Balanced DAC

blairfrischx

I have been posting about it over in Digital Audio for a couple days now. I figure I may as well post a wanted thread for it.

I'm looking for a DAC with both balanced and unbalanced output. Some DACs I may be interested in if the price is right include:

• Audio-gd NFB-17.2
• Music Hall DAC25.2 / DAC25.3
• Stello DA100 / DA100 Signature
• PS Audio Digital Link III
• Cambridge Audio DacMagic / DacMagic Plus
• Valab WM8741
• Something else entirely

If you have any of the three, or if you know of some other balanced DAC in the sub-$400 price range (used, in dfair condition or better) please send me a PM, and we can talk price.

zingo

I suggest the Maxtrix mini-i DAC for $300. Great little DAC with both output types up to 24/192.

EndersShadow

zingo wrote: »

I suggest the Maxtrix mini-i DAC for $300. Great little DAC with both output types up to 24/192.

Holy Crap thats cool. Hows it work for a headphone amp?

blairfrischx

zingo wrote: »

I suggest the Maxtrix mini-i DAC for $300. Great little DAC with both output types up to 24/192.

Very interesting. I'd like to look into it more. I even sometimes have to question the Asian companies' abilities to pack tons of features into a lower price tag.

Thanks, zingo!

Drenis

zingo wrote: »

I suggest the Maxtrix mini-i DAC for $300. Great little DAC with both output types up to 24/192.

It looks like a Bel Canto knockoff. And I don't really know much about that brand.

Face

In that dollar range, I wonder how many actually have balanced circuitry and not just a pair of XLR jacks.

heiney9

Face wrote: »

In that dollar range, I wonder how many actually have balanced circuitry and not just a pair of XLR jacks.

Of the ones he's listed probably just the Stello, but good luck finding something that hasn't been to hell and back for less than $500.

At $300 he would need to look really, really hard. You can't get much performance for $300 unless you really look. Again my obsession with Keces comes to mind simply because they perform extremely well at their price point, but you won't get proper balanced circuitry at $300.

H9

blairfrischx

I'm more immediately interested in the connectivity options that having balanced and unbalanced offers rather than the innate performance benefits that a truly balanced setup would yield. With that said, several of the ones I have listed do call themselves "truly balanced".

The Music Hall, Cambridge, Matrix, and Valab offerings may very well be exempt from this, but the NFB-17.2, the DA100 Signature, and possibly the DL III might be truly balanced, especially through the output stages. I don't think any will have a dual-mono power supply. The Valab offers two toroids, one for digital and one for analog, and the Audio-gd just has separated supply filters for each section of the DAC.

I'm open to suggestions, but I can only be so flexible on budget. :cheesygrin:

heiney9

Why bother with unbalanced if there is no performance gain, seems silly to me to request this requirement but to then exclude the performance benefit.

The focus should be on design, build quality and parts quality, IMO.

The Stello and Audio GD are the only units I'd even consider. But getting either at $300 is going to be a stretch. The more entry level Audio GD units, especially the models that combine more than one feature (heaphone amp/dac) are a compromise. I wouldn't consider anything less than the Audio GD NFB-3 if performance is important.

H9

falconcry72

anonymouse wrote: »

I have a Parasound DAC 2000 http://www.parasound.com/vintage/dac2000.php

Its an older DAC that still holds its own. Does not do high rez, but if your collection is redbook CD's, its a sweet sounding DAC.

I have one of these. I've compared it head-to-head against several newer DAC's, and it always wins. Excellent analog section. It really is a great sounding DAC. If you don't need hi-res, this would be an excellent option!

blairfrischx

heiney9 wrote: »

Why bother with unbalanced if there is no performance gain, seems silly to me to request this requirement but to then exclude the performance benefit.

The focus should be on design, build quality and parts quality, IMO.

The Stello and Audio GD are the only units I'd even consider. But getting either at $300 is going to be a stretch. The more entry level Audio GD units, especially the models that combine more than one feature (heaphone amp/dac) are a compromise. I wouldn't consider anything less than the Audio GD NFB-3 if performance is important.

H9

There was a Stello DA100 Signature on Audiogon just recently for $325, but I was a little too late and missed out on it. The NFB-17.2 retails for under $500 shipped.

I'm not overly interested in headphone functionality because I already have a dedicated headphone amp and most of them just aren't that great anyway in this price range. I would prefer to have both balanced and unbalanced outputs because my headphone system is unbalanced, but I would like for my two-channel system to be balanced from my PC all the way through.

My original thread in Digital Audio was meant to get input on what DACs with balanced outputs people had experience with or could recommend. I now have a short list, and this is my effort to try and find one of them that could fit in or near my desired price range, which probably stretches up to $500 for a good deal.

If you could, please elaborate on the differences between a truly balanced source and a quasi-balanced source? Any literature on any of the given "balanced" DACs is too tied up in marketing to approach that question directly.

heiney9

A Stello DA100 Signature for $325 is a HUGE bargain seeing as they retail for $1K. I was looking at the Stello DA100 before I bought the Keces DA-151 and Audio GD NFB-3 and couldn't find one for less than $600 and I looked for 6 months and this was recently, within the past year.

The Audio GD 17.2 is simiar to the NFB-3 except it's balanced. Don't forget to calculate the $60+ for shipping and 3.5% PayPal fees into your cost. That's what eventually kept me from buying direct. That was another $75 on top of the unit cost.......too much, IMO.

H9

blairfrischx

Direct, the NFB-17.2 is 439USD + 61USD shipping. I agree, it is too much to pay for something of that size to be shipped.

The shipping cost direct from Kingwa is a big reason why I'm looking on the used market. I've had a wanted thread open on Head-Fi for about a week now. It's not a huge rush, so I'm just keeping my eye on what comes up on the market, and I figured I would post here, since this community has been very good to me for buying.

But alas, the Stello will be the one that got away during this particular upgrade search. :sad:

blairfrischx

Well, guess this is closed now. Got a DA100 Signature on Audiogon tonight. Works for me.

blairfrischx

I have the pleasure of auditioning the Stello DA100 alongside the Grant Fidelity TubeDAC-09 and the Valab NOS DAC later this week. :cheesygrin: I won the TubeDAC by incident via a lowball bid on Audiogon, and the Valab is being lent to me. I'll have to make a post over in Digital Audio detailing a comparison of the three, considering how different they all are.