[warnerwh]

Am looking for an inexpensive dac and have seen this name come up but can't find much on it. Any others under about 400 new or used I'm open too also.  Needs to be smooth without overfiltering, something I can't listen to as it seems to take the dynamics out.

[Psychicanimal]

The smoothness of sound in a DAC will be heavily dependent on how clean the electricity is.  Cryo'ed power cords, of tuned design (or with an external tuning device) will also contribute to a lower noise floor.  My CI DAC plays excellent.  See my thread in the CI circle.

Dusty offers a 30 day money back trial and the unit is tiny so shipping costs are something like $9 each way.

[dogberry]

This is a great sounding DAC.  You cannot go wrong auditioning this unit.

Dan Wright is also doing mods on the unit, so down the road (if you decided to keep it), you can get it tweaked.

A real winner.

[Fathom7]

I have a Dan Wright modded CI DAC and power supply in my system.  It runs out of an Audio Alchemy DTI Pro 32   between the player and the DAC.  The trick (as with much of this stuff) is the connect coming into the DAC itself.  The CI will show off a lot from the cable choice .  Match well.  As fate would have it, not an ad really, I have a completely new CI DAC and VAC (the power supply) that are not modded.  I never installed them, just opened the boxes to check to see if they were there,  that I am trying to unload since I don't need two (or maybe I will someday).  So, the moral is to check your cable choice carefully, the CI DAC (at least my modded one) will demonstrate cable difference pretty dramatically.  YMMV.

[Vinnie R.]

If you are open to another option, I highly recommend the Ack!Industries dAck!, which is a non-oversampling filterless D/A converter.  See http://ack.dhs.org
I used to own the CI dac with the upgraded power supply and liked how it sounded, but I now own the dAck! and it is in a whole different league in my opinion, and for about the same price.  Just about every aspect of the sound is better to me.  Again, this is just my opinion and both are excellent for the money and have home trial options, which is a great thing!  

Lots of luck,

Vinnie R.

[warnerwh]

Already got the CIA dac and very impressed, especially for the money.
Fathom7 if you're willing to sell the power supply let me know. Thanks

[viggen]

Everything Vinnie said, except I am comparing the CI DAC and PSU with the Nixon Dackit.  The CI sounds it bit "pyrotechnic" compared to the Nixon.

[brad b]

not sure what pyrotechnic really means but we listened to the Nixon, the Mensa, and the CI DAC with the following results.
Best Detail = Mensa
Best Tube Sound = Nixon

I own the Channel Islands, and it sounds closer to the Mensa without the last detail.  I think it's great but, and may be worthy of some internal modifications.  Sometimes in a listening session we focus on detail and specifics, but if you are alone, your preferences may switch to musicality.  For me the CI works.

[azryan]

viggen,

What the heck does 'pyrotechnic' SOUND like??? Wow! I can't even tell if it's good or bad.

I've been fighting w/ myself over which of these Dac's to get.

It doesn't help either that the ART DI/O 'Mensa' is a 2nd level mod over a first 'SmArt' mod...

 The CIAudio has at least one mod from Modwright I think, and is cheaper than the Mensa before that mod so it'd seem fair to compare it modded too to the Mensa.

The dACK! comes w/ it's own power supply, which has it's disadvantage of hassle being batteries, but sound wise should be as perfect as any power supply can be, and it's cost is lower than the CIAudio w/ upgraded power supply or the Mensa w/ Upgraded power supply (cheaper than the Mensa even w/ out the Upgraded PS probably).

The dACK! also has a Sonicap mod that seems to be not only a very cheap mod compared to typical 'mod' prices, but also simple and called a 'must do/no brainer'.

Scott Nixon has about 5 versions of his tubed and nontubed Dacs...DACkit, DACkit+, SaurDAC+?, TubeDAC, TubeDAC+.... all of which seem to be called diff. sounding.

bradb, you said 'Nixon' only, but since you say best Tube sound I assume it was the TubeDAC or TubeDAC+ (which Hantra says are intentionally diff. sounding).

The SN DAC's have the advantage (or disadvantage) of Hantra 'for sure' posting if you mention anything Scott makes. hehe

Plus I think someone is also doing mods for those too.

Yeesh!

It seems like it'd be so easy to get a few of these to demo for yourself -like several have done , but w/ all the diff. variables of models and mods it seems impossible.

People are trying their best to post preference but diff. rooms, speakers, amps, preamps, power, etc... making a huge diff. in each system it's hard to tell anything from these posts.

Which has lead me to do nothing for several months. heh

I can tell you why I want each of these DAC's and also why I don't want each of them. Often the same reason!

Man, I'm screwed!

[MaxCast]

azryan, I think you hit the nail on the head with the line

People are trying their best to post preference but diff. rooms, speakers, amps, preamps, power, etc... making a huge diff. in each system it's hard to tell anything from these posts.

You can add  to that tubes.  I have a TubeDac and find different tubes can change the sound like some describe differences in these listening sessions.  

I was in the same situation.  I didn't know which to get.  I had the chance to audition the mensa and would like to try the CI and dACK.  I went with the TubeDAC because I wanted a tube somewhere in the system.  Keep in mind tubes are going for $20-40 for a 6DJ8.  I still want to sign up for  the audition dACK.

[byteme]

I used to own a CIA and power supply.  It sounded better to me than everything before it, McCormack DAC-1, Rega Planet, Sherwood CD980, and was the equal of an EAD DSP-7000 Mk III.  According to Dusty it's great with the Harmonic Tech cyberlink copper, which I tried and have to agree, however, I didn't try it with some cables I've tried since.

HOWEVER, like Maxcast I too tried the Nixon tubedac.  EASY decision for me.  The Nixon slams the CIA.  I've since had the Mensa in house for a test and think that the Mensa is better than the CIA but still not nearly as good as the Tubedac.  Brad B said previously that the Mensa had the best detail - and I'm not going to argue because it was his ears, however, the Tubedac is non-oversampling which to some may seem like less detail or less "air" around cymbals and such.  Actually, it shouldn't be there in the first place - doesn't belong there and as such the tubedac represents reality better.  I think it sounds more natural, more musical AND more accurate.

I have not heard the dACK.  However, if it were my $350 I would for sure again vote by buying the Tubedac.  To me, it's phenomenal for that price and even if you add another $115 for the upgraded power supply and a couple bucks for a different tube you're still in a ridiculous bang for the buck territory.

While the tube may make a bit of difference, according to Scott, the way the tubedac is designed it's MUCH less susceptible to tube rolling than say an amp or preamp.

[viggen]

viggen,

What the heck does 'pyrotechnic' SOUND like??? Wow! I can't even tell if it's good or bad...

Ooops, I guess pyrotechnic sound is having more stuff that seem more detailed and exciting but is fatiqueing.