Dac Destroyer from HotAudio

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by Vanheim, Jun 24, 2016.

  1. Vanheim

    Vanheim Acquaintance

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  2. JoshMorr

    JoshMorr Friend

    Pyrate BWC
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    I might save up for something a bit better (schiit modi) , I think anyone would outgrow this pretty quickly. It's handmade in a cheap case, no mention of Dac chip, other than it only does 16 bit / 48khz (older tech). I would guess this isn't much of an improvement over headphone out jack. Check out this thread for help with budget allocation: http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...dget-among-headphones-amps-and-dac-source.57/
     
  3. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    One would have to try to find out --- but I am suspicious of the premise here. Isn't it too cheap to be hand-built? Isn't handmade and cheap, outside of countries where labour is very cheap, a contradiction in terms? If I want to buy at this budget level, I'm actually more comfortable with something like HiFiMeDIY
     
  4. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Ahaha, the HotAudio Destroyer was one of my very first devices. It's actually made by a guy local to me, but I've never met him despite inviting him to local events. He doesn't even allow local pickup and everything has to be shipped. The guy does seem a bit nuts and likes to speak in all caps. At one point he was also branching out and selling holistic health products on his website too.

    As far as I'm aware, his stuff is all hand-made. Probably orders his pcb's in small batches (they do look professionally printed at least; not some home-made etch job) and he does place everything by hand, and constantly tweaks. For a while he was also selling "tweaked/upgraded" dac/amps that he was buying from China, adding boutique capacitors and gold solder, etc.

    He constantly changes components, so I don't know what he uses anymore. I think mine had the old PCM1704? Funny thing, I think it actually sounds nice. It's not what I would call resolving, but not mud either. Very warm and punchy sound, almost like there's a bass boost.

    edit: not the 1794... maybe 1704? ah crap the numbers are all jumbled in my head... it was a really popular chip a decade ago, before Wolfson swept into the portables world.
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2016
  5. Vanheim

    Vanheim Acquaintance

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    Thanks for the replies. A warm sound is what I'm looking for. The hifiMeDiy might be a bit too bright because of the Sabre dac
     

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