Help Choosing a DAC

[Melon Head]

I am after DAC
This is what I want
Top of the range Sabre or AKM DAC
Digital optical in
XLR and RCA out

Preferably ready built with little to do.
I have too many other projects on the go to start another one.
I am happy buying from China or anywhere if it is good

 

[Melon Head]

Maybe I should just get this
Seems to have most of what I want
XDA-1 Balanced DAC | Emotiva Audio | High-end audio components for audiophiles and videophiles, spanning 2-channel music systems, as well as 5.1 and 7.1 home theaters. Products include multichannel amplifiers, stereo amplifiers, and monoblock amplifi

 

[PreSapian]

oh wow i saw the price last and was expecting $1k after seeing the internals. emotova is an honest company

 

[chris719]

If you want to go up in price I'd look at the Anedio D2. Anedio is one of the very few that publish detailed measurements of their product.

 

[PreSapian]

i bet youd have an excellent sounding dac if you were to swap the op-amps for sockets and insert some discrete modules.

 

[Melon Head]

If you want to go up in price I'd look at the Anedio D2. Anedio is one of the very few that publish detailed measurements of their product.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will check it out

 

[PKI]

Folks, this Emotiva DAC looks interesting! Do you think it will sound better than my Adcom GDA-600(slightly moded: caps + opa627)? I mostly listen to CD formats. Thanks

 

[5th element]

On paper the emotiva looks to give you a heck of a lot for your money invested. The AD1955 is one of the best DS DACs out there. The implementation is quite important with this kind of thing though, especially if you want to squeeze the most out of what the chips can provide.

The measurements for the Anedio D2 are, if repeatable, exemplary, it doesn't get much better then that from a technical point of view.

 

[Melon Head]

Guess what?
I think I might buy both