Is there a good DAC for less than $500

skipf

I'm looking for a DAC to use with my Oppo 970, but don't have a lot to spend on it. That's why I bought the oppo instead of a Jolida which I have heard very good things about. Any advice on a good unit would be appreciated.

Early B.

For $500, consider buying a nice CD player instead of a DAC.

AndyGwis

yeah, for $100 - $200, a DAC might be fun to play with. But, for $500, you can get a great CD player to begin with. Look into that Rotel 1072 on Agon for like $400.

Lot of nice Jolidas, Arcam, maybe a Rega, etc. in that price range, too.

steveinaz

+1 to the 2 above. At that price point (unless you find a killer used deal) an external DAC is almost a waste of time and money. You need to be in the $900 and up range (new price) to really benefit from an external DAC.

You have a very nice system, save your money up and get a good DAC; not trying to toot my own horn, but take a look at the Benchmark reviews below my sig. I don't think anything exists that can compete with the DAC1 for $975. I do ALOT of research before I purchase anything, so I'm well-schooled about what is available at the $1000 mark.

heiney9

You'll get more bang for your buck with a dac. That's my experience. $500(new) isn't going to get you much as far as a cdp that's much more than ordinary.

Monarchy
Adcom
Aragon
MSB
Parasound
Ps Audio
Lite Audio
Audio Alchemy

all make very nice units that in the sub $500 range used with a bit of patience.

Audiogon has a couple of Monarchy's in the $350 range right now that are superb units.

tryrrthg

Plenty of good DAC's out there for $500. I've owned two. Bel Canto DAC1.1 and Musical Fidelity A3.24cr DAC. Both are fantastic for the price.

Audio Mirror, Lite Audio have gotten a lot of buzz lately too.

AndyGwis

I like my Theta DAC, don't get me wrong.

But, if I had $500 - $600 to get the best redbook CD sound, I'm not sure I would get a transport and player. Besides space issues and matching them (sonically and asthetically), it would seem logical to just get the best CD player you could find.

I went the player + DAC route to keep SACD playback and headphone output my incumbent player had while upgrading sonics. Plus, Russ told me it was a really good deal, and I always listen to Russ. My Theta was around $315, I believe.

lanion

www.headphone.com sells a micro DAC that is probably pretty good for $300. I have their micro headphone amp and it is quite awesome.

rskarvan

I bought my Adcom GDA700 Dac for $325 and am very pleased with it.

Systems

If you can find one the Assemblage 3.1 is an ecellent unit.

skipf

Thanks all for the informed replies. I want to stick with SACD and there are few top quality players I've found that are less than a couple of thousand bucks. There do seem to be many redbook players out there that are affordable, but I like the sound quality of the SACD recordings much better. Thats why I went with the Oppo to use as a transport to pair with a decent DAC. I did check the reviews on the Benchmark and they were indeed impressive. I guess I just need to save some more bucks, but if it is going to get into the $1000+ range for the combo, I'll probably just wait on a Sony or Marantz SACD player. Heard good things about both. Anybody heard the California Audio Labs DAC's? They seem to be reasonable and I've read good reviews of the company, even though they are no longer around.

heiney9

skipf wrote: »

Thanks all for the informed replies. I want to stick with SACD and there are few top quality players I've found that are less than a couple of thousand bucks. There do seem to be many redbook players out there that are affordable, but I like the sound quality of the SACD recordings much better. Thats why I went with the Oppo to use as a transport to pair with a decent DAC. I did check the reviews on the Benchmark and they were indeed impressive. I guess I just need to save some more bucks, but if it is going to get into the $1000+ range for the combo, I'll probably just wait on a Sony or Marantz SACD player. Heard good things about both. Anybody heard the California Audio Labs DAC's? They seem to be reasonable and I've read good reviews of the company, even though they are no longer around.

Who makes an outboard DAC that decodes/plays SACD?

skipf

Not sure, I'm the uninformed one here. Read many reviews and posts regarding using the Oppo 970 with a DAC to improve the playback, so I assumed (I know, that's usually the wrong thing to do) that it worked both on redbook and SACD playback. Is this not the case? I thought a DAC simply converted the digital signal to analog regardless of the format of the digital signal.

crossroads

You could try NOS (none over-sampling) DAC they're used arround $200 and to my knowledge DAC doesn't work with SACD. Cheers.

Gaara

But SACD doesn't output over the digital outputs, only the analog. If you have a SACD outputing over the digital outs then it is using the CD layer of it instead of the SACD layer.

If you are looking for just redbook I second the NOS recomend. Units to look at would include Lite Audio, DIY Paradise Monice II, Ack Dack, MHDT Paradisea or Constantine, and Scott Nixon.

steveinaz

Exactly, there are no commercially available SACD DAC's. Current DAC's are for Redbook only. What can always run your SACD analog connections directly to your pre, and connect the digtal out to the DAC for redbook playback.

AndyGwis

steveinaz wrote: »

Exactly, there are no commercially available SACD DAC's. Current DAC's are for Redbook only. What can always run your SACD analog connections directly to your pre, and connect the digtal out to the DAC for redbook playback.

That's how I've got mine set up. Gives me very good CD playback and solid SACD as well.

If I were you, I'd look for a nice Sony ES SACD Player. Most are changers (222es, 333es, 555es, 777es) but there are a couple that are single disc (NSV and maybe some DVP series).

Good luck! Most SACD players are universals in the under $400 range (marantz, pioneer elite, denon, etc.). I think the Marantz 8260 might be an audio only with SACD at an affordable price.

Systems

heiney9 wrote: »

Who makes an outboard DAC that decodes/plays SACD?

SACD cannot be transmitted on the SPDIF.The powers that be didn't want players /transports to have ability to output the SACD digital data for copy protection reasons.Although now I think it can be sent via HDMI.

Early B.

Here's another option -- forget about SACD. As you move up the line in 2-channel components, cables, etc., the improvements from SACD playback become a moot point, IMO. For multi-channel playback, stick with what you've got.