I love this DAC!! I hate to sell it and will likely regret it at some point. However, I upgraded to an Exogal Comet and I think I'm at my endgame DAC. Instead of having the EE sit in storage I figured I sell it and let someone else enjoy it. This is a special DAC at a STEAL. Read the reviews. It has compared favorably to DACs costing multiple times its price, and that's at the new price, not my $500 asking price. This is a tube or solid state DAC using an ESS Sabre 9018 chip. The user can select tube or solid state with a button on the front. I preferred the tube sound, but the solid state mode did increase the dynamics and clean up the image a bit. What else makes this DAC special is that the user can easily change the opamps and completely upgrade this DAC on their own. You can also tube roll. Here's one article about this:
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/1212/eastern_electric_minimax_dac_plus.htmDespite my upgrade to the Exogal, I still love this DAC. I would say it performs at least 90% of the performance of the Exogal, maybe even closer. The EE has fuller bass while the Exogal has a bit more detail and texture. The Exogal also has volume control so it can be a preamp, which is one reason I'm keeping it. Other than the performance is very close.
I'm asking $500 including S/H to CONUS and paypal fees covered by me. The unit ships from Lake Oswego, OR.
The images here are stock, but my unit is 9/10 without any blemishes or issues that I've ever encountered. I am the second owner and have had it about 1 year. I'm in no hurry to sell so my price is firm.
Specifications:
Sabre ES9018 DAC chips
Separate Power Transformers for digital and analog sections
Inputs : AES/EBU, BNC, RCA, OPTICAL and USB M2Tech OEM 24bit 192KHz Asy
nc USB input
Tube and solid state output selectable
Phase In/Out selectable
Sampling rates : 16-32bit 32KHz - 192KHz
Frequency Response: 10Hz-40KHz
THD : 0.2%(Tube) 0.02%(Solid State)
Dynamic Range: 135dB
Note: No volume control.
Full disclosure: these are not pictures of my unit, but mine looks identical. However, this is a link to a video of my actual unit playing (sorry for crappy iPhone recording):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsCik3pWNks
