niss_man Posted August 4, 2014 Posted August 4, 2014 I have a hankering for a DAC upgrade and it seems to be down to these two. Looking around the $1000 mark and want the ability for balanced output at a later stage as well as having preamp volume control. Has anyone got experience with these dacs tell me what you think about them? What I'd ultmately like is to have a listen to both before purchasing. Regards Simon
hochopeper Posted August 6, 2014 Posted August 6, 2014 Simon, I am a big fan of 9018 DAC IC, of those two, I guess the audio-gd would be my preference of the two (the 24/96k limit on usb input on the m-dac means the USB input will be quite out of date) I really dislike the way the audio-gd PCB layouts are done .... Not interested in a DIY DAC? Chris
niss_man Posted August 6, 2014 Author Posted August 6, 2014 I was leaning towards the Audio GD and since I will use it with usb, you've just sold me Chris. I did think about diy dacing it but the ones I have seen, don't have balanced outputs or a nice remote volume control system. As you know I do love diy, but in this case I think I may be better off purchasing a good bang for buck dac. Simon
Steam Posted August 6, 2014 Posted August 6, 2014 For what it's worth I have used the M-DAC and its a cracker. Although I dont use the USB. If I were on a tight budget one of these with a nice power amp and your set.
New Sensations Posted August 6, 2014 Posted August 6, 2014 Both good dacs for the money but the USB implentation on the audio-gd is likely to be the better of the two. Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk
hochopeper Posted August 6, 2014 Posted August 6, 2014 There has to be something better out there Simon ... I'm on the hunt now.
niss_man Posted August 6, 2014 Author Posted August 6, 2014 I've seen volume control modules for sale similar to the audio gd. The thing was 350€:-o.
greenie512 Posted August 11, 2014 Posted August 11, 2014 Hi Simon I have a AudioLab mDac, you could borrow and see if you like it :-) 1
mloutfie Posted August 27, 2014 Posted August 27, 2014 I'd vote to NFB28 because of the bonus balanced headphone out. Might not be everyone's cup of tea but certainly mine
THOMO Posted August 27, 2014 Posted August 27, 2014 TEAC UD501? I heard one of these and thought it sounded very good.DSD too. Never really got on with the Audio Gds and I owned a few.Something odd in their output stage and what it does timing and snap because they all sounded like that even though they had different DAC chips.
Recommended Posts