lothloriel Posted August 10, 2013 Posted August 10, 2013 Hi there all long time lurker but no post! So here is my first I'm in the market for a DAC to pair with the aforementioned headphones and amp (Audio Technica W1000x and a Yamamoto HA-03) I've been reading around and it seems there are many highly recommended options out there and I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with a similar kind of system matchup. The toplist list i've currently got (in order) is: Musical Fidelity M1 DAC AudioLab MDAC Cambridge Audio Dacmagic Plus Can anyone who has experienced any pair or more of the above highlight any idiosyncracies either between the dacs themselves or with similar system matchups (high efficiency headphones + tube amp); or is it essentially a non-event to compare the above and the difference is between apples and apples. The budget i'm willing to extend to is $1000AUD, but less is more and i'd like to keep the cost down within reason. And i'm wondering if there is any significant reason to get the MDAC over say the Dacmagic which costs, relatively, quite a bit less. I'm open to any suggestions I can research further! I also do not consider the DAC having an inbuilt amp as any incentive to purchase, such as the dacmagic because I will never use it. And if it's worth anything, i'd profile my listening as: ambient, female vocalist, synth/electronica, shoegaze, folk, jazz, funk, instrumental. many thanks
rx79ez08 Posted August 10, 2013 Posted August 10, 2013 Haven't heard the MMusical Fidelity M1 DAC, so can't comment on it. The MDAC is much better than the Dacmagic Plus from memory. The first Dacmagic Plus unit I got was DOA (USB drops out constantly), which did not really say much about their QC process. I also found the Dacmagic to sound quite ordanary. The Dacmagic got no volume indicator, which is probably very dangerous especially when you are using headphones. If you don't need the balance output, AudioLab Q-DAC might be worth considering. It is a trimmed down version of M-DAC and cost $200 less. I am quite interested in your opinion of the HA-03, as I have a HA-02 which I use with a fair number of AT woodies with great effect. Where did you get your HA-03?
lothloriel Posted August 10, 2013 Author Posted August 10, 2013 Haven't heard the MMusical Fidelity M1 DAC, so can't comment on it. The MDAC is much better than the Dacmagic Plus from memory. The first Dacmagic Plus unit I got was DOA (USB drops out constantly), which did not really say much about their QC process. I also found the Dacmagic to sound quite ordanary. The Dacmagic got no volume indicator, which is probably very dangerous especially when you are using headphones. If you don't need the balance output, AudioLab Q-DAC might be worth considering. It is a trimmed down version of M-DAC and cost $200 less. I am quite interested in your opinion of the HA-03, as I have a HA-02 which I use with a fair number of AT woodies with great effect. Where did you get your HA-03? Cheers for the input I havn't got the HA-03 yet, I only recently sent an order off directly to Mr Shigeki Yamamoto himself via his website http://www2.117.ne.jp/~y-s/index-e.html and email at the bottom of that page shige-y@mh1.117.ne.jp . There is about an 8 week wait so i'm expecting it around October. Plenty of time to decide on a dac to go with! I was originally going to go with the 02 but caught the 03 last minute and after a quick chat over email with Shigeki about differences between the two he said the tonality was very similar to the ha-02 whilst being more forceful; which the specs reflect. Add to that 240v support out of the box with a simple fuse change and additional power potential and the small yet indicative thread going on headfi ( http://www.head-fi.org/t/641541/anyone-hear-about-yamamoto-ha-03 ) I decided to take the plunge. The Q-DAC certaintly sounds appealing; Is there any significance going from balanced output (dac) -> unbalanced input (amp) ? Because if there isn't I don't see any reason to get the M over the Q Also another consideration I forgot to mention is that I have a small set of active bookshelf speakers and would like to get them a signal from the dac without having to physically change connections. Would this then require me to get the M over the Q and utilise both the balanced and unbalanced outputs between the two? Is there any issue with connecting the two at once?
Ace_Beef Posted August 10, 2013 Posted August 10, 2013 Isnt there a second hand M1 in the classifieds at the moment? 1
buddyev Posted August 10, 2013 Posted August 10, 2013 There is Rega dac in the classifieds - Way ahead of the dacmagic. Not sure about the others. 1
ians Posted August 10, 2013 Posted August 10, 2013 You might get a better response from the Digital Source forum here: http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/forum/20-cd-including-dacs-other-digital-sources/ and there is a wealth of information on headphone / dac choices at http://www.head-fi.org/f/7/dedicated-source-components.
lothloriel Posted August 11, 2013 Author Posted August 11, 2013 thanks for the replies all; I've forwarded the thread on headfi and see what comes up there; for those interested on if that thread gets any replies, here
proftournesol Posted August 11, 2013 Posted August 11, 2013 I've got the same headphone/ Yamamoto combo and use it with a Musical Fidelity V-DAC. It's a good detailed combo, I'm sure that there are better around but very soon you start to run into the limits of digital music re-production si I just spend the difference between the V-Dac and a better Dac on music:)
chesterljh Posted August 25, 2013 Posted August 25, 2013 (edited) wanna give Shozy a try? The Shozy Magic DAC is quite amazing! superbly small but packs a punch! Edited August 25, 2013 by chesterljh
Recommended Posts