No, that had nothing to do with your doings at ASR. Whatever they did to your membership was due to your badmouthing their members on this site just because they rightfully questioned your views.
You know, you can say a lot about DAC aficionados but you can not say they are a friendly bunch 🙂
If the setup lacks proper amplifiers, how can you even assess the subjective quality of dacs?
It is coloring and coloring over coloring, result is a gray image of what the music was...
People don't get it in their brain that you need only a few watts for domestic audio, and that 80db of margin is plenty enough for enjoying the most complex music, what is going on is ridiculous to get to higher ratings, more complex and inadequate amplification etc.
Back to the DAC, I think one needs to spend a few hundred dollars...
It is coloring and coloring over coloring, result is a gray image of what the music was...
People don't get it in their brain that you need only a few watts for domestic audio, and that 80db of margin is plenty enough for enjoying the most complex music, what is going on is ridiculous to get to higher ratings, more complex and inadequate amplification etc.
Back to the DAC, I think one needs to spend a few hundred dollars...
What happens on other forums, and who said what about whom is not something we want to be seeing here.
Keep it on topic and civil or the thread will end up being closed.
Hmm. I just got an email... check this out... 300 bucks and it has balanced outputs.
https://www.schiit.com/products/mimir
It also has the Unison/Multibit USB input. It looks to be non upgradable which is what their more expensive DACs support... and some of their headphone products have too (as plug in modules ). So maybe this is how they lowered the price.
I got to tell you, the Nitsch I got in January opened my eyes. It is very good sounding. Based on Schiit but with much better quality components.
Looks, to me, like these guys are putting the "inexpensive" Chinese DACs out of business.
Well it’s not a Chinese dac… and what is the Nitch?
I mean the title should be is there a Chinese dac I can modify to be good and reliable and affordable (under 1000?)
I mean the title should be is there a Chinese dac I can modify to be good and reliable and affordable (under 1000?)
Read on. It is a Uber Super Duper Schiit.... a very low volume unit.
The story is all there.
BTW, listening through it right now via a Semisouth F6.
You can not believe the sound, this is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G
I'm dancing
The story is all there.
BTW, listening through it right now via a Semisouth F6.
You can not believe the sound, this is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G
I'm dancing
They say it sounds a lot more like their more expensive dacs.
Similar to MIMIR, a custom filter in an FPGA is what Benchmark used with their dacs. It definitely did improve on the PCM sound from the ES9028PRO chip. Except in DSD mode, that is. DAC-3 only supported DSD64 for that and it had that same old terrible Hyperstream II sound.
With the nice filter, only problem with DAC-3 PCM was that the soundstage was narrow between the speakers and forward in front of the speakers. IME its a common symptom of a random noise jitter problem. Not easy to see on an FFT though, because no PSS spurs.
Regarding Topping D90, I have one of those too. Bass is good, but at vocal frequencies and above the sound is somehow off a little bit. Gets worse at higher frequencies such as for cymbals. It has been suggested that the problem can be seen in FFT spectral line noise skirts. Apparently there is an AN problem with Vref. Also, it turns out that D90 sounds best playing DSD256 from a good external modulator, such as from HQ Player. That approach probably gives the best sounding CD reproduction that particular dac is capable of. In addition, if the dac is put into DAC MODE rather than PREAMP MODE, the AK4499 internal volume control will be bypassed for DSD. That avoids another stage of remodulation.
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(1) Schiit's digital guy is Mike Moffat. The guy from Theta digital... so he's been making filters forever, I believe he was the first one, back in the late 80s. The Nitsch runs at unity gain with the gain switch set to "2" and the volume knob all the way up. So, that's how I run it. I asked about op amp rolling and I was told that not to bother, it's all discrete. So, in essence you got a darn good USB, a very good DAC and a killer analog section. Oh, it also drives headphones and could be used as a preamp. Just not balanced.
(2) I admit I have not heard the Topping enough. I did bypass all the preamp stuff and run it directly as a DAC. I've been feeding it stuff with 24/96 and it sounds quite good... but not as good as the Nitsch. I might modify the Topping to take op amps. I've been thinking of driving its SE and balanced modes simultaneously. So I can drive two preamps/amp chains or do a comparison using the same preamp ( the way I can do with the P3 ).
(3) The MIMIR has balanced outputs.... 300 bucks... my wife won't notice... but it won't have the good analog parts of the Nitsch. In a perfect world Nitsch would do balanced outputs. and bypass the headphone part. I've been lucky enough to communicate with them off and on, perhaps they will do it?
(2) I admit I have not heard the Topping enough. I did bypass all the preamp stuff and run it directly as a DAC. I've been feeding it stuff with 24/96 and it sounds quite good... but not as good as the Nitsch. I might modify the Topping to take op amps. I've been thinking of driving its SE and balanced modes simultaneously. So I can drive two preamps/amp chains or do a comparison using the same preamp ( the way I can do with the P3 ).
(3) The MIMIR has balanced outputs.... 300 bucks... my wife won't notice... but it won't have the good analog parts of the Nitsch. In a perfect world Nitsch would do balanced outputs. and bypass the headphone part. I've been lucky enough to communicate with them off and on, perhaps they will do it?
You have one of these (below)??
For $750 ($850 for multibit), the return on investment seems okay. However, as you mentioned, no balanced-out is a letdown. To be fair, there's no space to fit an extra 2 channels of that discreet output stage (and slap an extra 2 gangs on that pot)
Re Unison USB-in, I thought the Unison name was used (apart from everything else that went into its design) as a synonym for full galvanic isolation..?? I don't see it in that photo... anyway, I might be wrong here (re isolation...)
For $750 ($850 for multibit), the return on investment seems okay. However, as you mentioned, no balanced-out is a letdown. To be fair, there's no space to fit an extra 2 channels of that discreet output stage (and slap an extra 2 gangs on that pot)
Re Unison USB-in, I thought the Unison name was used (apart from everything else that went into its design) as a synonym for full galvanic isolation..?? I don't see it in that photo... anyway, I might be wrong here (re isolation...)
I have the full boat USB interface. Multibit-Unison. The really nice thing is that it is upgradeable in the future. That's the only part that is sourced directly from the Schiit's part bin.
Then you can see the effort that went into the analog stages... It was hand made.
The sound is very good. Hopefully he'll go to a balanced output, but I figure they will need to make it larger. Assuming they want to keep the analog volume- as a pure DAC with good front end it won't need it.
RoI? It's High End Audio under a 1000.... 800 actually.
Then you can see the effort that went into the analog stages... It was hand made.
The sound is very good. Hopefully he'll go to a balanced output, but I figure they will need to make it larger. Assuming they want to keep the analog volume- as a pure DAC with good front end it won't need it.
RoI? It's High End Audio under a 1000.... 800 actually.
Does it sounds tiny as it looks , joking, I dont like at all these devices...
We are looking for made in China dacs, which give us more value for money but might have a caveat or two to figure out diy
We are looking for made in China dacs, which give us more value for money but might have a caveat or two to figure out diy
Are there any excellent inexpensive Chinese DACs?
... just said that because many posted USA made dacs etc. , just to remind this is about buying a Chinese DAC.
We should open another thread on just good cheap dacs?
Chinese have incredible value in audio, but one has to sometimes look at the schematic and find out where they cut the corners? Always the case so far as I am concerned with my purchases.
... just said that because many posted USA made dacs etc. , just to remind this is about buying a Chinese DAC.
We should open another thread on just good cheap dacs?
Chinese have incredible value in audio, but one has to sometimes look at the schematic and find out where they cut the corners? Always the case so far as I am concerned with my purchases.
I thought the title clearly indicates “inexpensive Chinese DACs that are also Excellent”
So if one is getting a cheap one but requires all the mods to bring up to acceptable performance, then the costs also go up and surely needs to be discussed in another relevant thread?
So if one is getting a cheap one but requires all the mods to bring up to acceptable performance, then the costs also go up and surely needs to be discussed in another relevant thread?