If measurements mattered as much as Amir and his minions insist they do, I wouldn’t have sold my D90 two DACs ago.
I have found my “end game” DAC, and only by accident. It turns out that, contrary to my long held belief, musical - rather than accurate - sources are my cuppa tea.
Not coincidentally, my end game phono stage (purchased after the DAC) came out of the same factory.
I would wager that “musical” inherently does not measure well. If it’s distortion that floats my boat, so be it.
Many prefer distortion or other colourations. Measurements can reveal those characteristics as well. Nothing wrong with measurements as such.
Nor does he have your amps, speakers, source material, and listening room (or headphones). So that's where the subjectivity comes in. It's very personal and I agree that is the whole point of the pursuit. Objectivity is nothing more than a starting point, and DACs these days all measure very well - even cheap ones.
Still use my Sony esd1000 as my dac for toslink or coax inputs, it sounds so good nothing could displace it until I needed usb input. The esd1000 parametric eq is second to none. I bought an expensive usb dac and returned it immediately, then went to a modi 2 which was great for years until 2 months after the warranty expired it developed the usb/hairdryer issue and Schiit wouldn’t do Schiit (even though this is a design/manufacturing flaw) so now for usb I use nothing but $9 apple dongles and they sound great.
Depends on what is measured. E.g. the forementioned Topping D90 has serious design flaws that are seen in certain measurements but not in ASR measurements. Whether or not those design flaws are the cause for the claimed bad sound is another thing altogether.
I can recommend the Cambridge Dacmagic 200M which I think is very good sounding. It also gets fine reviews.
A good thing is that is uses an external PSU. The default is a "wall type" small 12V SMPS. It can very easy be changed to another low noise type. Either a 3. party or a DIY. I use a 3. party low noise PSU for it. The DAC has hardware for MQA and it can also handle DSD up to DSD512 or just normal 16-bit PCM CD quality. I think the relative low price is because they did not spend much on a "super-duper" PSU. But the fine reviews are with the "default" PSU. It has both SE and balanced outputs.
A good thing is that is uses an external PSU. The default is a "wall type" small 12V SMPS. It can very easy be changed to another low noise type. Either a 3. party or a DIY. I use a 3. party low noise PSU for it. The DAC has hardware for MQA and it can also handle DSD up to DSD512 or just normal 16-bit PCM CD quality. I think the relative low price is because they did not spend much on a "super-duper" PSU. But the fine reviews are with the "default" PSU. It has both SE and balanced outputs.
I have found that upgrading a DAC’s outboard DC power supply - typically cheap switchers, as mentioned - can have a huge positive effect on the sound quality of a DAC.
Assuming you can wield a soldering iron to some effect (you’re reading this, ain’tcha?), this can be done relatively inexpensively, especially considering the potential resulting improvement.
Yes, there are many possibilities for an easy upgrade when the PSU is external. E.g. Salas V.1.3 can be used......I assume.
Also a better SMPS with extra filtering at output can also be used. I use a good analog (using a toroid transformer) regulated PSU supply where standard regulators are used with some extra filtering.......as far as I could se when I looked into the box. A factory made one would probably almost double the price on the DAC.
Also a better SMPS with extra filtering at output can also be used. I use a good analog (using a toroid transformer) regulated PSU supply where standard regulators are used with some extra filtering.......as far as I could se when I looked into the box. A factory made one would probably almost double the price on the DAC.
I can't personally vouch for it, but the Allo Shanti gets good reviews (as long as you can live with 5 Volt outputs).
Seemingly so. But have serious concerns that for some of those people the distortion/colorations are (1) merely tolerated to get more of something else we may not be measuring very well (or not measuring directly in way that is easy to make sense of), and or (2) the distortion/colorations are used to compensate for other problems in the reproduction system (e.g. muddy sound, bright/thin sound, etc.).
IIRC Sean Olive found that most people actually prefer low distortion under blind conditions. https://www.aes.org/images/e-lib/thumbnails/1/7/17441_full.png
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I mostly have issues with people that know how to operate testing equipment, but really have no idea about what test conditions should be used to uncover potential issues.
I don't have issues with people having issues
I don't have issues with people having issues
I mostly have issues with bastards.
You bloody bastard.
Hahaha
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IMO the best DAC would be a sledgehammer or an atmospheric EMP attack. Lacking both, I use a Bryston DAC with heresy bastard opamps 
I use a NAD C658, it covers all my digital needs (playback and streaming). Amir at ASR didn’t like it as he couldn’t measure it. It sounds very good and does everything I want. It has Dirac but after trying it several times I don’t use it.
Before that I used a focusrite scarlet, an audio interface with a balanced dac. I loved the sound of the focusrite, it replaced a Khadas tone board which I found too bright.
I will need a usb dac for the Iron Pre when I make one. It might be a focusrite or something recommended on this thread.
Before that I used a focusrite scarlet, an audio interface with a balanced dac. I loved the sound of the focusrite, it replaced a Khadas tone board which I found too bright.
I will need a usb dac for the Iron Pre when I make one. It might be a focusrite or something recommended on this thread.