Short High End DAC Comparison PT.1 & PT.2, Source Gear Progression, and General Thoughts

@M0N looking into the re-leaf stuff cause im on a current drive kick recently. How does one even go about using the E3 in mono? It seems to be an inherently balanced design with no hookup for that. Do you need to use a special pre-amp like you do for dual-mono CMA800s?

Edited misspoke and took to pm:
You get 2 but need some special custom cables for them to function

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… oh…

Well that explains a ton. Looks like the regular bal version are realy the only ones that come up used so I was massively confused. Their site also isn’t great tbh

Edit: wait, there is no monoblock version on the site. Is it special order? Or is “dc” the monoblock version? Do you by any chance have links to a pic of a monoblick version so I can figure out what it looks like if not? I can’t find any info here at all

Funny enough some lampi Pacific mono blocks were put up for sale. Also between checking this morning and just now an Atlantic trp came and went with upgraded tubes for $5 k too

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yah… that one has me pretty tempted tbh…

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That’s a pretty good deal, no wonder it went so quick

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Yep, i wish hifishark did its scans at a time that wasnt 4am because the fast moving stuff is gone and defeats the purpose of the alert. But this keeps me honest i suppose.

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Baller, would you really have bought it? :raised_hands:

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If it was balanced then there would be a good chance, it had the volume control but it didnt mention balanced or SE. The very least i would have sent a serious “hey i see this, mind if i get back to you in an hour or two?” message.

I think a used baltic is really my sweet spot though. It probably is a more appropriate tier for my hegel and amy speakers i plan on building out with.

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It was se

Back to this comment for a bit. I think a blurb about the M1 and M1SE are the bottom of the M3 spot would be nice. As for other additions, any chance for mojo mystique V3? Or is that out since I don’t think its made anymore?

Lastly, tbh, I would personaly rather se price cap set at 5k used not new. I know thats a moving target so maybe don’t do stuff like Atlantic TRP (which only occasionally drop that low) but I think something like the M1 thats regularly in the 4k range should be fine to include.

Oh that’s right I still need to do this lol. I honestly need to get in the mood to just sit down and write here, although I’m not sure that’s going to be all that soon

Sure I could mention that. I would like to include the V3 but yep not made anymore

So that’s something I’ve been thinking about, but I personally think 5k new is where I’d want to do it, mainly because it makes it really more around 2-4k used for most of the mentioned dacs which I think in the end might just be more useful to people because they are more attainable. It also avoids the problems of the shifting market and makes it more relevant, so that’s why I’m doing still produced only models, going off of only new and only still produced creates a level playing field. But I still absolutely agree that buying used will get you the most bang for buck and allow you to consider options you may not otherwise be able to consider. But this is just for my sanity here, this one is going to be off of memory so I don’t want to get too into it

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Lol. 0 rush. I jjst came across that post when searching uo sw1x dacs and figured I’d finally respond to it :joy:

Yah, fair enough. And even the evo basic is more than 5k iirc. Kind of a shame. Maybe just an “honorable mention” one liner?

Yah, the removal of shifting goalposts in the used market does make it a cleaner cut playing field. Just feels wierd for me to go off of new prices since thatd never realy how I look at gear tbh

Exactly feel you there lol. I only buy new if it’s entry level gear (because typically it isn’t really that much a discount used and it’s not always treated that well), or when it holds it’s value well enough to where the used and new prices are close enough (all my aries cerat stuff I bought new because you just can’t find them used lol)

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P R E A C H

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So I just sound out the ank 5.1 special kit is only 5k usd. I assume its different than the audio note dac 5, but I can’t find how after trying to Google. Anyone know the difference between ank kits and their respective audio note counterparts?

I believe there are 3 separate entities. Audio note kit vs audio note UK vs audio note kondo
With kondo being the really nice stuff

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From what I know, they might use similar but outdated topology compared to the real audio note uk stuff, but the big differentiator is the quality of components they use, pretty sure ank uses outsourced components where an uk uses their much higher quality house made parts, so imo that’s really what contributes to the large sonic differences between them

Regarding kondo that’s much better analog stuff but they don’t do digital much at all, so I’d still turn to uk for anything digital

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Saw this video today which kinda reminded me of m0n’s pending <$5K DAC comparison, so I thought I’d post it here:

It’s a long video, but in conclusion, Lachlan ranks the May KTE and Chord TT2 at a similar level (with different presentations), ranks the Yggy OG as a step below those two, and ranks the Spring 3 KTE as a step below the Yggy OG.

I’d probably agree

Also agree

I don’t personally know about that one unless they really messed up on the 3, the spring 2 kte was at the same level from my experience

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