$500 DAC recommendations?

[jdjaye]

Folks-

 

After much procrastination and distraction, I decided to give the Schiit BiFrost Multibit a try to see if I like it better than the DAC on my Marantz SA8005. I will let you know.

 

If I find it's not any better to my ears, I'll send it back in the trial period.

 

PlanB would be the AudioLabs M-DAC +, PS Audio NU wave, or Moon 280D - gulp - serious bucks!

 

Fingers Crossed!

[rando]

You might be rationalizing a decision instead of making one based on clear assessment of the market. I, and at least a few others, came to the conclusion "Bimby" is in a rather awkward position after the arrival of "Mimby". It might be possible to conclude the BiFrost is next in line for an update. Or at least look less at the numbers than the real world performance between the two. If one was so inclined they might even conclude Schiit themselves recognize the viability of this way of thinking.

 

Your money, best of luck.

[Tone Deaf]

To my great surprise, this IFI DAC fed via USB at DSD512 with upsampling from HQplayer sounds better or close to DACs at 5 to 8 times the price.

 

It needs USB treatment to do so. A battery powered REGEN does the trick. I am looking forward to trying the new UpTone Ultra cap LPS and REGEN with this DAC.

 

I can't talk to any of the other modes of operation.

 

+1

 

jdjaye - if you haven't performed any USB optimizations, the above would be worth considering if the Schitt doesn't work out. A Regen and LPS-1 would be be in the same budget range, and just might give the improvement you are looking for.

 

I was surprised by the magnitude of the change in my system.

[lmitche]

+1

 

jdjaye - if you haven't performed any USB optimizations, the above would be worth considering if the Schitt doesn't work out. A Regen and LPS-1 would be be in the same budget range, and just might give the improvement you are looking for.

 

I was surprised by the magnitude of the change in my system.

I was right, the IFI microIDSD powered by an lps1 playing upsampled material at DSD512 is a treat. Unfortunately it's a $900 solution plus the cost of an i7-6700k computer, so maybe $2000 all in.

[jdjaye]

So after a week of bask and forth listening between the $650 Schiit BiFrost Multibit and my Marantz SA8005, both with CDs and AppleLossless files from my NAS over Ethernet via Sonos, I didn't really hear any improvement - both sound great! I don't use the USB inputs, so I didn't test that. I'm send the BImby back since I'm still in the trial period, and perhaps I'll give the $1100 M-DAC+ a try if I'm successful in getting a US Dealer to carry it.

 

I've concluded that probably no DAC in the $500 range is going to sound better to me with my music and configuration that my Marantz SA8005, but it was a fun science project to figure that out.

[jaspal kallar]

On 4/12/2016 at 3:54 AM, Gonzbull said:

The SMSL M8 is an excellent DAC for the money. Way less than your budget. May not have the wow factor and might get the CA snub but it's worth a look.

 

 

Does anybody know if this Dac works with linux and more specifically with the microrendu or the sotm sms 200 (both of which are based on linux) ?

 

 

[Ralf11]

dunoo, but... Oppo Sonica

[pas]

2 hours ago, jaspal kallar said:

 

 

Does anybody know if this Dac works with linux and more specifically with the microrendu or the sotm sms 200 (both of which are based on linux) ?

 

 

Yes to the microRendu.

[jaspal kallar]

7 hours ago, pas said:

Yes to the microRendu.

 

 

Thanks pas !  Great I will look further into the The SMSL M8

[pas]

2 hours ago, jaspal kallar said:

 

 

Thanks pas !  Great I will look further into the The SMSL M8

A couple of items to consider, the original SMSL M8 has the DSD channels reversed (L is R, R is L) and capable of DSD 128, be careful if purchasing used. This issue was rectified on the second release and capability increased to DSD 256. Both of the aforementioned versions are powered with 9 volt power supplies. The newer M8A is powered with a 5 volt power supply and capable of 768khz and DSD 512. It also has a newer XMOS chip.

 

The SMSL is a good entry level DAC with an excellent cost to performance ratio. Check out the head-fi thread, it contains some good information. You can also read a review of the earlier version on musicservertips.com.

[jaspal kallar]

48 minutes ago, pas said:

A couple of items to consider, the original SMSL M8 has the DSD channels reversed (L is R, R is L) and capable of DSD 128, be careful if purchasing used. This issue was rectified on the second release and capability increased to DSD 256. Both of the aforementioned versions are powered with 9 volt power supplies. The newer M8A is powered with a 5 volt power supply and capable of 768khz and DSD 512. It also has a newer XMOS chip.

 

The SMSL is a good entry level DAC with an excellent cost to performance ratio. Check out the head-fi thread, it contains some good information. You can also read a review of the earlier version on musicservertips.com.

 

 

Thanks for that, very good info to know the faults of the old version and the specs of the newer version  

 

Does the newer version (M8A) also work with Linux and namely the Sonore Micorendu or similar e.g. SOtm sMS 200?  

 

 

 

 

[franz159]

13 hours ago, pas said:

A couple of items to consider, the original SMSL M8 has the DSD channels reversed (L is R, R is L) and capable of DSD 128, be careful if purchasing used. This issue was rectified on the second release and capability increased to DSD 256. Both of the aforementioned versions are powered with 9 volt power supplies. The newer M8A is powered with a 5 volt power supply and capable of 768khz and DSD 512. It also has a newer XMOS chip.

 

The SMSL is a good entry level DAC with an excellent cost to performance ratio. Check out the head-fi thread, it contains some good information. You can also read a review of the earlier version on musicservertips.com.

 

M8a is on massdrop at 199$ for another 3 days...

 

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/smsl-m8a-dac

[pas]

On ‎9‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 9:10 AM, jaspal kallar said:

 

 

Thanks for that, very good info to know the faults of the old version and the specs of the newer version  

 

Does the newer version (M8A) also work with Linux and namely the Sonore Micorendu or similar e.g. SOtm sMS 200?  

 

 

 

 

I don't have direct experience with the M8A, but the M8 works with the microRendu up to and including native DSD 128. Jesus at Sonore was gracious enough to add that capability. I believe it is easier to add native DSD support to dacs that employ an XMOS chip. Hope this helps.

[pas]

On ‎9‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 10:10 PM, franz159 said:

 

M8a is on massdrop at 199$ for another 3 days...

 

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/smsl-m8a-dac

Currently $179 for one more day.

Food for thought - Powering the M8A with an Uptone Audio LPS-1 would provide some excellent sound. I have a HDTA Serenade Pro dac that I power with an LPS-1 and it sounds fantastic. Smooth as silk with incredible detail. The HDTA (Sound Magic) Serenade Pro can be purchased on Amazon for $194 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R0XSFNO/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I121CP4HE7GC3N&colid=36HXZ669P2RPP and it supports PCM up to 384khz and DSD 512. FYI for Jaspal.

[mentt]

I owned countless DACs over the years and in my opinion source component is most important. You can have great DAC, but if you use computer as streamer sound quality will be noticeably degraded. Still CD player is cheapest way how to get excellent sound. Streaming is hard to implement right. There are many variables including power supply for the network switch for example. I would go either with streamer with build in DAC(I can recommend lumin D1, Onkyo 6170 and other more expensive ones) or with raspberry pi based streamer(for example allo digi one player) and DAC of your choice. In any case I would stay away from computer based audio(PC or MAC)

[jaspal kallar]

On 20/09/2017 at 7:16 AM, pas said:

Currently $179 for one more day.

Food for thought - Powering the M8A with an Uptone Audio LPS-1 would provide some excellent sound. I have a HDTA Serenade Pro dac that I power with an LPS-1 and it sounds fantastic. Smooth as silk with incredible detail. The HDTA (Sound Magic) Serenade Pro can be purchased on Amazon for $194 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R0XSFNO/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I121CP4HE7GC3N&colid=36HXZ669P2RPP and it supports PCM up to 384khz and DSD 512. FYI for Jaspal.

 

Thanks @pas  for the recommendations.  I may however, look for a dac with an inbuilt volume control i,e  Dac/Pre 

[pas]

On ‎9‎/‎23‎/‎2017 at 7:41 AM, jaspal kallar said:

 

Thanks @pas  for the recommendations.  I may however, look for a dac with an inbuilt volume control i,e  Dac/Pre 

Good luck! I am sure whatever you choose will work well. Take care.

[noway]

I picked up a Matrix Mini-i Pro 2S from http://matrix-digi.com/en/products/133/index.html

 

It seems very well made, sounds great and Arthur is very knowlegeable and easy to deal with.  Feel much better buying from a USA source than from China.  A bit more than your budget at $619.