My friend needs advice. DAC with balanced outputs

[RoboCopper]

Which one is the best?

Any advice welcome. The best value, the better.

Thanks

[Bluedroog]

Does best value mean cheap? Something like a used Lavry would be good but may be more than he wants to spend.

[RoboCopper]

I guess he means good DAC in the terms of Value, regardless of being budget or high end category.

I guess he means good reselling value if he does not like it, so he doesn't lose lots of money.

Balanced outputs are must for him.

His poweramp is Krell, his preamp is Audio Research and speakers are B&W CM1, if that helps.

[surayne]

I use an Abrahamsen V6, which is based on the Electrocompaniet ECD-1 but half the price. Fully balanced and built like a tank. There's one for sale on the Wam for £275 which is an absolute steal.

[RoboCopper]

Ok....keep them coming :)
Will pass it to my friend.

[sq225917]

2nd hand Mdac, he'll loose nothing on it.

[Mark Grant]

Balanced outputs are must for him.



What inputs does he need and how many optical, coax, USB etc ?

No point in people recommending Dacs with 2 inputs if he needs 3 inputs etc :)

[Ali Tait]

One of Nick Gorham's valve dacs. Great dac with balanced option.

[WAD62]

2nd hand Mdac, he'll loose nothing on it.

+1

He could also sell his pre-amp ;)

[wee tee cee]

MF M1

[John]

I use a VLAB DAC which you can get for about £200 Not going to sound as good as Nick's DAC but its pretty good for the money

[Reid Malenfant]

Monarchy Audio 22B

Built like a tank, a superb sounding DAC. Balanced outputs & single ended outputs with a full class A output stage, AES/EBU, S/PDIF & Toslink inputs.

I'm not selling mine, it's a keeper :D

[nat8808]

Anything secondhand, if bought sensibly, shouldn't loose any money.

A nice Audio Sythesis DAC perhaps (obviously one with balanced option).

Thing is, many DACs with balanced outputs aren't really balanced.. they have XLR outputs but just send a single ended signal down the hot wire and earth down the phase inverted, cold wire. You can achieve that with a simple adapter.

Others might have a proper phase-inverted unity gain amp before the balanced output and, yes it is providing a balanced signal so that any interference from a LONG connecting cable to the pre-amp will be cancelled out, but you most likely will be having the DAC right next to the pre on the rack and so just have this extra bit of phase-inverting circuitry in there potentially degrading the sound.

My advice would be for him to find a DAC he likes the sound of. If it has single ended outputs then use adapters or a single-ended -> balanced cable made up.

Choosing a DAC with balanced outputs might just limit him to DACs that are either out of his price range or cause him to miss some great DACs..

[Yiangos]

I agree with Nat regarding the Audio Synthesis,although,i'd suggest the DAX ii or the Decade.Way better than the first DAX (mk 1).

[Mark Grant]

Although we still don't know if he needs 2 inputs or 5 inputs :)

A one input DAC is not much use if the user needs two inputs.

[maniac]

I would vote for PS Audio PWD MKII :)

[RoboCopper]

What inputs does he need and how many optical, coax, USB etc ?

No point in people recommending Dacs with 2 inputs if he needs 3 inputs etc :)

He needs at least two inputs, although even one should be sufficient. He does not use PC for music.

[RoboCopper]

One of Nick Gorham's valve dacs. Great dac with balanced option.

Where can I get it? How much it is?
Is it better than MDac by Audiolab or Rega DAC?