Talking to my dealer i just found out an MSB discrete is within the budget i am looking at for a dac. Anyone know how it handles tactility/livliness? Ive emailed a few people to try and find a demo but no hit so far and I wasnt sure how hard i should try and hunt for one.
Esentialy im just trying to get several dac demos lined up over the next few months so that i dont need to wait another 3+ months after my amp gets here to hear stuff and trying to figure out what dacs to prioritize hunting down
Well, but not stand out in the price bracket per se. I think it doesn’t disappoint in that range, but it also doesn’t overly impress either. It’s not something that immediately stands out to me when I listen to the dac vs others in that range
ok cool. I felt it was at an “acceptable” level when demoing and I wasnt sure how that would mean stuff like a evo b4b, dac II Special/Dac III, d1-dual, or ref1 would compare. Also, do you remember if the audiobyte hydra/vox did well here? I know it has a pretty similar sound to rockna over all so I figure it should but wasnt sure.
No, I actually didn’t like the audiobyte for that very reason, it felt smoothed over and lacked tactility in comparison to a wavelight and even moreso wavedream. Felt less controlled as well. Reminded me more of how chord products do things almost, wasn’t as big of a fan
Generally when it comes to where the weiss sits, I’d say it’s above something like a wavelight or dac ii special, same with a d1 core, and more sits in the realm of something like a dac iii, wavedream, d1 single mk2, or evo b4b (I do like the single mk2 + livepower over the weiss though, that feels like a bit higher tier)
What do you mean by ref1? Like an alpha reference 1? That would be above the weiss imo
good to know all around. is it safe to assume core+live power is going to be similar or maybe slightly below the weiss? TBH I havent reached out to my dealer on pricing on any of this yet since Im still in the demo phase so im trying to get an idea of how the product range as a whole generaly stacks up for a few brands.
Yes, that is what I meant. With Ref1 now going for like 5k and ref 2 going for ~8k it seemed worth while to add to my interest list
Slightly below. I will say if you are going to go for a totaldac, I do think it’s just worth it to go single mk2 + live power as long as your amp isn’t too picky about needing balanced output. It really is worth the extra cost imo (around 8k all in directly from totaldac).
If you can go ref 2 do that since that’s a substantial jump forward, but ref 1 also very nice, just factor in added cost for a digital source around the 2k range, their berkeley alpha usb is nice or a streamer with good aes or spdif output is good too. I thought the ref 1 was a bit too aggressive for my tastes, the ref 2 fixed that and also improved technical ability. But used berkeley dacs are excellent value assuming they fit well in your setup
Regarding the value on the weiss, as a dac only, it’s not as great in comparison to other options, but if you factor in all the features then it makes sense. It’s just that you would want to make sure you might actually use those features, otherwise it’s not as appealing. It’s got a great digital streamer, great preamp function, and great dsp options if you are into that, but if you aren’t going to use those then it’s lost value
ok, good to know. Does totaldac mostly do direct sales btw? I havent looked into them much but that was the feeling I got. Wasnt sure if i should expect any kind of haggling with a dealer to be possible or not.
That was kind of the way I was leaning anyways, so ill note it down. I assume all of the berkely stuff will need a stout streamer/ddc?
Thats real good to know. I wont be using the streamer or DSP on it at all and dont plan to use the pre for most stuff either (unless I just dont have enough volume play on the AIC or something). The price in my mind for this (in terms of stacking it up against competition is 6000-6500 USD (not sure I would buy over that tbh).
Another dac ive been looking at is the pasthea from sonnett. Any plans of getting that one in or that gunna just be a “if it happens so be it but not hunting”
sounds good. Then next question. Currently I only have basic cables, am using a furrman FP15i for power, and using a SU-2 KTE for a DDC (I have to use USB out of the computer unfortunately). Anywhere here I should upgrade/change up before I start throwing dacs in my system? I was kinda thinking maybe do a set of analogue cables (would need both RCA and XLR cause of my amps) and/or change the DDC but wasnt sure if I should worry about that yet or just wait till I decide on a dac and tune from there
also, rofl on the ref 3 demo comment. If it stands out that much to me maybe ill just need to try and bump my budget to something like that/kissandra mk2/d1 direct (once one pops up on the market at least since i would want like 50% off rrp for those which seems diable used but doubt it is new)
Actually asking the question up front:
What DACs under $6k used (preferably closer to $3k used) would synergize particularly well with my Allnic/MYSPHERE chain?
~~~~~~~~
So I mentioned this the other day in the T1.2 thread:
…and I’ve been thinking about what would be involved in giving the Exogal back to the Quicksilver and getting another DAC for my main chain. I’m pretty set on the Allnic/MYSPHERE combo, at least for a while, so I’m in a place where I could really try to nail down a pairing with great synergy. And I’m also not in a hurry, so I’m down to wait a while for something more obscure to turn up or just generally for a reasonable deal on something (though I am getting a bonus at work soon :P).
So yeah, I’d be grateful for any and all recommendations for DACs that I could put on my list to research for the future!
So there are definitely a lot of things I like about the Allnic that I’d like to keep. I like the space and stage and separation, especially the depth, I like the dynamics and punchiness, I like how neutral it is and I’d rather not tilt it too warm if I can help it. I could definitely stand to have more texture and low-level detail. I don’t really care all that much about extension, and while I like things to sound/feel organic, I’m not too worried about being super-true to the recording, so if I’m hearing more depth or density than is really there in the recording, I’m still pretty happy.
It’s funny thinking about it sometimes, hifiDJ and I bought the same amp, and I feel like everything he’s complained about in the Allnic thread is something that I actually preferred, lol (depth/layering, sweetness, my favorite tubes are the RCA tubes, etc.)
I’d personally look toward a yggy a2 if you want more of a sidegrade to the exogal as an alternative, but a wavelight if you want an upgrade as I think that pretty closely nails what you are generally after. I do also think that if you could find a used bricasti m1 that would also be pretty sweet overall although it isn’t as strong in depth so that’s mainly the concern I’d have but good in other regards
Stretching budget but imo still reasonable a d1-core would be damn nice, same with a mystique evo (although might lean a bit more warm than you are after, but I think you should still be fine, a v3 could also potentially work)
LOL Your list is very similar to mine. I’ll be interested in your findings because it looks like you and I are on similar paths, with similar starting points (Yggy A2 → Nautilus vs Yggy A2 → Forge).
Both TotalDac and Mojo have a free trial period where they’ll refund the total cost minus shipping if you don’t like it. So not strictly demo because you have to buy it first, but better than manufacturers who won’t take it back, like Holo or Denafrips. Vincent quoted me $400 total shipping cost to ship a TotalDac to Chicago and back if I returned it.
I love how engaging the Yggy is for the type of music I enjoy (mostly rock & alternative). And I saw you post elsewhere about the “texture” of the Yggy, which is another thing I love about it. I’m not sure if my definition of texture is the same as yours. When I was testing a TT2, I could “feel” the bite in violin strings or brass instruments from the Yggy, whereas the TT2 seemed to smooth it out in comparison. Not a criticism of the TT2, which I liked a lot as an all-in-one without the MScaler (the MScaler gave me a headache when upscaling redbook so I removed it), just a preference I had for the Yggy.
I tried a Spring 3 KTE in a friend’s system, feeding a DNA Stratus, and that combo was too laid back for me, and the rhythm seemed slightly off. I don’t know if it was the Spring 3 or the Stratus that was incompatible with my preferences - maybe the combo. On non-rhythmic music (vocals, classical) the combo sounded glorious, and it completely suited my friend’s music preferences.
