Good cheap dac................................

Toobs

Toobs

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Joined
Apr 6, 2013
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792
Location
Western NY.
Hi Sharks
I'm in the market for a good dac and I don't want to spend more than $500. This will be used strictly in a headphone system.

I've already researched a few and they are:

Micromega MyDac $369.00
Musical Fidelity v90 $299.95
Schiit Bifrost $349.00 or 419.00 for the uber analog
Cambridge audio dacmagic 100 $299.00

USB connectivity is not important.

All four have gotten stellar reviews with the Micromega being named The Absolute Sound budget component of the year.

The only nitpick I have with the Micromega is the case is made from plastic. Robert Harley says this is not a concern.

If anyone has any other suggestions, or comments on the ones I've listed I would greatly appreciate it:congrats::congrats::hey:
 
Bob - the Schiit BiFrost I think would be your best bet. It really sounds MUCH better than its price point.
 
I've owned both the schiit and the micromega. The schiit does sound excellent and the build quality is unbelievable for the money, however....like the sound of the micromega more. The micromega looks and feels kinda cheap and plastic-y, especially compared to the schiit, but the sound quality is exceptional. Unless you prefer a warm rich tubey sounding DAC, I'd recommend the micromega.
 
Toobs said:
Micromega MyDac $369.00

USB connectivity is not important.

The only nitpick I have with the Micromega is the case is made from plastic. Robert Harley says this is not a concern.
If anyone has any other suggestions, or comments on the ones I've listed I would greatly appreciate it:congrats::congrats::hey:
Click to expand...

I certainly don't have the experience (or the high end gear) as most of the members here, but I've had the Micromega in my listening system for about two years. I believe that it is NOT the weakest link in my system and has performed flawlessly.

This may not matter to you, but the best feature it has, to me, is the ability to switch between 3 digital inputs. I have it connected to the laptop (USB), disc player (coax), and TV (optical). I can leave the integrated set to one input and all I have to do is turn it on, select the input on the MyDac and hit Play on my selected device. I like stupid simple.

The plastic case doesn't bother me too much except that the piece is so light. With four heavy cables connected to the back it feels as if the tail is wagging the dog, but their weight does seem to anchor it a little.

Dwight
 
Bob...you may want to consider this Marantz Headphone amp/DAC: Marantz HD-DAC1 DAC/Headphone Amp at Music Direct

It's got Coax/Optical/USB inputs. One idea is you can sell your Burson headphone amp and still have money left over to buy this Marantz headphone amp/DAC. You can use the cd3t into it and if down the road you want to use a PC/server/streaming source, it's USB input will accommodate that and the USB will also support up to 2X DSD.

Just a thought. If you want to stick with your amp and spend under $500 on stand-alone DAC as your original question, I think you have covered most of the DACs that have coax/optical and AES/EBU connections
 
Toobs said:
Hi Sharks
I'm in the market for a good dac and I don't want to spend more than $500. This will be used strictly in a headphone system.

I've already researched a few and they are:

Micromega MyDac $369.00
Musical Fidelity v90 $299.95
Schiit Bifrost $349.00 or 419.00 for the uber analog
Cambridge audio dacmagic 100 $299.00

USB connectivity is not important.

All four have gotten stellar reviews with the Micromega being named The Absolute Sound budget component of the year.

The only nitpick I have with the Micromega is the case is made from plastic. Robert Harley says this is not a concern.

If anyone has any other suggestions, or comments on the ones I've listed I would greatly appreciate it:congrats::congrats::hey:
Click to expand...


Buy a a ifi dsd micro. Not nano micro. It's really good DSd. It has a pretty good amp and a whole bunch of SW,s that tailor sound to. Your liking. It's porible but can be used as desk top. It works with many devices , iPhones , androids and cpu,s. It's pcm is good too but the sweet spot is DSd for me. It's cheap but works well. al
 
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