Browsing DAC's

bobsauto49
bobsauto49 Posts: 973
edited April 2012 in Electronics
Lookin to purchase a DAC,and have many Questions! 1st, does a DAC convert music from any pc source? Like if my wife wants to listen to music off of youtube,does it convert that?> or just the streaming music services? And 2nd,whats a good DAC for $500 or less? Iv'e browsed the Music Fidelity MkII,and the Cambridge Dac Magic Plus. And are the older DacMagic's any good? They can be had for much less.
I basically want to use this for pc music only,as i feel my CD player(Oppo) sounds great for my cd's!
I'm kinda lost in this new venture,so any help is greatly apprieciated! I have windows7,and have read that flac doesn't run with windows. All the music I listen to right now is through my Oppo,with cd's,so this is a large jump for me!
Also,i sometimes listen to Direct Tv music stations! The music sounds mute,and doccile. Will a DAC help this as well?
So many Questions,so many things to learn! help!:redface:
"Everything I ever did in my life worthwhile I caught hell for"
Post edited by bobsauto49 on
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  • audiocr381ve
    audiocr381ve Posts: 2,588
    edited April 2012
    bobsauto49 wrote: »
    Lookin to purchase a DAC,and have many Questions! 1st, does a DAC convert music from any pc source? Like if my wife wants to listen to music off of youtube,does it convert that?> or just the streaming music services? And 2nd,whats a good DAC for $500 or less? Iv'e browsed the Music Fidelity MkII,and the Cambridge Dac Magic Plus. And are the older DacMagic's any good? They can be had for much less.
    I basically want to use this for pc music only,as i feel my CD player(Oppo) sounds great for my cd's!
    I'm kinda lost in this new venture,so any help is greatly apprieciated! I have windows7,and have read that flac doesn't run with windows. All the music I listen to right now is through my Oppo,with cd's,so this is a large jump for me!
    Also,i sometimes listen to Direct Tv music stations! The music sounds mute,and doccile. Will a DAC help this as well?
    So many Questions,so many things to learn! help!:redface:

    I'll tackle this one...

    Yes a DAC will play any audio from your PC (youtube, editing platform, iTunes, whatever...), it does takes a little bit of configuration. Whoever told you FLAC doesn't play on Win 7 is weird. It does. You just need the appropriate audio player.

    The DAC's you mentioned all have good reputations. I'm sure guys will chime in with good ideas in the $500. I've had 3 or 4 different ones in the $300 range and all of them did things differently. At $500 I'd look in to a used Eastern Electric tube DAC.

    A DAC can help will most definitely help with Direct Tv music stations, but streaming music generally isn't the best quality. A good DAC won't do any miracles but it certainly will help.
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  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,538
    edited April 2012
    DirecTV music (Sonic Tap) is better--but still pretty dismal even through my Benchmark DAC. Who knows how squashed that music is, but I think I recall better performance with a Polk XM tuner and XM radio. I think the cambridge offerings are stellar at their price points. The DAC Magic + will offer more versatility down the road (can be used as a preamp) so I'd recommend you stretch your budget a bit and get it.

    DAC's are a dime-a-dozen anymore, so be careful with your choice. Get something well reviewed, and well known. Beware of the $200 so-called "giant killers"...

    Since most everything these days has digital output, your DAC may very well be the "center piece" of your system; so don't low-ball it too much---and make sure it has multiple inputs for flexibility. All of my sources run through my Benchmark, and I'm glad I spent the money I did on it.
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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  • Fongolio
    Fongolio Posts: 3,516
    edited April 2012
    I have a DacMagic Plus and can say it is a great DAC for the money. It will even do 192/24 over usb. Very few even high end dacs out there can do that. Balanced and unbalanced out's. Plus it will work as a pre. Excellent value for the money. Oh, and it sounds very very good too.

    Just a note. The older DacMagic could be improved with a Pangea power supply. This power supply will NOT work on the DM Plus. The engineers changed the type of supply. As of now the only upgrades to the power supplies are very expensive.
    SDA-1C (full mods)
    Carver TFM-55
    NAD 1130 Pre-amp
    Rega Planar 3 TT/Shelter 501 MkII
    The Clamp
    Revox A77 Mk IV Dolby reel to reel
    Thorens TD160/Mission 774 arm/Stanton 881S Shibata
    Nakamichi CR7 Cassette Deck
    Rotel RCD-855 with modified tube output stage
    Cambridge Audio DACmagic Plus
    ADC Soundshaper 3 EQ
    Ben's IC's
    Nitty Gritty 1.5FI RCM
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  • newrival
    newrival Posts: 2,017
    edited April 2012
    I'll second the Eastern Electric version 1. But it's tough to find under $700.
    But it is truly awesome. Musical Fidelity DACs are really nice too. completely different sound than the EE, though, as you might expect from the EE being a tubed component. The MFs are very precise, which I like :)
    design is where science and art break even.
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  • dragon1952
    dragon1952 Posts: 4,899
    edited April 2012
    I might have a Channel Islands Audio VDA-2 available in the next few days.
    2 channel - Willsenton R8 tube integrated, Holo Audio Spring 3 KTE DAC, audio optimized NUC7i5, Windows 10 Pro/JRiver MC29/Fidelizer Plus 8.7 w/LPS and external SSD drive, PS Audio PerfectWave P3 regenerator, KEF R3 speakers, Rythmik F12SE subwoofer, Audioquest Diamond USB cable, Gabriel Gold IC's, Morrow Audio SP5 speaker cables. Computer - Windows 10/JRiver, Schiit Magni 3+/Modi 3+, Fostex PMO.4n monitors, Sennheiser HD600 headphones
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  • danz1906
    danz1906 Posts: 5,144
    edited April 2012
    I may have a Rega Dac available for just a little more than your budget.
    Linn AV5140 fronts
    Linn AV5120 Center
    Linn AV5140 Rears
    M&K MX-70 Sub for Music
    Odyssey Mono-Blocs
    SVS Ultra-13 Gloss Black:D
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  • bobsauto49
    bobsauto49 Posts: 973
    edited April 2012
    Anybody have,or heard one of these? Opinions?????

    http://jolida.com/product/glassfx/fxtubedac
    "Everything I ever did in my life worthwhile I caught hell for"
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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 32,967
    edited April 2012
    I know we have a thread somewhere on that dac and off the top of my head it wasn't well received. Jolida is known for a few things, but dacs isn't one of them. The Rega the previous poster suggested is a very good dac. Also in your price range look for a used PS Audio digital link 3, Musical Fidelity M1, Eastern Electric, Audio-gd, Keyces, Dac Magic by Cambridge, Peechtree, or if a few hundies more fly into your pocket, look at Burson used or Bryston.
    HT SYSTEM-
    Sony 850c 4k
    Pioneer elite vhx 21
    Sony 4k BRP
    SVS SB-2000
    Polk Sig. 20's
    Polk FX500 surrounds

    Cables-
    Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
    Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
    Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
    Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable

    Kitchen

    Sonos zp90
    Grant Fidelity tube dac
    B&k 1420
    lsi 9's
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,590
    edited April 2012
    Here is a list I put together for myself regarding DAC's under 500 to check out for my office system which would be playing mostly AIFF files over USB via iTunes. Pandora streaming as well on occasion...

    TubeMagic D2 DAC
    KECES DA-151
    Audio GD NFB 3.1
    PeachTree Audio DAC-iT
    Schiit Bitfrost
    Arcan rDac
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • bobsauto49
    bobsauto49 Posts: 973
    edited April 2012
    tonyb wrote: »
    I know we have a thread somewhere on that dac and off the top of my head it wasn't well received. Jolida is known for a few things, but dacs isn't one of them.

    I found the thread,it was by MillerlightScott,and he had a problem at 1st,but cs fixed for him,and he "seemed to be happy".
    Just thought the price was good,therefore wanted advice from anybody who maybee used them!
    "Everything I ever did in my life worthwhile I caught hell for"
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  • bobsauto49
    bobsauto49 Posts: 973
    edited April 2012
    So anybody thinks the Jolda FX Tube is a bad idea? I Know i'm supposed to make my own exp. but i'd like to hear someone else's!
    "Everything I ever did in my life worthwhile I caught hell for"
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  • newrival
    newrival Posts: 2,017
    edited April 2012
    I've never heard it. I think Jolida offers a ton of bang for the buck, generally speaking. I do wonder how different their dac would be from their JD-100a CD player. I would imagine it would be be pretty darn close as it utilizes the same 12ax7 gain stage, and Burr-Brown DAC. And that CD player is highly regarded.

    Like I stated, I've never heard it, just commenting based on hearing the JD-100a and comparing the stats.
    design is where science and art break even.
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  • bobsauto49
    bobsauto49 Posts: 973
    edited April 2012
    Purchased the DacMagic Plus today! Just got home with it,and gonna start playin with it! Thanx for the input fellas!
    "Everything I ever did in my life worthwhile I caught hell for"
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  • leroyjr1
    leroyjr1 Posts: 8,785
    edited April 2012
    They sell them local up by you?
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  • bobsauto49
    bobsauto49 Posts: 973
    edited April 2012
    Hi-Fi Heaven! You mentioned them to me several month's back! And i'm hooked! Great people,Great products,and he beat the best price i could find on the web!
    "Everything I ever did in my life worthwhile I caught hell for"
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  • leroyjr1
    leroyjr1 Posts: 8,785
    edited April 2012
    bobsauto49 wrote: »
    Hi-Fi Heaven! You mentioned them to me several month's back! And i'm hooked! Great people,Great products,and he beat the best price i could find on the web!

    Great place.
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