I’ve retired my SimAudio Moon streamer in favour of a HiFiBerry setup that is compatible with Roon. I think a new DAC is probably justified because reasons. I regard digital as strictly a secondary source so budget is a maximum of £2K and preferably much less. Must haves are, roon readiness, hi-res capabilities (24/192 etc) and balanced outs. A bonus would be MQA as I use TIDAL a lot, but this is not a deal breaker. Don’t give a toss about DSD etc as all my files are either 16 bit or 24 bit FLAC.
Obvious candidates are the Auralic Vega and the Mytek Brooklyn. I’d love something like a CanEver Zero Uno but won’t pay the price. What else should I think about? (This isn’t the Arse of Sound so Beresford need not apply ).
Avoid the ESS Sabre chipset. Everything I have heard with this sounds completely shite. Sadly modern DACs seem to be focused on Hi-rez and streaming and have forgotten sound quality.
Fair enough . What is out there that avoids the ESS Sabre chipset and meets my wantlist? I’m using a Moon D100 so there is a lot to improve upon…unless all dacs sound the …
Heard quite a few variants of the ESS, @Ijrussell has had a few through his system. I kind of prefer dacs to be ultra neutral so I’ve always liked what I’ve heard. Although my buffalo dac is in bits
If you don’t want ultra modern super clean delta sigma stuff there are R2R dacs
Surely the 24/192 fail is the self delusion that you think that you can hear the difference. I suppose you’re also a golden eared mains cable believer too
No. I have loads of 24 bit recordings, some of which I did, some of which I was given or bought. I could dither down to 16 bit, but why the fuck could I be bothered if I can buy something that will do the job I need
Not suggesting you waste time converting to 16 bit. Lots of very nice 24/96 DACs will upscale or something similar and play your 192 files. All I’m saying is I wouldn’t make a 24/192 native dac a limitation on your buying spec.