Audio Research - DAC9

I had the ARC DAC 8, and it also used a proprietary USB driver. Unfortunately it really did need the USB interface to sound it’s best, and was still veiled across the midrange and treble.

My Mytek Brooklyn spanks it easily, except when using the USB interface, in which case the DAC 8 stepped up a little, especially with Hi Rez.

I would strongly suggest anyone considering a new DAC 9 listen also to Berkeley, Mytek and Schiit.

The major benefit of the DAC 8 is really warmth. It was the warmest, BADA coolest.

By the way, the Mytek works great with Linux / USB 2.0 Audio compatible sources without external adapters.

Best,

E

I have spoken to ARC and they are working on the 'fix' and hopefully have a solution out by September this year.  

@erik_squires,  thank you for the suggestion on Mytek. I love the 'house' sound of ARC so I will hang tight for a while.  For now, I am quite content listening Tidal HI-FI streaming through DAC9's AES/EBU input :-)

Another one to add is the Playback Design Merlot DAC, will play ALL PCM and DSD. DSD is native.

Here's the latest DAC9 review:

http://www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/audio_research_dac9.htm

@vhiner , Great review, thank you for sharing.