dac purchase ?

[transamz2000]

Hello i have a audio alchemy dv1.1 dac which i know is outdated and was looking at this dac

Hi End 24/192 DAC DA CONVERTER CS8416+CS8421+CS4398 USB - eBay (item 160485189700 end time Sep-27-10 14:04:11 PDT)

would i get a big jump up in sonics purchasing this dac,i read the threads on it about mods but i was wondering how it compares in stock form to what i have,also are the upper tier dacs that much better or are you getting just getting 10% better sound when you purchase mega priced dacs ie. $500. and up,

[Bill Fuss]

You would have to go much higher than $500 to beat the modded ebay dac board. Decware is reselling them in a very pedestrian case for $875 right now.

[transamz2000]

bill can you tell me how this dac sounds in stock form and what is the simplest mod with the most impact on the sound.

Hi End 24/192 DAC DA CONVERTER CS8416+CS8421+CS4398 USB - eBay (item 120627114484 end time Sep-30-10 14:07:54 PDT)

[nightanole]

DIY DAC Kits and Easy Mods

Modifications to the Gigaworks Ebay DAC | Jacken's Blog


Do i get a cookie?

[Bill Fuss]

Cookies AND milk!

The whole purpose for me was trying output trafos with a Dac. I never even powered up the output section, opamps are against my religion. The trafo mod is the easiest to pull off, and if you use good used trafos, the hit on your wallet isn't a big deal. You can easily resell them if plans change. The easiest, safest way to isolate the chip outputs is to jumper across the 4 caps and lift the chip side of the 4 resistors that feed the 4 opamp inputs. That leaves the 4 holes to wire the trafos to. Be very careful removing anything from the boards, they are very delicate. More than one person has trashed his board.

IMHO opamps just give you the flavor of the month, but the trafos do also, just in a purer way. Soundstage is big, wide and deep, detail is all there, no edginess, nothing in the way.

Noone that I'm aware of has reverted back to the output opamps after hearing a good pair of trafos.