Poll: Worst DACs in Terms of Value - October 6, 2015

Discussion in 'Leaderboard, Overboard, and Deals' started by purr1n, Sep 30, 2015.

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What are the Worst DACs in Terms of Value? (unlimited selectable responses) October 6, 2015

Poll closed Nov 6, 2015.
  1. Teac UD-501 $850

    12.3%
  2. Mytek Stereo192 DSD $1500

    21.1%
  3. Chord Hugo (as a DAC) $2500

    40.4%
  4. Chord Hugo TT (as a DAC) $4800

    47.4%
  5. Audioengine D1 $170

    5.3%
  6. Yulong DA8 $1400

    31.6%
  7. Jeff Rowland Aeris $10000

    17.5%
  8. Resonessence Labs Invicta $4995 - increased from $3995

    26.3%
  9. Sony PHA3 $1000 (as a DAC)

    12.3%
  10. Oppo HA-1 (DAC section) $1200

    15.8%
  11. iFi iDSD non-BL Nano $200 (as a DAC)

    17.5%
  12. iFi iDSD non-BL Micro $500 (as a DAC)

    15.8%
  13. Any TDA1541 based DAC

    1.8%
  14. AK240/340 (as a DAC) $2500+

    26.3%
  15. Benchmark DAC1 $1000

    17.5%
  16. MSB Select or anything above the Analog $10000+++

    31.6%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    UD-501 and Mytek both. Owned one and almost bought the second. So glad I had a chance to listen to it before I did.
     
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Poll is up and will last one month. Responses can be changed later before the poll is over.
     
  3. HitmanFluffy

    HitmanFluffy Hoping to see real genitals someday!

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    Goodness, they raised the price of the Invicta? I thought it was pretty poor value to begin with, now this pretty much locks in my vote for it. I'm surprised its not getting more votes at that price point.
     
  4. Priidik

    Priidik MOT: Estelon

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    I'd probably tick most of the boxes but I have heard only DA8 out of these.
     
  5. rayfalkner

    rayfalkner Not to be confused with Roy Fokker - Friend

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    That DA8 made me curious of how bad it really is to get all the hate around here.

    Couple of days ago on IHEAC 2015 Jakarta I had the chance to hear the Chord Hugo TT... well, don't really know what's so special about that $4500 unit. Underwhelming? With its price point isn't it supposed to make you floats up to heaven or something? o_O

    *And in my humble and completely subjective opinion I think the Matrix X-Sabre that I listened on the previous meets is even more enjoyable, perhaps because I remembered it delivering a clean sounds, or is it because the very silent background, or perhaps because it is paired with TH900 and hits the right synergy but well anyway...
     
  6. Rotijon

    Rotijon Friend

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    The PHA 3 is actually half decent as a whole, the DAC does leave something to be desired, but it was compared to my R2R dac, the ML No36, so it might have been unfair.
     
  7. Rotijon

    Rotijon Friend

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    have you heard it?
     
  8. Koth Ganesh

    Koth Ganesh Friend

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    Do I get trophy points for not spending ANY $ on these DACs?
     
  9. HitmanFluffy

    HitmanFluffy Hoping to see real genitals someday!

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    I find the MSB being up there a bit harsh. Its overpriced sure, but even the old stuff (which I had the privilege of listening to at a friend's place) performs at an acceptably excellent level. I put votes in for the Yulong and Mytek after having the good(?) fortune of being aggressively marketed to at a local trade show. The first was more dull than offensive, the other like hot candle wax in my ear canal.
     
  10. Chris F

    Chris F Boyz 4 Now Fanatic - Friend

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    No, I have not. I'm not questioning the sonics only the pricing/value.
     
  11. shipsupt

    shipsupt Admin

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    I'm hesitant to throw prodcuts under the bus on cost alone. Our thresholds for value vary wildly. I have a dCS Debussy which I think is VERY expensive, but I love the damned thing; it's an amazing performer. Some folks would never consider spending this kind of money on a DAC. I think it was money well spent. I have my limits as well, so I get the whole "priving/value" thing, but I'd rather be making a list of the stuff that we've heard that sounds like crap.
     
  12. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    I am desperately awaiting similar polls for:
    Worst Amps in terms of (sonics to) Value ratio
    Worst Headphones in terms of Value
     
  13. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I didn't vote for the MSBs. I can see some value in them no matter how ridiculously expensive. The Select DAC is $75,000 BTW. I don't think anyone would avoid them if we called them out on being poor value. People are still going to buy them anyways, so no harm done. I feel bad for the people who saved up their money for the really craptastic DACs of a thousand dollars or more.
     
  14. Priidik

    Priidik MOT: Estelon

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    This would get out of hand. There is simply too much crappp in these fields.
     
  15. Dr Pan K

    Dr Pan K Friend

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    Mytek is my easy choice among those mentioned above. Harsh sounding ESS SABRE DAC in typical ΔΣ fashion
     
  16. Deep Funk

    Deep Funk Deep thoughts - Friend

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    I do not understand the TDA1541 mention. You can buy a Philips or Sony CD-Player with transport for little with this chip and avoid the boutique shops.

    Sure the logo's do not look Marantz flashy but the with the good ones the value for money is there.
     
  17. Griffon

    Griffon 2nd biggest asshole on SBAF

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    I voted for only what I've listened to, or what I've got a very good idea of. Actually I heard DA8 in a meet condition and didn't feel it an abomination, probably also because the dealership in Canada offered a lower price (1k USD).

    As Marv said, if MSB stuff are offering something extraoridinary, something uniquely impossible to be found in the lower price brackets, it's OK to shed the very big money. OTOH I felt bad for someone who jumped onto AK380 to be told it needed another external amp - which IMO essentially reduced the AK380 into a DAC - a $3500 DAC - which is probably going to be slaughtered by Gumgnir MB, or very possibly a Bifrost MB, or even a GO V2, which is 1/10 of its price - this is a true rip-off.
     
  18. George Mhmmm

    George Mhmmm Acquaintance

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    I can see how the Oppo can sound bad, there are some less then stellar recordings that can produce shrill sounding highs. However I think I mostly eliminated the excessive high pitch ringing that can be heard on on the DAC by up-sampling using Audirvana. I set a 2M tap filter with 200 dB attenuation, and played around with the cut off frequency, pre-ringing and anti-aliasing options.

    A track with several higher pitch guitars strummed on both channels typically has a high pitch ringing that goes away after up sampling. The notes actually have some meat/body to them.
     
  19. Priidik

    Priidik MOT: Estelon

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    I tried the HA-1 striaght with HD800. Nothing massively annoying with that combo to my ears, slightly below BMC Puredac as combo, imo. DA-8 is much much worse.
    That said none of these bring out what is special in HD800 or high quality speakers.
     
  20. DaveBSC

    DaveBSC Friend

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    Did you mean the TDA1543? The TDA1541, particularly in S1/S2/Double Crown guise is extremely rare and highly prized as far as I'm aware. I also don't know of anybody that's using it today aside from the Aqua La Voce where it's optional alongside the PCM1704 and AD1865. I have no idea how many Aqua actually has or where they are getting their supply, but it's not a chip you can just buy anywhere.

    Now the 1543 on the other hand was the crappy even in its day mid-grade Philips chip that there's still boat loads of floating around, that you find in $50 eBay NOS DACs. Also the CAD 1543 DAC which is something like $10K. For a TDA1543 DAC. Yep.

    http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/cad/1.html
     

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