Well we moved so the main rig is now in the office which is kind of funny because it makes it an office main rig.
I'll take a picture of my setup soon. I really can't wait to hear this thing and compare it to my CDP, which sounds really good.
Have you done any mods to it? (I feel like a high school student when asking that question for some reason) -
Mine is the MK I that uses a pair of coupling caps at the output. The MK II has op-amps coupling the output. I have some much nicer Clarity Caps to put in, as soon as I get time. I have been very impressed with this unit. Very neutral, great soundstage, nice tight bass. I wasn't expecting it to sound as good as it does, nor was I expecting the excellent build quality and quality of parts used.
I even prefer it to the fully discrete Audio GD NFB-3 on most material. Although they both have qualities I like, if I had to choose just one, it would be hard, but it would be the Keces. Luckily I don't have to choose and can randomly swap them in and out when I want something slightly different."Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul! -
Mine is the MK I that uses a pair of coupling caps at the output. The MK II has op-amps coupling the output. I have some much nicer Clarity Caps to put in, as soon as I get time. I have been very impressed with this unit. Very neutral, great soundstage, nice tight bass. I wasn't expecting it to sound as good as it does, nor was I expecting the excellent build quality and quality of parts used.
I even prefer it to the fully discrete Audio GD NFB-3 on most material. Although they both have qualities I like, if I had to choose just one, it would be hard, but it would be the Keces. Luckily I don't have to choose and can randomly swap them in and out when I want something slightly different.
Yep, I knew you had really good things to say about it which is why I pulled the trigger. I'm seriously a sucker for a good review from a trusted source (yes that was a compliment!). You can't beat this price too. -
I used this with Foobar2000 using FLAC files ripped w/ EAC in secure mode. I used WASAPI to bypass Kmixer, its the equivalent to ASIO4ALL if you have Vista or Windows 7.
