The DAC "do you have experience with this dac", Best diy dac for the money?

[murphythecat8]

I've been looking for a excellent but cheap DAC; excellent meaning I dont know, a dac you would pay 2000$ in a store

Can the chinese dac upsampling 24/192 delivers enough? the thread is too long, and people seems to finish by drop it eventually and make something better I seem to notice

Should I go for another dac then?

I have around 300$ max as a budget and would like to build something good enough to be satisfied for years.... can the chinese delivers? or not

thanks
Jason

 

[rvrazvan]

I once stumbled upon a dac kit from china. The site was called "diy hifi supply" or something like that. They have a dac kit costing around 100$ based on TDA1541. You can buy one that has tube output. You can have a complete kit with your 300$'s . Only problem...i cant find the site anymore )

 

[rvrazvan]

DAC Kit : hifidiy.net

Here you go

 

[Andersonix]

Did you look at amb.org for Gamma1 or Gamma2?

 

[c2cthomas]

Audio-gd has the NFB-3 on promo sale for $300 U$D - see the links at their site for reviews......... I haven't used it so I can't vouch for it personally.....
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/NFB-2/NFB2EN.htm

 

[then_dude]

anybody willing to pick up this tread ?

i'm looking for a new dac too.

i thought of buying a gamma 2 dac, (i have already a gamma 1) but then stumbled upon audi gd nfb-3.

the advantage of the gamma is that you can power a headphone, the advantage of the nfb-3 is that it has a dedicated psu. (something which i will build if i buy the gamma)

any other thoughts ?
thanks

 

[Andersonix]

i thought of buying a gamma 2 dac, (i have already a gamma 1)....

from the Gamma2 page at amb.org:
"γ2 (gamma2) is an extension and upgrade to the γ1 DIY stereo digital-to-analog converter (DAC). It builds on γ1's modular idea, and pushes the concept far into the high-end."

Sounds like you're already halfway there?

 

[then_dude]

yeah, i know

but i need a second one, i'm taking the gamma 1 to work

thanks

 

[srinath]

I know this is an old thread, I'll post in some newer threads too about this.
I bought the $40 shipped Muse dac based on a TDA1543. All I can say is, it is nearly as good as the TDA1541 based dac in the rotel CD player I got. It is 6 or so db down, cos the muse dont have a opamp in it (or not that I recognize one in it anyway).

A friend of mine who is currently testing lots of $600-$3000 dacs, complete with tube etc etc said he's impressed. Its not as good as the tube follower dacs he's playing with, but putting tubes behind the 1543 should solve that shortcoming. That's why we got the extra 6-9 db to play with.

Cool.
Srinath.

 

[architect7]

Good to know about the Muse DAC. Do you know if there is a version with better op-amps?