DAC's

Hi,
Noticed there is not much information about DAC's on this forum. Can we please have a consolidated thread on the DAC's members are using. Is anyone using usb DAC's from EMU/Edirol etc?

We could use a template like (feel free to add/remove),
DAC Name:
Bit Rate:
Sampling Rate:
SNR:
Inputs:
Outputs:
Cost:
Personal Review/Thoughts:
Pro's:
Con's:

Cheers!
Saikat.

May i nominate reignofchaos and unleash_me for some help here?

Hi Saikat
Very interesting thread, though i dont have any Dac at present but yes i'm looking for some used Dac to start with !! hope your thread will help me ............
Wish you luck

Use the Esoteric D70. All details can be found here
TEAC Esoteric

Very detailed without sounding etched. Soundstage is huge. Bass is amazing. Works best with the Esoteric P70 transport.

Hello Saikat!

Thanks for the nomination! Compared to ROC or Prem or Gopi, my experience with external DAC is relatively new and I have a rather modest Beresford DAC.

The reason I got it was to improve my notebook based sound. I use it with an IBM Thinkpad T60 via Creative X-fi Xtreme Audio Notebook. I have compared it with my Philips and Denon DVD players as well as my Marantz HiFi - and found that the DAC made striking difference in the way sound is reproduced. In my own gibberish terms, I find that the sound stage literally opens up, better imaging and a sense of depth is evident the moment you start playing. It dint scale up to my Marantz gear though.

I use it also as a headphone amp with my dedicated good old HD595 and occasionally with CX300 and MX300.

You can find all the other details that you want here.

Product:
Home HIFI

Specifications:
Home HIFI

Reviews:
Group test: Audio DACs - AVReview Accessories reviews
Home HIFI

Cheers.

I use the Combak Reimyo DAP777
specs are here

i also have just got this device ..nice device to convert from USB to SPDIF

Hi All, Nice thread and im expecting good replies from all the members who are using or had some experience with any type of external Dac's . I also never used it but im eager to know other members experience ...........it will be better if everyone follow the format which Sai has suggested & i would like to add few points here as it may help the other members who are keen to go for it.......
1) The cost of Dac
2) Place of purchase
3) If possible Rate it by DAC+ MP3 OR MP4 OR COMP vs your other audio gear like CDP OR DVDP , By playing same audio cd .

I wanted to reply to this thread earlier. But anyway:
I have used 2 DAC's till now:
DAC Name: SuperPro USB DAC707
Bit Rate:24
Sampling Rate:upto 192khz, no upsampling or oversampling
SNR:
Inputs:Coax, Optical and USB
Outputs: single RCA
Cost: $120 - Rs.5k
Personal Review/Thoughts: Its a very nice DAC. It was quite small, the size of an ipod and the difference it could make to my Philips DVD player was nice and mainly compared to the headphone out of my laptop. Gives any DVD player and Laptop a very nice sound quality. The output of my Marantz DV3002 and this showed no difference to my ears when I was running CD's.
Pro's: Compact and still can take 3 inputs. The sound was very pleasing without any harsh highs and the bass was very very good. My p3's which were otherwise sounding thin were actually sounding fuller.
Con's: I would say the noise floor was not good. There was some noticeable hum slightly in quiet passages. No input selector and pink colour

I have used 2 DAC's till now:
DAC Name: Apple Airport Express with AirTunes
Bit Rate:
Sampling Rate:
SNR:
Inputs: itunes
Outputs: single RCA
Cost: Rs.5k
Personal Review/Thoughts: First thing you notice is the feeling of liberation. Browsing wifi and songs playing wifi is a nice utility. Regarding the sound, I don't have a home stereo now to compare. My comparison is between the airport express connected to my Zeppelin vs my ipod docked in zeppelin. I think that they are very comparable. Particulalry, I feel there is a slight increase in bass with airport express. First of all if they are comparable itself its great as ipod has a Wolfson's second best WM8740. Add to that Aiport can become a digital transport as it has an optical out making connecting a better DAC later a great path which is what I am taking.
Pro's: Wifi, Optical out for future DAC upgrade, a wifi router which itself costs 2 to 3k. looks beautiful.
Con's: only itunes can be used. otherwise need airfoil extra.

Heard a lot of good things about that DAC. May I get an audition please .

I use a cheap citypulse da7.2x. Pretty good source for the money. Specs here - http://www.diykits.com.hk/Citypulse%20DA7.2x.htm

Very good specs and the most striking was the weight of this unit

25 kgs

Just curious to know how much does it cost