DAC, 400 to 500 dollars.

[mata]

The only one that I am aware that is brand name is Dac Magic 200 by Cambridge at this price range.

There are tons of Topings and SMSL for around 200 to 500 and I am not able to tell how they even differ or why so many from one brand survive in that same price range.

For example SMSL DO 200 Seems to be similar to SMSL DO 100 etc.

 

[lovinthehd]

I wouldn't pick by price, or brand, particularly. Depends what you need it to do particularly, i.e. what connectivity/feature set you want. Maybe review the testing done at audiosciencereview.com.

 

[mata]

I wouldn't pick by price, or brand, particularly. Depends what you need it to do particularly, i.e. what connectivity/feature set you want. Maybe review the testing done at audiosciencereview.com.

My goal is to hitch it to a CDT, that are less than 1000 dollars.

 

[lovinthehd]

My goal is to hitch it to a CDT, that are less than 1000 dollars.

CD transport? Why would you need to spend that much on a cd transport? You been reading strange audiophilia blogs/mags?

 

[mata]

CD transport? Why would you need to spend that much on a cd transport? You been reading strange audiophilia blogs/mags?

Leak audio, audiolab, Cambridge has them 600 to 800 dollars. Just to look cool. So I can say I did it like the big timers. I cannot invest 6 digits.

What is your suggestion.

 

[lovinthehd]

Leak audio, audiolab, Cambridge has them 600 to 800 dollars. Just to look cool. So I can say I did it like the big timers. I cannot invest 6 digits.

What is your suggestion.

LOL nothing that pricey. I wouldn't care about aesthetics of the box much,, tho

 

[lovinthehd]

Leak audio, audiolab, Cambridge has them 600 to 800 dollars. Just to look cool. So I can say I did it like the big timers. I cannot invest 6 digits.

What is your suggestion.

Besides, 6 digits is just silly. More like 100-400 gets you most of what's available

 

[Kingnoob]

Leak audio, audiolab, Cambridge has them 600 to 800 dollars. Just to look cool. So I can say I did it like the big timers. I cannot invest 6 digits.

What is your suggestion.

What’s a CD transport?

 

[lovinthehd]

What’s a CD transport?

Why do you post here?

 

[isolar8001]

What’s a CD transport?

Chronic Destitute Transportation
It's what's needed to haul you out of bed before 2PM and get a job after spending all night awake giving your expert speaker advice on AVS....
Then after you pay your parents the hundreds of thousands you owe them, you can replace this monstrosity.
(You should post this pic every time you give expert advice over at AVS.)

 

[isolar8001]

The only one that I am aware that is brand name is Dac Magic 200 by Cambridge at this price range.

There are tons of Topings and SMSL for around 200 to 500 and I am not able to tell how they even differ or why so many from one brand survive in that same price range.

For example SMSL DO 200 Seems to be similar to SMSL DO 100 etc.

So, you want to spend up to 500 dollars on a 5 dollar DAC chip to replace the 2 dollar chip that was in your dying Onkyo ? And then buy a transport ?
Hey, it's your money.
Just buy a used Oppo if you want to impress someone...at least it's worth fixing when it dies.

 

[Joe B]

The only one that I am aware that is brand name is Dac Magic 200 by Cambridge at this price range.

There are tons of Topings and SMSL for around 200 to 500 and I am not able to tell how they even differ or why so many from one brand survive in that same price range.

For example SMSL DO 200 Seems to be similar to SMSL DO 100 etc.

I get where you're coming from. I went with a CD transport and headphone amp/pre-amp/DAC for my desktop system.
For the money you have to spend, the Dac Magic 200 would be a solid choice:
twin ESS Sabre ES9028Q2M 32-bit digital-to-analog converters in dual mono configuration
decodes MQA

 

[PENG]

The only one that I am aware that is brand name is Dac Magic 200 by Cambridge at this price range.

There are tons of Topings and SMSL for around 200 to 500 and I am not able to tell how they even differ or why so many from one brand survive in that same price range.

For example SMSL DO 200 Seems to be similar to SMSL DO 100 etc.

I have/had multiple CA, Chord, Oppo,Topping, Fiio, and SMLS dacs, nothing beats SMS's or Topping's based on value. CA's are way overpriced imo because they typically use supar DAC ICs whereas the others tend to use AKM, Cirrus Logic/Wolfson, or ESS's top ICs. Implementation that people rave on forums are overrated, if a company use the lower end DAC ICs, what's the chance that they would do good on implementation, I am stating this to preamp the forthcoming posts about implementation, that are well know design science, no secrets there, so imo just go with products that used the best available ICs, examples: ES9038, 9039Pro, AK4499EX, CS4302P etc.

Those DACmagic ones are quite good but reminded me of the likes of Bose, Bluesound kind of overhyped, overrated poplular products, much better than the Dragonfly usb dacs that are so ridiculously overpriced yet so successful to get people to fall for them nonetheless.

 

[JerryLove]

Yea. There's some weird stuff out there. Everything from expensive CD readers to gold-plated optical cables.

Your cheapest CD-ROM reads the pits and lands on a CD with 100% accuracy and (last time I priced one) cost like $10. The only direction up from that might be something better at reading damaged media.

Other than the pre-amp output on the DAC, I haven't found a difference in output. It's job is to take a bunch of numbers and turn them into a wave. The accuracy of the average DAC appears well above that of the human ear.

As others have said: Put your money where you like... and gods know that I like aesthetics. I'll gladly run something that's "no better but looks better" (at least to a point)... just don't expect it to *sound* better.