My digital journey

[funcrusha]

I've come to a crossroads in a my journey with digital audio. I'll explain what I mean in a moment, but I quickly want to share with you the DACs I've used in my system.

My first serious piece of outboard DAC gear was an Emotiva XDA-2. The company is known for its deal-direct model and its well-priced power amps. Sadly the XDA-2 never worked for me. It was a little titled to the upper frequencie, tended to be a bit unnatural and harsh sounding with vocals, especially of the feminine variety. Around the same time I acquired a Peachtree DAC It X and a Rega DAC, two pieces of gear that fitted very well into their respective systems. The Peachtree offered hi-res audio over USB and was remarkably well-balanced for an ESS Sabre DAC, carefully treading the line between detail retrieval and musicality. The Rega was easily the best of them all, with a wonderfully warm, 'analogue' tone, PRAT and sufficient detail to keep me happy...

Happy that is until I borrowed a friend's Theta DS Pro Generation III DAC, which showed up the limitations of the DACs I owned and demonstrated what more mileage I could get out of my system.

I searched online for Theta DACs, and found they were less common than I expected (older resistor ladder DACs are now en vogue, I see). But I did get my hands on a loan Theta DS Pro Basic III. Expecting a silver bullet, I sold my Peachtree and Rega to free up funds. The problem: the Basic was no Gen III. It was colder, more analytical sounding and lacked the top-to-bottom eveness of the Gen model.

I now consider myself DAC-less, though I do have an Enlightened Audio Design DSP 7000 MK II DAC to fill in for now. What I do know is that it's not MY end-game DAC, I have some research to do.

I feel I have two options: find a legacy DAC of the quality of the Theta Gen III or look at newer (probably more expensive alternatives) that combine resistor ladder/multibit architecture with modern connectivity options (24 bit / 192 khz).

What I know is that I'm looking for: weighty bass, large soundstage, a good trade-off between warmth and detail and importantly good drive and dynamics. Vivid tonal colours are a plus, but not always achievable within my budget limitation (800 pounds).

I'd welcome some guidance and advice on how to proceed. I'd also love to hear your digital journey - please share your experiences :)

Eitan

[struth]

Have you tried the monarchy ones? They are similar to theta but better. Alas getting thin on ground too .was probably the nicest sounding ive had

[AlfaGTV]

Eitan, i have also been on a quest for a well sounding DAC to combine with Roon Labs. My reference is my still going strong Bladelius Embla solid state disc spinner, which also does UPnP and DAC duties.
Its user interface is somewhat long in the tooth though.

The Embla features dual DACs, selectable in software, and they still sound very, very nice even though this machine was launched in -09!
Its not in the DAC chips, it's all about the implementation! :)

Anyway, Embla Classic have three selectable DAC modes, the first one mimics the Bladelius Gondul, a very highly regarded disc spinner.
This mode is dynamic, clear and somewhat 'mechanical' sounding.

The second mode is a 'softer' DAC mode using a Wolfson DAC chip. Not bad, and quite enjoyable, particularly if you turn off upsampling (individually selectable for each mode) Sounds VERY much like older NOS DACs, such as the famed TDA-1541. Not as highly resolving and nuanced though, but very 'musical'

Lastly, there's a specially filtered mode which eliminates pre-ringing and this mode is the 'go to' mode where most music works beautifully with an naturalness much like analog sources. It doesnt sound like LP or master tape, but in that direction.

I have tried replacing this expensive machinery since i sold my first one in 2014. Many DACs and players have passed through but none have lived up to the Embla Classic.
The Pioneer N-70 is an excellent DAC in itself with streaming possibilities and it did sound very nice. Close, but no cigar though!
Benchmark DAC1 is still a very nice DAC to my ears, it may lack a bit i musicality though. Cheap as chips these days!
M2 Tech Young DSD was on home loan a couple of weeks, but that one did not make an impression at all.
I have also had a Rega DAC on home loan but that really is not to my taste. :/ Sorry!
Chord QBD76 then? Yes, why not? I liked this one, but it was not as flexible in formats and resolutions as the Embla. I wouldnt say it was better either, more like 'different'

Finally i decided to try an unknown brand as the developer had some cred in the business; The Audiobyte Black Dragon.
The guy is from Romania and has been involved in many high end brands development teams, such as MSB and Theta. He builds his more dire brand Rockna with ladder DACs but the Audiobyte is aimed at a more cost conscious customer som theres no room for ladder DACs there. It has however inherited a very nice filtering technique from the Rockna series. It uses a FPGA to build software based filtering for all inputs, which are plenty by the way. It also sports a femto grade clock internally for very low jitter.
The power supply is also very elaborate with lots and lots of ultra low noise regulators. The DACs are dual AK4396 as the Black Dragon is fully balanced, each working one channel. Output stage is running in class A and you need a pretty good preamp to better the internal volume control.
Theres also a headphone output on the front if you like, capable of driving lots of headphones, but it does have some diffculties with planar magnetic phones though, at least my Hifiman HE-1000s.

This is the first DAC that has actually bettered the Embla in my setup, and it does so at about the fifth of the cost! Huge soundstage when called for, great bass and excellent balance in its sound. Detail retreival is better than good, but never sacrificing good music in the process. Dynamic slam and power, yupp, very nice.
It got to go head to head with an MSB Diamond DAC V with PSU a couple of months ago and while bettered, there was no shame on its performance. Rather, the MSB really should have made more of an impression but was only slightly better (in most areas though)

There are som pics in my Gallery thread if your curious, but i highly recommend hearing one of these if possible? It barely makes your budget, but im pretty sure you would be impressed enough to stretch a little!

[Gazjam]

Great post Mike. :)
The Audiobyte's my next Dac.


Eitan, i have also been on a quest for a well sounding DAC to combine with Roon Labs. My reference is my still going strong Bladelius Embla solid state disc spinner, which also does UPnP and DAC duties.
Its user interface is somewhat long in the tooth though.

The Embla features dual DACs, selectable in software, and they still sound very, very nice even though this machine was launched in -09!
Its not in the DAC chips, it's all about the implementation! :)

Anyway, Embla Classic have three selectable DAC modes, the first one mimics the Bladelius Gondul, a very highly regarded disc spinner.
This mode is dynamic, clear and somewhat 'mechanical' sounding.

The second mode is a 'softer' DAC mode using a Wolfson DAC chip. Not bad, and quite enjoyable, particularly if you turn off upsampling (individually selectable for each mode) Sounds VERY much like older NOS DACs, such as the famed TDA-1541. Not as highly resolving and nuanced though, but very 'musical'

Lastly, there's a specially filtered mode which eliminates pre-ringing and this mode is the 'go to' mode where most music works beautifully with an naturalness much like analog sources. It doesnt sound like LP or master tape, but in that direction.

I have tried replacing this expensive machinery since i sold my first one in 2014. Many DACs and players have passed through but none have lived up to the Embla Classic.
The Pioneer N-70 is an excellent DAC in itself with streaming possibilities and it did sound very nice. Close, but no cigar though!
Benchmark DAC1 is still a very nice DAC to my ears, it may lack a bit i musicality though. Cheap as chips these days!
M2 Tech Young DSD was on home loan a couple of weeks, but that one did not make an impression at all.
I have also had a Rega DAC on home loan but that really is not to my taste. :/ Sorry!
Chord QBD76 then? Yes, why not? I liked this one, but it was not as flexible in formats and resolutions as the Embla. I wouldnt say it was better either, more like 'different'

Finally i decided to try an unknown brand as the developer had some cred in the business; The Audiobyte Black Dragon.
The guy is from Romania and has been involved in many high end brands development teams, such as MSB and Theta. He builds his more dire brand Rockna with ladder DACs but the Audiobyte is aimed at a more cost conscious customer som theres no room for ladder DACs there. It has however inherited a very nice filtering technique from the Rockna series. It uses a FPGA to build software based filtering for all inputs, which are plenty by the way. It also sports a femto grade clock internally for very low jitter.
The power supply is also very elaborate with lots and lots of ultra low noise regulators. The DACs are dual AK4396 as the Black Dragon is fully balanced, each working one channel. Output stage is running in class A and you need a pretty good preamp to better the internal volume control.
Theres also a headphone output on the front if you like, capable of driving lots of headphones, but it does have some diffculties with planar magnetic phones though, at least my Hifiman HE-1000s.

This is the first DAC that has actually bettered the Embla in my setup, and it does so at about the fifth of the cost! Huge soundstage when called for, great bass and excellent balance in its sound. Detail retreival is better than good, but never sacrificing good music in the process. Dynamic slam and power, yupp, very nice.
It got to go head to head with an MSB Diamond DAC V with PSU a couple of months ago and while bettered, there was no shame on its performance. Rather, the MSB really should have made more of an impression but was only slightly better (in most areas though)

There are som pics in my Gallery thread if your curious, but i highly recommend hearing one of these if possible? It barely makes your budget, but im pretty sure you would be impressed enough to stretch a little!

[AlfaGTV]

Thx Gary, though i always recommend a listen in your own environment of course! Our taste buds may differ! ;)

[Yomanze]

To the OP: Just get a Theta Gen V, and you can be done with it.

[Gazjam]

Thx Gary, though i always recommend a listen in your own environment of course! Our taste buds may differ! ;)

Of course Mike.