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.