FS: Theta DS Pro basic II DAC (silver)

Stupid me is selling this lovely vintage DAC, purchased locally only days ago, because measurements are important. Not SINAD or GONAD or whatever, but dimensions – specifically, depth: this thing won’t fit in or even near my main system, and because of the space (and WAF) limitations in my small apartment, I can’t use it, so – f**k it – it’s gotta go.

Here is the ad I purchased this from. Yes, I paid $CAD500.

Cosmetics: the photos in the CAM ad are pretty good, showing the excellent condition of the faceplate and back panel. Note there’s a tiny nick on the upper edge of the faceplate above and to the left of ‘INPUT’ (4th CAM photo). The blemish above the second T of ‘THETA’ (5th CAM photo) is gone after some gentle rubbing with my finger (see my photo below).

There are, though, some marks on the top of the case: near the front close to the polarity switch and near the rear at the centre, a couple of scratches through the coating have been filled with ink or paint; and at middle right there are some shallow linear scuffs which show up or not depending on the lighting (my photos).

Functionality: this example has Toslink, AT&T and RCA inputs, an RCA digital output, and SE & balanced analogue outputs. I can confirm that the Toslink and RCA inputs, the digital output, and the SE analogue outputs work, and that music happens with the polarity switch in either position. I have no way of testing the AT&T input or the XLR outputs.

As shown in the topless photo this is the 1991 version, which differs from @Azimuth ‘s 1992 version in having the AT&T input hardware on its own board right next to the input jacks. Replacing the AT&T jack with a second RCA and wiring that directly to the main board looks to be straightforward (no jumper to change on the main board as on the 1992 version).

The input chip is CS8412 so 24/48 is currently the upper limit, but as @Azimuth showed it’s easy to swap in a CS8414 on a DIP adaptor for 96k input if you want that.

Available to Friends and known Contributors for:

· $US 300 including CONUS shipping (UPS Standard, insured) & fees
· $CAD 400 including Canada-wide shipping (UPS Standard or Canada Post, insured) & fees
· $CAD 325 cash or EMT for anybody close enough to me (Vancouver BC) for an in-person handover.​

A local sale is strongly preferred so I’ll wait a day or so to give locals a chance before responding to eligible remote buyers. I don’t have the original box, it’ll come well packed in the one in the photos. If you want to check shipping rates to your particular location and perhaps propose some alternative, the box is 23” x 18” x 4.5”, total weight will be 17 lbs., and it’ll be coming from Vancouver Canada (not Vancouver WA). However I think my prices are SBAFriendly and include an appropriate stupidity/self-punishment discount, so I won’t promise to be accommodating.

Possibly critical information: the depth from the front of the switches to the back of the input jacks is 15 (fifteen) inches. The original owner’s manual doesn’t list dimensions, and most of what you’ll find on the internet are incorrect figures of 13 or 14 inches. Allow at least another 1.5 inches for cabling.

 

Any ST Optical aficionados?

 

A very fine DAC! Moffat supercomboburrito filter and non-compromised balanced + unbalanced outputs since the PCM67 is a dual channel DAC. One chip per channel. Very similar tonality to Yggdrasil LIM, and with a quick $12 chip upgrade to CS8414 will do 24/96, no soldering required.

Most of the time I see this DAC in the wild it is priced over $500, so super excellent price!

 

I wasn't even particularly interested in these dacs but the fact that it's in Canada is twinging the curiosity funny bone...

So I can feed this an optical input and also daisy chain the coax output to my existing dac?

 

Get in line.

Yes, I tested HiFiBerry Digi2Pro --(Toslink)--> Theta --(RCA digital out)--> Modi Multibit.

 

SOLD to a super Friend from Texas. @shotgunshane / @jexby , please close.