Which DAC?

Try one of the MHDT Labs ones. I loved the one that I had.

If you think you need the ears of a dog to hear the difference,why worry about it?Just a thought.

Because I may be wrong and wanted the wisdom of the wider group.

There's a Cambridge Audio DacMagic selling for $275 in the classifieds. Jump on it. It won't last long.

I've seen various reports that put the V-DAC well ahead of the DAC Magic in terms of natural timbre and musicality. I can't speak to that as I've never compared the two. What I can say though about the V-DAC is that I'm SHOCKED about how good it sounds even with only a handful of hours on it. My general preference is vinyl for warmth, naturalness and relaxed ease of listening. For critical listening I don't foresee ever preferring digital over vinyl. But I also have a lot of CD's that I do enjoy. There is something terribly convenient about having an entire CD library at the tip of your fingers on a computer screen so I wanted a "taste" of what all of this "computer audio" hoopla is all about. So I bought an HP laptop, Windows 7 (64 bit), 6GB RAM, a V-DAC and a good USB cable. I use dbPowerAmp to rip to the highest level of flac and playback using foobar2000. To say that I'm impressed would be an understatement. I'm yet to replace the V-DAC wall wart with a regulated power supply (which apparently is another level of improvement). But even so, I can easily see that there is a very real possibility of having computer audio every bit as good as redbook CD's. Just my opinion.

Running a VDac as well to facilitate internet music streaming and work in the limited space I have for it (it is tiny!). To break it in until my netbook arrives, I've been using the digital out from my Upgrade Factory modified Denon 2910. The Denon is just serving as a transport for CDs. Really, really enjoying it. Timztunz' description of sonics are spot on to my ear as well. It is at leat equal to and maybe subtly better than the Denon. I haven't done comparisons with other DACs, so I can't say there aren't better at this price (Beresford?)but I'm happy.

I have owned many of the DACs under $1000. The V-Dac for the price is the one to get. It lacks a bit of detail compared to a Stello or Benchmark, but is very very musical and a unbeatable at $230 used. Upgrading the PSU might give it a bit more resolving power, but I never tried. Have read too that the optical is superior to the USB in it. The DacMagic is a little tilted in the upper frequencies and as a result seemed a bit bright to me. IMHO...