Are there any excellent inexpensive Chinese DACs?

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#362
acko said:
Now back to the topic of this thread, the OP has been presented a number of suitable inexpensive Chinese DACs. There are more information on the objective performances of these DACs over at ASR. I reckon these are sufficient to make an informed choice. Retailers like Apos have returns/ refunds so fairly low risk trying out. Would like to hear how these sound like in comparison… all the best 👍
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Since I stared this thread, I went through 6 DACs including three Chinese DACs with price tag <$150. They all had great specs according to ASR but their sound was not great with digital glare and harshness in the upper midrange.
 
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#369
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#371
abraxalito said:
Archimago featured a similar looking one on his blog and even has an internal pic. However, on Aliexpress its about 20dB cheaper than that 40euro one : https://archimago.blogspot.com/2022/10/measurement-cheapdac22-cheapest-dac-in.html

If the internals are indeed the same there's no opamp to roll - everthing's on a single chip.
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Good call. Less than £5 see's these on a UK doormat. That's the DAC, optical lead, and 2.1 to usb lead. I have dished out a couple for people to get the sound out their TVs.
The conversation has become focused on tech specs, but the OP want's a certain sound, like records. The OP might be better cycling through a few items to find what they can live with. If the already mentioned dacmagic can be demo'd then iirc you can flip through a few different filters. This might do nothing for the figures on paper, but what's important, is that it makes it sound different. It's like getting a few DACs in one box. The minidsp might also be of use, as you can wipe out the HF completely, warm the lower octaves, and set some limiting that smooths the dynamic response. That might be the saving feature.
 
#372
There is always ABBas dac but it's not going to be less than $2k in finished form . SPIDF only and a red book. It won't touch any higher rez dac on detail , resolution and audiophilia but it may kill it stone dead on everything else, monumental bass as well. Lots of voodoo nonsense ( to grab some of the Shindo / AN wannabes) No problem with re-sale whatsoever because it's from Ukraine and supply may cease to exist at any moment.
 
#373
I've tried 2 cheap Topping DACs, 2 SMSU DACs, Mytek liberty, my old Tech2Young and Octo Research DAC 8 stereo. I've been using Octo DAC 8 for a couple of months now and I've been predominantly streaming nowadays. The problem with poorly mastered music especially from the loudness war 80-90s period is still there but I don’t think there is a remedy for poor mastering. On the other hand, well recorded and mastered music sounds very good on Octo DAC 8. Stereophile’ve rated it A+ and I can't agree with them less. I almost bought Toping Centaurus rR2R DAC but my experience with Fiio SRII streamer which has poor wireless implementation and contrary to what they claim cant play high res stopped me and I glad it did. Octo Research is a small outfit from Czechia that sells their products direct. If they were US based and use classical audiophile marketing BS and distribution network their DACs would be sold for 5K+.
 
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#374
The main problem with topping is not the sound i think, Most of them are transparent. But the build quality is often very poor. My Cambridge Dacmagic is 10 years old and works flawless, but the toppint D10 i had was broken after a year. Now i use the dac of a MiniDSP flex for that (as I use active crossovers on that speaker now).

Btw, i also got an Steinberg UR-22MKII that is over 10 years old, saw all kind of conditions (I use it as mobile dac) and also still works. Both the cambridge and Steinberg were not that expenive neighter.

And dac's are today not the limiting factor at all. Your amp probally and your speakers certainly are way noisier than even a mediocore dac of today. The only reason i would spend a lot of money on a dac today is for functionality and durability. The time that you had to spend money for a good dac are gone.
 
#375
limono said:
Ok , I read a few more pages and my conclusion is as follow. When I was young and had no money whatsoever I got a cheapest random system which I could cobble together and I was happy as a clam. For real and for a few years. These were my only happy days as a music listener. Unfortunately one cursed day I spotted an Audio Mag on the press stand and forty years later "i still haven't found what I'm looking for" 🙂 `A pity
Good Enough can be surprisingly inexpensive these days. It's difficult to transplant the experience of listening to $100k system to recommend something to be used in $1k system.
Based on the the forum hopla I bought Audiosector clone of 47 labs TDA1543 dac with all the red BG caps. It was the most boring and lifeless device I had at home . I tried to like those cheap TDA1541 Cd players everybody was raving about and convince myself they are GIANT killers -nope , no cigar until I got ancient NAIM CD2 last year for meaty amount of $70 and actually there is something pleasing about the device. ( and I did have TOTL Philips LHH1000 combo too) I avoided like a plague Delta Sigma based players -cuz they kill the music and everybody knows it. Well maybe most does but equally ancient Meridian 508/24 is supremely elegant sounding artefact.
On vinyl I spent more than $10k and its a disappointment of my life. One should spend either less than $1k in total and be perfectly happy or over $50k and be a little happier. The amount of badly recorded LP's is equal percentage wise (or more) than badly recorded CD's and one likes it for what it is and not for what is not. And it's the same with CD 's , cassette and R2R decks. I don't get the format wars. Typical male attitude is more machines the better, well unless you're one of those MODERN people 🙂
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I've got around 2000 Lps and around 2000 CDs. The majority of my LPs are originals either European or Japanese from 1960-1970s, predominantly classical and jazz. Majority of my CDs are classical, hard rock and blues. When it comes to mastering quality 30% of my vinyl collection has poor mastering and 70% of my CD collection has poor mastering. I try to stay away from LPs that were made after the 80th. Actually there was a significant drop in vinyl quality manufactured after mid-70th.
 
#379
Likely worse when it is a one man operation. It would also require a few revisions that will not be free. Casing of that quality is expensive too when it is a one off.

Let’s be realistic. DIY is at least 400 Euro not counting all that is needed. Maybe not for the very experienced builder that builds a few per year and who can reuse parts/casings. Then total yearly cost would be a better indicator.

Whatever the pride and honour of “true DIY” it simply has become a very costly hobby and to be in the vicinity of the level of Chinese stuff one should also invest in various equipment. Only true DAC Meisters and semi/fully commercial endeavours likely will continue as many are already served by affordable stuff. Whatever one may think of that. The DAC market possibly will crumble because of the high level.
 
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