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Upgrade from Oppo Sonica DAC

I am thinking of upgrading my Oppo Sonica DAC. What would be a good DAC around 3K USD range to look at? Main source is Tidal streamed directly to the DAC. I feel my setup is lacking bit of soul in the current setup. Will a move to R2R type DAC make a huge difference?


Below is my current setup.
Speakers: Canton A45
Amp: Parasound A21+P6
Cables:Blue Jeans cable.
ranjithkp
erik_squires
5,268 posts
 
Hi OP,
I was never a fan of Oppo DACs I'm afraid, so I'm not surprised. You don't have to get too creative or special in your hunt, lots of DACs better than that, and lots of streamer/DACs too.

I like Mytek, and Schiit a great deal, Chord also has a lot of fans.

Best,
E
big_greg
315 posts
 
I haven't owned the Sonica, but I did have an Oppo HA-1 and have an Oppo 105D.  If the Sonica has the same "house" sound, then there are more musical (which to me means "less digital" sounding) DAC's out there. 

A used Auralic Vega will come in way under your budget and be a big improvement.  A new Auralic Vega G1 would stretch your budget, but includes streaming (the original Vega is a DAC only).
ranjithkp OP
9 posts
 
I have been looking at Metrum Onyx. Hifiheaven has good trade-in program. Thinking of getting Node 2i+Metrum
jl35
2,244 posts
 
send it to Ric Schultz at EVS for upgrade...awesome improvement
mzkmxcv
558 posts
 
What are you trying to get? A DAC that is as transparent as possible for the price, or one that adds distortion/coloration? 
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