Mid-priced warm sounding DAC?


I've recently decided that a good route for me to take is upgrading my system with a good DAC. My current system is a bit bright sounding, so I'm looking for a good DAC costing up to $600 (used) that will provide a smooth, warm sound to match my currently bright system. I'd also like the DAC to be capable of upsampling, although if necessary I could add an upsampler to the digital chain at a later time. My preference would be to have it built-in, however.

Any suggestions?
jwglista
I agree about non-oversampling dacs and suggest that you consider one of the battery-powered Ack dAck models selling in the $300 range on Audiogon. These are the l.0 to l.3 versions (the new model is 2.0) and one could be easily resold at little loss if you don't like it. The last paragraph of Jsala's post applies perfectly to these dacs too. Good luck.
Here's a link to another NOS DAC.

http://www.diyparadise.com/dackit/1545dackit.html

It's a kit, sort of. You buy the completed board for about $140, shipped, then purchase a 12V rechargeable, sealed lead acid battery from here for about $25 shipped:

http://www.batterymart.com/battery.mv?c=sla-12volt

You need to put it all into a case and ... there you go.

I've got about 50 hours on mine and the mids are sounding wonderful. The bass is deep and tight. The top end is a bit retiscent, but that's what you're looking for. I've got the opposite problem, a soft sounding system, so I'm hoping it will open up more over time.

Overall though, it does sound quite good and for less than $200 it's a no-brainer.

Enjoy,
Bob
Another non-upsampling DAC to consider (even though you didn't say you are looking for one) is the Poth Audio:

http://www.pothaudio.com/prod.php?view=20

Really quite an impressive sounding unit and a steal for the price.
Mezzrow, do you own the Poth Audio Dac? Can you tell us more about it's sound.

Dave