Best "bang for the buck" DAC

Al M.

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Bonzo, it might save some typing if you just made a sticky post that was "Ked's List of Sh*t gear". So far we have DCS Vivaldi and Raidho.

LOL!
 

Al M.

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Bonzo, it might save some typing if you just made a sticky post that was "Ked's List of Sh*t gear". So far we have DCS Vivaldi and Raidho.

Literal Sh*t gear has to be added: Schiit! (Which of course I proudly have.)
 

Al M.

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Elberoth

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Lampi GG mk 1 should be in your price range. Some people (Bonzo) actually prefer it to GG mk 2.
 
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sbnx

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Literal Sh*t gear has to be added: Schiit! (Which of course I proudly have.)

I have never hear Schitt in someone's personal system but I am always impressed with the Schitt / Salk room at the shows. If I had 2.5K to spend on a DAC the Yggy would be on my short list. Honestly, I recommend Schitt to my non-(crazy)Audiophile friends all the time.
 
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Al M.

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I have never hear Schitt in someone's personal system but I am always impressed with the Schitt / Salk room at the shows. If I had 2.5K to spend on a DAC the Yggy would be on my short list. Honestly, I recommend Schitt to my non-(crazy)Audiophile friends all the time.

Great. The Schiit stuff has done its rounds among my friends as well:

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/state-of-the-art-digital.29583/page-12#post-646361

(One of the reasons why I didn't originally recommend the Yggdrasil on this thread is that the OP has an SACD player, and the Yggy exclusively handles PCM, thus does not decode the DSD stream.)
 
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ack

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Oh no, not this Schiit again, we've been through it - too cheap to be a contender
 
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andromedaaudio

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There was one time in my audiofile speakerbuilding listening life that i actuallly followed the german stereo bestenliste .
It was around the 2006 -2010 period and i used it to buy gear like Krell evo 400 mono, wadia 581 i etc .
:).
The wadia 581 i lost the most money on because i bought it new and sold it after 3 months .already.
 
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Dimfer

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I am currently using SW1X DAC 3 Signature tube DAC alternatively to Lumin X1..I think it sound very musical and while not cheap, I think it represent a good value for investment. Hoping to upgrade to their Level 5 DHT.

they have a very wide range of DACs pricewise and people who heard their entry level models find them very competitive.
 

PeterA

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Oh no, not this Schiit again, we've been through it - too cheap to be a contender

Certainly too cheap to be a contender for SOTA. But that’s not what this thread is about. This thread is about best bang for the buck and the YGGY Certainly fits into that category for those who own it and enjoy its sound
 
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joaovieira

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Certainly too cheap to be a contender for SOTA. But that’s not what this thread is about. This thread is about best bang for the buck and the YGGY Certainly fits into that category for those who own it and enjoy its sound

He was joking. He has the Yggy as you can see on his signature.
 

PeterA

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He was joking. He has the Yggy as you can see on his signature.

Probably, joaoviera, but Ack is usually pretty serious guy. He is a friend of mine and I've heard his system quite a few times. Unfortunately, I have not had the pleasure of hearing the Yggy2 in his system yet. He tells me it is better than his heavily modded Berkeley Ref DAC and others that he has tried in his system. This thread is a great place to nominate the Yggy for a bang for buck contender. It is not being discussed yet in the SOTA DAC thread though.

It is excellent for the price, and many prefer it to DACs costing much more. I have only heard it in a couple of systems and only compared it to a few other DACs. Three of my local audio buddies have the Yggy 2, and Ack is one of them. We always joke about price and perceived quality in discussions at this forum.
 

spiritofmusic

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Peter, for me my intersecting conflicts on streaming come down to two areas
The joy of 93m albums on Tidal on day one versus the hassle of various install issues on streaming
And having spent years getting lp and cd playback right, now trying to not make the mistakes I made up to a decade ago once again in streamer/dac choices.
For me that means way more priority even than finding uber vfm tt and cdp choices over the last 22 years. Can I find that streamer/dac combination that is not embarassed by my well chosen and well optimised tt and cdp choices, a joy to use, makes me want to use it/listen to it, and punches above it's weight.
In many ways this is harder to get right than getting a tt or cdp choice right, and in some ways easier. I'm hoping to max out the latter option Lol.
And yes, Yggy is in that small select group of sub $5k dacs that will punch above it's weight.
 

Skanda

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rockna makes some fine dacs at reasonable prices and the chord hugo tt series is competitive with the dave if you like the chord sound. but i think any dac budget - if you do streaming or roon - should be 50-50 between dac and server at least. in my experience, changing the server was huge. even a simple piece like a metrum ambre is a good step up from a laptop.
 

joaovieira

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Probably, joaoviera, but Ack is usually pretty serious guy. He is a friend of mine and I've heard his system quite a few times. Unfortunately, I have not had the pleasure of hearing the Yggy2 in his system yet. He tells me it is better than his heavily modded Berkeley Ref DAC and others that he has tried in his system. This thread is a great place to nominate the Yggy for a bang for buck contender. It is not being discussed yet in the SOTA DAC thread though.

It is excellent for the price, and many prefer it to DACs costing much more. I have only heard it in a couple of systems and only compared it to a few other DACs. Three of my local audio buddies have the Yggy 2, and Ack is one of them. We always joke about price and perceived quality in discussions at this forum.
I am very curious about the Yggi too.
A brazilian respected Audiophile that I know who has a very nice system owns one.
It’s a pitty that he lives far in the southeast and I never heard it.
 

ack

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Of course I was joking :) I don't typically participate in "recommend me gear" threads, unless I really know the person and his/her preferences, so my comment was really meant to convey "make sure you don't write it off because of its price."

FWIW, and since I've brought the Vivaldi 2.0 DAC in here a couple of times in the past, I told my friends right after buying the Yggy2 that dCS's current products are "ancient history". I do also agree with madfloyd that, on the downside, its bass does not go as low; the Vivaldi, by comparison, on organ was just fabulous to listen to, even breathtaking. In all cases, the rest of the digital chain was the same. At the same time, what I've also told my friends is that the Yggy2 set such a HIGH sonic standard otherwise, that it trumped my analog, left and right, and I only listen to redbook for the time being. That lead me down a major tweaking path of my analog, in order to be able to compete again. They are both now making great music.
 

Al M.

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At the same time, what I've also told my friends is that the Yggy2 set such a HIGH sonic standard otherwise, that it trumped my analog, left and right, and I only listen to redbook for the time being. That lead me down a major tweaking path of my analog, in order to be able to compete again. They are both now making great music.

That's quite a compliment, Ack, coming from you as a convinced analog guy. I remember a time where you thought that analog would always be superior to digital, especially Redbook, since you thought the latter had inherently too low resolution.
 

Al M.

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