The DAC Advice Thread

I recently had the opportunity to listen to a Sonic Frontiers SFD-2 and really enjoyed.

The problem is that they are hard to find and I do not trust their reliability being 30y+ old.

Is there any more recent dac with same timbre/tone ? Should I look in NOS options ? Metrum maybye ?

 

Should there be a thread called "Life under $1000 after Bifrost 2: Watering the Ash"?

I am looking for a DAC under $1000 to pair with my speakers (Saga OG > Aegir > Tekton Lore), or with my hotrodded Bottlehead Crack. I already have a Bifrost 2 and love it but want something different.

I want something with depth, black background, space, and detail. Timbre is also critical so I tend to lean towards R2R sound.

Single-ended is fine, no need for balanced. I would strongly prefer something with AES, or at least BNC, as this will be paired with a Pi2AES.

 

It’s maybe over your target, but I very much like the Gustard R26. It’s also a streamer.

 

The R26 is a good option for SQ, but street price is way over the $1k mark at like $1,649. Maybe used, IF you can’t find one. Too new right now, unless you get lucky. And really a new one is about the same price as a GS/A1 Yggdrasil.

I wish I had a suggestion myself, but I am actually in the same boat.

 

Good to know I'm not alone.

Any thoughts on the Soekris DAC2541? It's a bit out of my price range but not by too much.

 

I weirdly scored a lightly used one via Amazon.

Maybe Shenzen (sp) will do something for Black Friday.

If you use the built in streamer, you save money there maybe.

 

Used Gungnir Multibit.

 

It’ll be tough to find one. I’m not parting with mine anytime soon.

The 2541 is great, and I’d stretch for that if you want something new. The ability to control output to your amp may well be worth the extra bucks. Also, I don’t think there’s any difference between XLR or RCA. Great if you can get one used for less.

Worth considering used may be the Matrix X-Sabre Pro if you don’t mind DS. We don’t care for DS in these parts but the XSP gets the Friends approval.

 

I have mine boxed up and waiting for a good home. Make an offer!

 

Try and find an ECP Walnut X.3. It covers your needs perfectly and can be picked up used under 1k. Not an R2R, but the implementation is fully detailed and engaging with inky black background.

 

Really underrated DAC that should have made much more of a splash than it did. Very few of them out in the wild.

 

I'm sure it's good, but USB only? Unfortunately, USBridge Sig + Unison has ruined all other USB implementations for me.

 

someone sold an Abbas USB-coax DDC/converter here a lil while ago. maybe you could get one of those?

 

https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/gustard-r26-r2r-desktop-dac.55849/

 

All this love for the Gustard has me rethinking my plans. I’m in China for work where the R26 goes for around $1200 new, while importing a BF 2/64 would run around $1000.
Looking to get a DAC for my 2ch setup (Elac Vela bookshelves) and put my 2541 on headphone duty. Very tempting..

 

Only available in Europe I'm in the US.

Interesting... I'll be traveling to China (for the fourth time in the last year) sometime soon, probably around the end of the month. Maybe I could wait and grab the Gustard then.

In the meantime I may start looking for a used DAC2541.

 

You can also look for a used dac1541 as I think the differences are very slight and it will definitely come in under 1k.

 

I keep almost pulling the trigger on the Soekris DAC2541 before considering that I could buy the Gustard R26 for $1200 in China... plus the cost of shipping it back to the USA. Everyone really loves the Gustard, but I'm also wary of dropping that much money on a FOTM trend.

Another concern of mine about the Soekris DAC2541 is that a lot of people mention that its coherence suffers during busy passages. A lot of my music is metal that is very busy and maintaining separation/detail is critical for me.

I thought I remembered reading that the DAC2541 also supported NOS mode and custom filters, but as it turns out, I was wrong. The Gustard doesn't have custom filters either, but it does have NOS mode, which could be fun to play with since I'm also thinking of investing in HQPlayer for my transports.

EDIT: The Gustard is the winner. My friend in China confirmed that the R26 is $1240 there, $10 cheaper than a new DAC2541. Hopefully I'm in China over 11/11 and can get an even deeper discount.

 

Just dropping by to say thanks for the recommendation of the Gustard R26. I ended up deciding to pay the extra cost of not shipping this across the Pacific myself and got it when it went for 10% off on 11/11. I ended up getting it the day before I left for Asia, so I didn't experience the burn-in period. I can only say it sounded like total ass right out of the box, but after two and a half weeks of burn-in, I've got a magnificent sounding DAC.

Frustratingly, I am stuck using BNC coax from the Pi2AES as I can't find a jumper to enable the correct I2S output. I know I should have at least one but can't find it. I have a 50-pack coming from amazon tomorrow.

I also ended up buying an Aune XC-1 clock for the thing while I was in Wuhan for 33% off the US retail price. It doesn't seem to make a difference so far, but I just got back last night and have only played around with internal vs external clocking for a few minutes. I've mostly been testing the different OS filters and NOS mode.

 

Glad you're enjoying the R26 @ohshitgorillas

I believe there are a lot of reports of the internal streamer sounding as good if not better than anything external. That's how I use mine, with Roon as the interface. It's also one less box in the rack.