i think i have only had chinese DACs (ifi Zen, Topping E30, Eversolo A8, Gustard R26), besides the RME, and in a way, they (or their remotes) have held up better. The build quality of the RME also leaves much to be desired in comparison (particularly the remote which has conked off twice now) though it's not the case that the RME has a problem in that respect either. Nuff said.
If you could avoid the base budget line then the rest should be okay for many years to come….
using smsl d 300 for several years now. Denafrips for more than a year now.
Why not Chord?Its still the best sounding amongst the lot and reliability is proven.
I am not really looking for myself. I help friends & family with their setups and in some cases an external DAC would have been perfect - but I am not aware of many in low budget that are reliable.
Get any topping and call it a day. Rock solid reliability, cannot go wrong with the sound and comes with a remote. For something a bit more versatile, check out the new Fosi whatever-its-called. Comes with HDMI input and about time other DACs started adding it. I got the Eversolo A8 purely because it was the only DAC to which I could connect the Apple TV over HDMI.
Not really, my friend's DMP A6 died just after the warranty expired and service help was non existent, and this is in the US. He went ahead and got a Cambridge Audio which he says is miles better.
The number of failures I have heard of is miniscule. Maybe this was a none off. Service support is crap for everyone.
I have a Q Acoustics M20HD (UK) which blew its amplfier board and the widespread Q Acoustics service network says it cannot service it. Service support is equally bad for everyone.
First Gen
How are you feeding your equipment clean power?
In my previous residence I had a dedicated 720 line from the meter to a 3 kVA Servo that then went through an isolation transformer to 16A receptacles, and this was around 20 yrs ago.
