Is it real?
 

There are quite a few nice looking DAC boards on e-bay. Many have top notch digital parts, DAC, and op amps. Just wondering, with all the fake everything coming out of the east, how does one know what they are buying? I have fake 2N2222's for crying out loud.

It looks just to tempting for all these hundred-buck boards to have 2 cent op amps repainted to look like 2 dollar ones.

I hate to sound too cynical, but let's just say experience does adjust one's outlook.

Looking because I alternate loving and hating my new NAD 565. Very CD dependent.

You don't know, that's the problem with buying off fleabay. But if something looks too good to be true, it usually is.

I'd agree, especially when opamps like the OPA627 are on the board. These sell for around $20 per piece from an authorized distributor. An opamp like the OPA2134 should cost around $ 2.

Instead of looking I'd suggest you listen to DACs, otherwise you might end up with a DAC that you love and hate just like the 565.

"Listen to Dac's" Funny. I live just outside Washington DC. There are virtually no real stereo stores left. One in Baltimore and they think tubes fix everything. It is all home theater or MP3 now. Really sad that music is no longer a pastime. I had to buy the NAD off the WEB as there was not one to be heard. The 545 was, but guess what? Burr Brown DAC.

When I lived in Colorado, there were several stores who knew me. I could take amps home for the night for a real listen. ( When I bought the B&K, it was the twelfth) Not here. Pay up and get out. Special order, it's yours mac. Unless I stumble on something like a V-DAC to play with, I guess it is building a switchable garbage filter. Garbage is if the CD is garbage, switch it in. I could go an active filter or maybe transformers.