el cheapo DAC

Posted by: uniti on 05 August 2009

I have been looking around for a dac for a good while now but didn't get as much money as i had planned from ebay.

now the plan was for the cambridge audio DAC magic. but it is now 2* the budget i have.

so simple question is what DAC would you guys recomend for about £100 deliverd?

the DAC inside my TV just does not do the nait justice!

also if anybody from naim is reading this would they like to send me a sample dac for an extended time (when i say extended read as permenant) for demo?!

Posted on: 05 August 2009 by fixedwheel

quote:
Originally posted by uniti:
also if anybody from naim is reading this would they like to send me a sample dac for an extended time (when i say extended read as permenant) for demo?!

Bad news, you are behind me in the queue, and I haven't received mine yet.

Tip for a cheap reasonable DAC. I use a Sony minidisc deck, a 930, as a multi input dac. choose the input and press Rec with no disc in.

I found that it wasn't far behind a MF X-24K for dealing with the output from my Squeezebox.

Cheers

John

Posted on: 05 August 2009 by pcstockton

quote:
Originally posted by uniti:

so simple question is what DAC would you guys recomend for about £100 deliverd? is anybody looking to sell their beresford for the upcoming release of the naim dac?

A new Beresford cannot be much more than that.

Posted on: 05 August 2009 by uniti

i was looking at sub £100. beresford come in at £137

i can get the MF VDAC for £115 but it doesn't have 2 toslink.

Posted on: 05 August 2009 by garyi

Scrape together another 22 quid then ffs.

Posted on: 07 August 2009 by uniti

beresford is on it's way.

scraped that 22 quid up. lol.

Posted on: 08 August 2009 by Skip

Devilsound USB DAC is $300 US but includes cables. 60 day money back guarantee. Worth a listen. I love mine. I use my CDS2 primarily, and my Verdier as a secondary source. The Devilsound is a minimal dac for somebody who does not want to add a component to the rack and does not want to invest in the cables and power cord to max it out. It is plug and play and has been a great buy for my setup. Check it out. It is USB only.

http://www.devilsound.com/

Posted on: 09 August 2009 by uniti

hey skip,

yeah i looked at the devilsound. however they don't produce a toslink version. Nor have i seen anything to say they are going to make one

still, looks VERY nice for the cash if all you need is USB.

Posted on: 09 August 2009 by David Quigley

I bought the Beresford between apple TV and NAC 252. It is thoroughly impressive

Posted on: 09 August 2009 by uniti

indeed, very good little unit whilst i wait for the naim 5i DAC

Posted on: 09 August 2009 by Sandy8

A Naim Dac for people who don't have 500 series money would be nice wouldn't it?

Posted on: 09 August 2009 by uniti

i dont think the dac is aimed at 500 serise?

i think its more in the xs range of kit.

doubt we will be getting a dac in the 5i serise anytime soon as they have just released the uniti.