Proper DAC Upgrade for my modest system.


Looking for some advice from people with lots more experience then me

My local dealer has recommended the RME ADI-2 DAC, or the New NAD 658. Buying a DAC is "hard". But was looking for some veterans thoughts. The NAD I could replace the Yamaha Streamer and get some money back.

Anyone have an opinion of the Wadia 122 DAC? I got one on clearance so decided to pull the trigger, its 100% better then the Parasound zDac Gen 1 I was running, but making sure for around the $1200 ( My budget ) price point I am making the right buy.

System is WXC Streamer --> Wadia 122 DAC -->AVR/Pre-Amp - B&K 125.7 Bi amped to KEF R11’s via Rocket 44’s.

I use Tidal for all content - I don’t do anything other then stream Tidal and some Apple Music if certain songs / albums are not on Tidal. Some day I might progress into "higher res" but the cost of files seems a low ROI vs Tidal at the moment.

Appreciate everyone’s insight on this topic.
128x128crock442

Showing 1 response by astelmaszek

@hlg3 Exactly the opposite. Most DACs sound exactly the same when fed 4x to 8x CD rate. It's the great DACs that make CDs sound good as in they have the processing to properly upsample: Schiit with SHARC DSP chips, Chord, DCS, etc.