Vintage Audio Labs DAC (VALAB DAC - eBay)

pardales · « **on:** 3 Dec 2008, 05:34 pm »

For the money the VALAB DAC is quite good. I preferred the SPDIF input to the USB input. It definitely sounds like other NOS DAC's I have heard and compares favorably to them (Audiosector, Monica, Altmann). Very clear, tight, whole sound. Completely non-fatiguing in every way. Good tonal balance across the spectrum -- well balanced. I would say that for systems that are very forward, extremely revealing, or aggressive, this DAC could balance things out nicely (NOS DAC's in general can do this). If your system is more laid back, it might not synergize as well.

It will not, however, take the place of the AVA Insight DAC in my rig. Keep in mind that the Insight DAC currently retails for 5X what the VALAB DAC costs. I genuinely believe that for some people and in some systems, the VALAB DAC may be all you need.

It is amazing how good inexpensive DAC's are these days. That this level of performance can be had for under $200 is remarkable. I know this is a lame review but I hope it is helpful to some.

I will be listing it for sale if anyone is interested as I do not need two DAC's right now.

BillB · « **Reply #1 on:** 5 Dec 2008, 09:27 pm »

Whatcha looking for pricewise? I just ordered a Buffalo but it will take me a while to build it.

damnit nevermind

viggen · « **Reply #2 on:** 29 Jan 2010, 06:45 pm »

Hi Pardales:

You seemed to have run the gamut in terms of DACS going from Altmann to Audio Sector to AVA?

Would you give me a more detailed comparison of the Valab vis-a-vis the Monica (my previous DAC) and the Audio Sector (my current DAC)?

I just found the Valab DAC with external PSU for $320 on ebay. Very curious about it as I am curious what more the Audio Sector DAC has to offer if it had a beefier PSU. Nothing wrong with the Audio Sector. Absolutely love it. Just... curious you know.

My Nixon DAC got a tremendous boost when I replaced the wall wart with the upgraded PSU.

Thanks,

Ed

tubesound · « **Reply #3 on:** 29 Jan 2010, 07:20 pm »

There are more expensive NOS DACs like Audio Note and 47 Labs. A recent USB only NOS DAC got very nice reviews: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=74816.0.

I had Valab luxury verison briefly. It's musical but resolution and bass are lacking to my taste.

Also the OEM of Valab, Teradak, released a 16 TDA1543 with separate power supply version lately called Chameleon: http://www.teradak.com/ProductsView.Asp?id=23 and http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f7/chameleon-dac-listening-modifications-465039/.

viggen · « **Reply #4 on:** 30 Jan 2010, 12:32 am »

You mean the Valab is already yesterday's news? The Teradak is very interesting (double the number of chips makes it doube the interesting). The Tranquility is over my budget. Would like to hear how it stacks up when compared to other DACs though, Pardale?

pardales · « **Reply #5 on:** 30 Jan 2010, 01:39 am »

Quote from: viggen on 30 Jan 2010, 12:32 am

You mean the Valab is already yesterday's news? The Teradak is very interesting (double the number of chips makes it doube the interesting). The Tranquility is over my budget. Would like to hear how it stacks up when compared to other DACs though, Pardale?

I have not had the VALAB in over one year and there appears to be newer ones out. I believe I had the first generation of this DAC. At this time I thought it sounded good for the money but not as good as the Altmann; maybe close to the Audiosector. Those are the NOS DACs I had around the same time; I only had the VALAB for a month or so. For the money though it was nice sounding. I have not heard any of the newer versions.