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- Newsgroups: rec.audio
- Path: sparky!uunet!stanford.edu!leland.Stanford.EDU!kong
- From: kong@leland.Stanford.EDU (Kong Kritayakirana)
- Subject: Low Price DAC
- Message-ID: <1992Nov10.094830.2078@leland.Stanford.EDU>
- Sender: news@leland.Stanford.EDU (Mr News)
- Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
- Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 09:48:30 GMT
- Lines: 49
-
- After a lot of frustration and thumping through endless pages of specs
- and products of this year's Audio and Stereo Review Component's guides,
- I have decided that all I want to upgrade for now is my DAC. No, no,
- I don't want a Transport/Converter combination. All I have are 3-yr old
- Kenwood portable w/coax digital output, and 2-yr+ old Sony D-555 (DiscMan)
- with fiber optic output. I have heard that coax output is supposed to be
- better at transmitting digital data than fiber optic output, so I plan to
- swap my D-555 with my sister's Kenwood (w/coax digital out) when she comes
- to visit me this thanksgiving. I have not seen any real proof that transport
- can make a difference in sound quality. The most recent issue of The Audio
- Critic CD review column gives some stats about how much error can't be
- recovered --- and you guess what --- ZERO. Let me say it again. ZERO.
-
- Another thing that might make "CD playback system" sounds different is
- jitter. But this is entirely up to the accuracy of the clock signal that's
- feeding into DACs. So by the reasons above, my concern about Transport sounding
- "different" is put to rest until some real evidence exists to the contrary.
-
- Now the real question is this: I have saved up about $600 (maybe a little
- more than that) to spend just on an outboard DAC. (Yes, although it is VERY
- politically incorrect, I'll be driving it using my Kenwood portable.)
- What would be a good DAC in this price range. I have narrowed down my
- choices to the following:
-
- Name/Model Concern/Question
- Audio Alchemy DDE v2.0 Does it use DAC-7s chips? Discrete analog stage?
- a store quoted me $599 on a new unit.
- CAL Sigma D/A Tubes??? Are they reliable? More expensive than
- the DDE v2.0 and the cosmetics isn't attractive
- Sumo Theorem Uses lousy PCM67 DACs. Pretty good built though.
- Mission DAC5 Definitely in my price range. Haven't heard
- anything about it though.
- QED MB52 Well below my budget. Wonder what DAC chips are
- used. No info about quality of analog stage.
- Soundstream DAC-1 Suspect the use of lousy PCM67 DACs.
- PS Audio Digital Link II Good AD1860N-K DACs. BAD RF emission though.
-
- Any comment about the list above? To my knowledge, the best DAC chips
- available are Ultra Analog AD1862N-K, TDA1547(aka DAC-7), and Sony CXD2552 or
- CXD2552. The reason I don't want to get Sony is because the analog stage is
- usually very bad (cheap opamps, electrolytic caps, etc.) Your comment or
- help on this outboard DAC hunting trip will be greatly appreciated. You can
- response by either posting an article or email me at kong@leland.stanford.edu
-
- Kong Kritayakirana
- EERA STAR Lab
- Stanford University
- Stanford, CA 94305
- kong@leland.stanford.edu
-