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Best Inexpensive DAC

In the last 12 months I have mananged to purchase a used ML27.5, used ML38S and a new pair of Thiel 2.4. I am broke, but I can't stand listening to my old Denon CD player form 1992. I do have a coax digital out on the unit, so I thought of purchasing an interim inexpensive DAC to get me by until I can get something a little better. Any suggestions?
dewinkle
mejames
986 posts
 
EAD 7000 mk 3
gitarretyp
16 posts
 
My vote in the used 300-500 price range would be for any of the monarchy m22* dacs. Very nice and big improvement over the internal dacs of my pioneer dv45a using an m22c.
jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
1,962 posts
 
How about MSB and Musical Fidelity Dac?
jitterbug
11 posts
 
Assuming "inexpensive" means approx $500, a used Bel Canto 1.1 or a MSB (with 24/96 upsampler card installed) could be worth investigating. I use a Bel Canto 1.1 and am quite satisfied at the price:performance ratio
Cheers
fishwater
178 posts
 
I have a Benchmark DAC-1 & like it alot. It beats out my Phillips 963SA for sound quality & can be used as passive digital pre-amp with your amp because it has a vollume control. Plus it has a decent headphone amp, for the price I find it hard to beat. We tested it against my friends modded Art Dio & preferred the Benchmark. His DAC wasn't broken in yet & we will resume testing again today since his Dio has had plenty of break in time.
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