[sarora9]

The battery operated Ack! Dac is a highly regarded non oversampling Dac.
More info here:
http://www.ack-industries.com/

This unit is version 1.0 and has one-of-a-kind mods done by Danny Richie of
GR Research. He upgraded many parts in it and it was his reference DAC until
3 years ago when I bought it from him. Danny's mods lowered the noise floor
(which is already low because of the battery operation) and the sound has a
liquid quality that is very analog like.  Danny says he demo-ed this unit to
the owner of Ack! industries, who agreed that the mods greatly improved
the sound.

The battery on this unit was replaced 8 months ago and holds charge very well. Usual
battery life is 3 years. If you have always wanted to try an NoS dac, this may well
be the best one to try in this price range.

Price: Was $245 + shipping from zip 08540. (Now $225 +shipping.)

[marklivia]

What are the mods?

[sarora9]

Sorry I dont know technically what the mods are. I just trust Danny to have done the right ones.

[sarora9]

I searched the archives and located the original ad by Danny that described the mods. The unit I am selling has
Sonicaps and uses a Sonicap Platinum by-pass cap. It also has a Bybee filter on the input.


http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=22963.0

[sarora9]

Weekend bump and price reduction; now $225 + shipping.

[sarora9]

Bump. $225 price now includes shipping in the continental US.

Here is an excerpt from a review on Mother of tone. Note that the Altman costs 6-7 times more, and this Ack! Dac with GR mods is said to be better than the Ack Dac 2.0.

http://www.mother-of-tone.com/Reviews/chuck.html

Finally, how does the Altmann compare to the Ack Dac 2.0? Although the Altmann is clearly better, there is a family resemblance of sorts; both are battery-powered NOS dacs, and thus both are exceptionally quiet, with details emerging from a black background. Both have that NOS timing & musicality thing down. The Altmann is clearly better in the areas of detail retrieval, PRAT, dynamics, and tonal richness. I won't go back, but I can also say that if I was forced to, I could very happily live with the Ack Dac 2.0. It is remarkably good for the price, and shares many of the qualities of the Altmann -- but just not to the Altmann's level.

[marklivia]

I gotta say, I A-B 'ed the Altmann to my Ack 2.0 w/ upgraded output caps (Dynamicaps) and it clearly outperformed the Altmann. And my old Ack 1.2 w/ the same caps was about the same as my 2.0, just a slightly different flavor.
Now I,ve got Dueland caps on the output of the 2.0 and I can very safely say it is as good as any digital I've ever heard. Point is, the Ack platform is good stuff.

[cleestedwood]

PM sent

[HT cOz]

Did you sell this?

[sarora9]

Sold to cleestedwood.