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Closest DAC to Vinyl Sound?

I love my vinyl, but sometimes it's a pain to keep flipping sides. I also have a lot of digital music (WAV, FLAC and MP3) that doesn't sound half bad through my Soundblaster X FI Titanium Fatality. But I'm wondering, is there a better way to enjoy digital? How would an external DAC stack up? Can anyone recommend a DAC that has that analog sound, or is it wishful thinking? Associated equipment includes Sound Valves VTP 101, Aragon 2004 and Large Advent Speakers. I also have an Adcom GCD 750 cd player that can accept a coax input.
heyraz
rickschell
11 posts
 
The Hegel DAC has a very full, warm sound that allows hours of listening without fatigue. I use it with a very nice tube preamp, BAT, and have been very pleased with the experience.
rrog
1,958 posts
 
So, you want a DAC that sounds like a piece of plastic with grooves cut into it which created a terrible noise, so the RIAA (like Dolby) was applied in an attempt to reduce the noise, but really created its own set of distortions. And now you are dragging a needle thru this which spreads out the grooves that never return to their original shape causing wear everytime the record is played and slowly degrading the sound. This is what you want?
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
the problem with your question , is the fact that there is no "vinyl" sound, as a consequence of the variety of arms, cartridges and tables.
tonyangel
309 posts
 
I think that the OP WAS looking for something that didn't produce a fatiguing or overly analytical sound.

In any case, the question being almost two years old, I wonder what the OP settled on.
jetrexpro
500 posts
 
Heyraz,

The TeddyDAC or an Audio Note DAC would be choices generally thought to have the qualities you are looking for. What did you decide on?
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