DAC recommendation for HD650 and Bottlehead Crack

[fahad]

hello

DAC recommendation for HD650 and Bottlehead Crack speedball

 

[grufti]

Take a look at the Topping D90. It is one of the few that uses the AK4499 DAC chip. The AK4499 is a superb DAC.

 

[jtori]

I found great synergy with the Schiit Bitfrost Multibit.

Joe.

 

[jjvornov]

I'll second the suggestion of the Schiit Bitfrost Multibit. It is one of the most natural sounding DACs out there at a great price. I've been running a Meridian Explorer2 which has MQA if you care and is fine sounding and portable to boot

 

[watonwak]

The Khadas Tone Board is up there for bang for your buck I think, if you dont want to drop €700 for the Topping D90

 

[Jameson]

Another vote for the Bifrost Multibit.

 

[ALL212]

Schiit Bifrost multibit for certain.

Modi is also good but placement of the power supply is much more critical.

 

[Natural Sound]

hello

DAC recommendation for HD650 and Bottlehead Crack speedball

You already got some great recommendations. But it might help to know your budget. There are some great, "bang for the buck" DAC's out there. But if you want to take it to the next level the options open up a bit.

 

[fahad]

thank you for the recommendations

my budget around 500$

 

[grufti]

The Topping D90 costs USD 699. There is also a Topping DX7 Pro available at USD 599. Both are excellent and very good value.

 

[Deluk]

To add a bit of perspective here, what is your source? Basically, all before the DAC.

 

[fahad]

To add a bit of perspective here, what is your source? Basically, all before the DAC.

PC

 

[grufti]

You can save some money from your your $500 budget. The new Schiit Modius costs only $199 plus tax and shipping. It is most certainly good enough.

 

[adydula]

The new Schiit Modius is an excellent DS dac....
The Schiit Bifrost 2 is a very, very excellent MB dac...

Both will work well with your PC...$199 vs $699.

Both Balanced as well!

Alex

 

[Deluk]

From what I have read, just done some searching, the MB dacs tend to be more smooth and warm and perhaps more analog like than the DS ones. However, when combined with a valve amp which you might also consider smooth and warm. the combination may go a bit too far in the mellow direction. These are just thoughts and not based on listening to any stand alone dacs. I think that the Schiit Modius DS model would be fine for me.

 

[pboser]

MB=Multibit, right?
DS=?

 

[grufti]

Delta Sigma = DS

 

[IdiotoftheYear]

From what I have read, just done some searching, the MB dacs tend to be more smooth and warm and perhaps more analog like than the DS ones. However, when combined with a valve amp which you might also consider smooth and warm. the combination may go a bit too far in the mellow direction. These are just thoughts and not based on listening to any stand alone dacs. I think that the Schiit Modius DS model would be fine for me.

I tend to agree with this and it has been my experience with the ModiMB. Just adding my voice so that you're not singing solo.

 

[pboser]

Delta Sigma = DS

Thanks

 

[grufti]

You can read about the challenges with multibit DAC's in a realtively short thread on diyaudio. The thread was started by one of TI's application engineers when TI released the new DAC11001A R-2R DAC. It is a single-channel, unbuffered DAC. Mouser has it for about $55.00. The thread has only 47 posts as of right now, but it still gets to most of the complications with R-2R multibit DAC's. Take a look for example at the THD vs. frequency plots that Paul posted on page 2.

https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/vendor-s-bazaar/349809-dac11001-20-bit-2r-precision-dac.html

This is not for the faint of heart.