[Russtafarian]

Just pulled the trigger on this unit: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270725567462&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT
will report back when received and reviewed! 

Dang!  That is a good deal.  Just ordered one myself.

[Sonny]

Isn't it? Had to do it...will be running Airport Express via "optical" to this dac, to Headphone and to pre-amp. Expecting first "child" (Baby girl) in less than three weeks... so, no spinning of vinyl for me soon!
Should be great!  I have a Grant Fidelity DAC-09 on my other system with the SB Touch running it via hardwire Ethernet cable from wireless router and iMac as a source.

T

[MLS]

I am sorry to say that I have never used the USB on this unit. I use it for my Squeezebox Touch via digital coax.  A friend is bringing a bunch of tubes over this weekend to roll through.

I use a Maverick D1 USB from my computer for my desktop system and whole house system.

Scott

I've been looking at around the same price range, among the others already mentioned there are the HLLY DMK-IV and SMK-III both at around $300, the very few reviews I can find seem very positive, the popular V-DAC, the Yulong DAH1 and D100 that has many many followers.

But right now in my wishlist the HEGEL is at the top, followed by the audio-gd's but have not pulled the trigger on any to see if I can stretch that budget a bit 


I have not heard about this one until now, can you be so kind in telling us how good is the usb next to the other inputs in it, and what exactly do they mean when the say "USB upsampling to 24/96 Hz", is it just bad translation and they meant that the usb supports 24bit/96KHz or if it is a way to hide the fact that it supports only 16/48 and it gets upsampled?

[Russtafarian]

Expecting first "child" (Baby girl) in less than three weeks...

Congratulations!  Keep the music spinning.  You'll need it to swim through the joy and chaos of parenting.  Your child doesn't know the difference, so introduce her to music early and often.

I'm going to battery power this DAC and use it with my SB3.  Maybe do some op amp rolling as well.

Russ

[Sonny]

Thanks Russ...I do plan to play music consistently, juts not via "Vinyl" as that may be difficult to accomplish..so more CDs and HD music. 

Hey, if you figure out how to do the battery for the DAC, please let me know...I may like to buy one from you...if possible....since I won't have time for "projects".
Thanks
Tuan

Congratulations!  Keep the music spinning.  You'll need it to swim through the joy and chaos of parenting.  Your child doesn't know the difference, so introduce her to music early and often.

I'm going to battery power this DAC and use it with my SB3.  Maybe do some op amp rolling as well.

Russ

[RCduck7]

Dang!  That is a good deal.  Just ordered one myself.

Very nice! i was following an other topic about Muse and the Muse Amps are very good to!!

[ted_b]

Here's a less-than-$400 24/192 DAC with asynchronous USB transfer.  Know nothing about the brand.  Dealer/distrib has 30 day no-risk return policy.

http://www.audiophileproducts.com/asynchronous-usb-dac

[Atlplasma]

I've been using a Pop Pulse DAC with the 1796 chip. Don't have anything to compare it to, but it offers an affordable way to get into high rez at just $269.

http://www.obadimports.com/catalog/item/4377355/7249466.htm

[Russtafarian]

@Tuan:  I'll probably just put together a 12v SLA and charger with a switch to toggle between DAC power and trickle charge. 

Once I get the DAC I'll confirm it has on board regulators and can handle the  14v the SLA kicks out.  If not, I'll add a 12v regulator between battery and DAC.

Should be simple enough for you to put together during nap time if you're inclined to try this.

[doug s.]

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=93939.msg937420;topicseen#new

if i didn't have two cheap-n-cheerful modded art di/o dacs, that still hold their own against multi-kilobuck digital offerings, i might be interested in checking this one out...

doug s.

[mono-tubeleosis]

I have  Jolida Glass FX Tube DAC.  It has a true tube output and is in the $350.00 range.  So far I have been enjoying it and rolled some tubes through it.  Right now I have some Amprex (HP) labled 12AU7 in it that are very sweet sounding but a little light on bass.

I had a Jolida integrated amp before I got my Dodd's and I had the same issues with it.  I liked the Amperex tubes fine, but I think I actually liked the Tungsrams in it even better.  Definitely had more bass.

[jaspal kallar]

Muse TDA1543 (coax and optical)

http://cgi.ebay.com/Audio-DIR9001-4X-TDA1543-parallel-connection-NOS-DAC-S-/270725592140?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0880b44c

Can someone tell me for sure if this dac can decode 16 bit 48khz (eg from dvd's) ?

I got the impression that TDA1543 did only 16/44, hence my question.

Cheers,
   
     jaspal.

[Sparky14]

I'm another audio-gd fan.

I've got the didn't-quite-make-it-to-production NFB11 USB with the Sabre32 DACs. It is really nice, and has given me no reason to look at more expensive units.

However, I wish I had two so that I didn't have to keep moving it from work to home. 

[srb]

Can someone tell me for sure if this dac can decode 16 bit 48khz (eg from dvd's) ?  I got the impression that TDA1543 did only 16/44, hence my question.

I can't 100% say "for sure", because I don't own the DAC.  However, the receiver/DAC chipset should be able to accept a 48KHz stereo PCM signal, but it cannot decode a multi-channel Dolby Digital or DTS signal.
 
For it to work you would have to set an option in the DVD player to set the digital output to downmixed 2-channel/stereo PCM (or if the DVD disc itself has a menu option to use a stereo soundtrack, but very few do).
 
Steve

[Gopher]

There were three used Tranqulity DACs in the sales forum for $500 each.  Two are sold, but the third is available...  Does that count?

[JohnR]

Can someone tell me for sure if this dac can decode 16 bit 48khz (eg from dvd's) ?

I got the impression that TDA1543 did only 16/44, hence my question.

Cheers,
   
     jaspal.

I can report that the single TDA1543 version works with an Apple TV (which outputs 16/48).

You may have that impression because the TDA1543 doesn't over-sample (by itself). However, according to the datasheet, the TDA1543 will run at sample rates up to 192 kHz, the issue if sample rate is limited will be the particular receiver chip used. The DIR9001 datasheet says that it operates from 28 to 108 kHz, although there's a section that sort-of implies that max is 48 kHz. I keep meaning to try it at 96 kHz, will one of these days. Since there is no filtering on board there's no reason not to...

[starkiller]

I need a REAL cheap and cheerful DAC also.  But it needs to be rca's only as my deck does not have optical or coax...any ideas? The chip in my machine is the 1541A so the DAC I get needs to "sound" better.  Like I said REAL cheap!

[jaspal kallar]

For it to work you would have to set an option in the DVD player to set the digital output to downmixed 2-channel/stereo PCM (or if the DVD disc itself has a menu option to use a stereo soundtrack, but very few do).
Steve

That's what I already do with my present dac , so it should work.  Thanks Steve!

I can report that the single TDA1543 version works with an Apple TV (which outputs 16/48)

Okay, thanks, that's kind of info I'm looking for.

[Russtafarian]

I received this inexpensive DAC earlier in the week.  Out of the box its performance is not good.  Constricted, congested, with audible HF distortion.  I'll experiment as I have time to see if I can figure out if the distortion is an input or output issue.  I'll try some other tweaks as well.  At this point I got nothing to lose.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270725567462&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

[eclein]

Russtafarian- Thanks so much for letting us know, I almost pulled the trigger on that DAC several times in the past few months, scratching off my list.