LH Labs Geek Pulse Headphone/DAC
10/10 new; Make Offer http://marketplace.lhlabs.com/products/pulse-dac-headphone-amplifier
Who the hell...is LH Labs? Well...the LH, is for Light Harmonic. Still lost?
Oh...they make DACs, that cost like as much as your car (the > $30k
DaVinci http://lightharmonic.com/products/da-vinci-dac-mkii/ )...or your house (the forthcoming > $120,000
Sire)
LH Labs...is the spin-off offspring; for us poor working slobs...on a budget, lol. Can you say trickle-down?
I tried a
used one; both as dedicated DAC...in a 2nd system, and as dedicated, standalone headphone amp. Great little box; I liked it so much, I bought a brand new one! But I disbanded the 2nd system, and never found a use for the sealed one...as I am obviously trying to
downsize now!
Resonessence Labs Concero HD DAC
9/10; $550/obo
Resonessence Labs, is an offshoot of ESS Technology...and was founded by Mark Mallinson, former Operations Director for ESS. ESS, of the Sabre DAC chip fame!
If you're familiar with ESS Sabre-based DACs (and my goodness, you sure should be)...the chip has a reputation, for better or worse. It's an extraordinarily capable chip...with DN and S/N ratios, that are off the charts! Therein...at times...lies the problem.
The chip has a reputation, of being hard to wrangle in and make sound its best. It's such a hot, and marketable chip; every Tom, Dick, and Yang...wants to drop it into their DAC, and hang that ESS Sabre label on it.
So...who do you think; might do a pretty decent job, at implementation? Uh...maybe the guys, who used to make the damn thing; and then formed their own company
Seriously...if you're not familiar; some think the top-of-the-heap...Invicta Mirus
http://www.resonessencelabs.com/about-mirus/ ...to maybe be the best DAC out there, at any price. The Concero line, is the bang-for-the-buck, trickle-down model. The HD, adds DSD capability...features the gen-2 of the unanimously praised 9018 chip (the 9018-2M).
The things that I like about it most though...aside from great sound, which is a given; are some of the "hidden" features. Things you might not know, to look at it.
One...it's USB powered! No cheap wall-wart, mucking up the works; it'll run off the power, of your USB streaming device. Don't like that arrangement; do what I did. Buy a USB battery charger (like an Anker
https://www.anker.com/products ); and you're running, totally off the grid! Also...the thing, is like a swiss-army knife. If you attach the USB input, it knows to convert to analog...and send your output, through the RCA out. But...attach coax s/pdif in, and a) if you're on a USB battery for power, it can convert that as the digital input...or b) without USB battery, it becomes one of the best s/pdif > USB converters, John Darko has ever reviewed!
http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2013/03/resonessence-labs-concero-review-toneaudio/It's also remote-controllable (with supplied Apple remote), allows you to shape filters on the fly, etc. Oh...and the size; it's just so damn little; and packed with ALL that tech. You could kind of "hide" it away, if you were of a mind to.
