best DAC 700 dollars or under used

[philmagnotta]

I need to replace my Benchmark DAC1.
I'm looking at a used one (a little under 700 USD)

Here is the unit for sale. Any recommendations on this or other units please?
The unit is:

ONTech DAC 5813. The DAC is built on the "keep it simple" principle.
"Keeping it simple" means that all components are of the highest grade and the that the path from input to output is the shortest possible.

The main component in the DAC is an 18Bit parallel converter - the AD1865N-K from Analoge Devices.

This DAC is one of the best sounding DAC’s available. It contains an 8 times oversampling filter from NPC. The construction uses the famous SM5813 which has been featured in many high end products.


More than 10 years of experience has been gone into to determining these two main components. Many would claim that this is an old construction and that the components are more or less obsolete, and they are right! But I claim that this is still the best sounding combination today.


The analog power supply is built around an C R C filter which lowers the ripple with more than 20dB. This is followed by an integrated regulator which has a ripple reduction of 80dB and is finalized by 5 transistors coupled as an ripple rejector circuit. In theory, this gives a ripple rejection of more than 180dB (Simulated). In practice, this will be a little bit lower. But the power supply has more than enough headroom for the DAC. The use of discrete transistors ensures very low output impedance.


The digital power supply is a straightforward design using a high quality 5V regulator as well as a 3.3V.


All power supplies use huge capacitors for smoothing. The analog supply has more then 40.000 uF and the digital supply more than 10.000 uF. All capacitors used are high grade / long life, such as Elna Cerafine and Dubilier or BHC Slitfoil.


The supplies are based on separate windings on an E-Core transformer which has a very high noise rejection.

It is rated at more then 20 times the used current.


All in all, this might be your last chance to buy an old-fashioned parallel DAC and not the cheap 1 bit (sigma delta) DAC’s that most vendors use today.

[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/DOUGMI%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.png[/IMG]

[SoNic_real_one]

It doesn't say nothing about the input device (DIR9001?), about the OpAmps used. And is misinforming about the "...and not the cheap 1 bit (sigma delta) DAC’s that most vendors use today." - there are DeltaSigma DAC's that sound better than that AD1865N-J. This if it is "-J" version and not a fake "-K" one.

[philmagnotta]

The things you pointed-out are appreciated, but not well understood by me.
I do accept your comments as probably correct.
But, I'll ask you to help me with some recommendations as to a DAC that will provide me with musically impressive results.
Everyone here, I assume realizes that published specs are important to a degree, but they do not always correspond with satisfaction.
Most important is the fact that it all depends upon the person who is judging the audio/musicality of the device, so I realize that although you would have some recommendations, please if you don't mind, tell me a little about your musical tastes and listening qualifications/experience regarding the performance of such a device.
That is an important requirement for anyone responding for the purpose of recommendations.
Thanks in advance.

[philmagnotta]

I'm still looking for recommendations for a DAC
I'm looking to purchase a used unit or something built here on this site.
Price: around 700. dollars.

[SoNic_real_one]

I am impressed by some of the eBay offerings. Like this. No connection with the seller... do your own research about that - it is a thread about some eBay DAC's around here.

[SilverStrings]

The top two on my list would be the Tube Audio Design TADAC , and the xindak dac-5 which is not really well known but IMO its one of the best tube dac's out there it uses two separate toroidal transformers one for the digital and one for the analog section, talk about a clean sound with a deep black background. I also owned the Music Hal 25.2dac at one point which is pretty good but the others sound much better. I really like the sound of tube dac's more than SS ones I've tried.

I use my tadac with my computer connected to hiface, and a trends ta-10.1 t-amp in its power amp mode and I just use the tadac's volume control for adjusting the volume.

[quanghao]

Originally Posted by philmagnotta

I'm still looking for recommendations for a DAC
I'm looking to purchase a used unit or something built here on this site.
Price: around 700. dollars.

Hi! you can see DAC-end,
i think aroud 700$, you have one good DAC
DAC End 2 - the AD1865N-K with single ended vacuum output stage

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/group...-buys-177.html

Or my web: Kit DAC-End - quanghao-audiodesign

[SoNic_real_one]

Vacuum tubes have their fans, but... I still have to see a proper I/V conversion done with a tube. Passive or transformer I/V stages are not ideal and not what the DAC's are designed for.
Sure, if the DAC is voltage-output type I can see the use of a tube. But then... filters are then usually thrown away with tube designs and that is not leading to a quality sound. Also, the filters using coils look good on paper. Not so good in reality (unless really good ones are used).
Good OpAmps is just all you need for analog stage (I/V and filters). Or for purists, a JFET stage (like the one in above links) is more than enough.

[philmagnotta]

Thanks for the interesting links.
As far as I can tell, those links are about kits.
Let me restate my question:

I wish to purchase a SS DAC.
Price around 700 dollars.
Used or new from either an off the shelf manufacturer, or smaller DIY builder.
Any suggestions please?

[imnewbie]

Originally Posted by SilverStrings

The top two on my list would be the Tube Audio Design TADAC , and the xindak dac-5 which is not really well known but IMO its one of the best tube dac's out there it uses two separate toroidal transformers one for the digital and one for the analog section, talk about a clean sound with a deep black background. I also owned the Music Hal 25.2dac at one point which is pretty good but the others sound much better. I really like the sound of tube dac's more than SS ones I've tried.

I will recommend Xindak DAC 5 and DAC 8 aswell. DAC 8 is DAC 5's improved edition. DAC 8 actually comes with USB-in and dual shielded transformers. Xindak is built like a tank and with highest quality components. The DAC 8 retails for $1500 though.