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Best DAC for darkvoice?

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I have the darkvoice with rca 6as7g and cv181T 6sn7 tubes powering the 6xx. I also have the he400 and a full schiit. I'm curious if anyone has dac recommendations to pair with the darkvoice and 6xx setup specifically. I'd be okay with a dac/Amp combo too if it made sense. I don't have a set budget but something in similar price range to darkvoice would be ideal. In general looking for a dac that performs well above its price point which I wouldn't have to upgrade for a while.
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mbvjmc
188
Jun 1, 2019
There's Khadas toneboard (USB) that measures just slightly better than JDS El Dac and is $150 cheaper. Since it is just a bare board, you might want a case for it like this one: https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/aluminium-boxes-cases/aluminum-case-for-khadas-tone-board-p-13626.html Altogether you'll still come out >$100 ahead of El Dac. Here's a list of DACs compared to each other based on their respective SINAD (Signal-to-noise and distortion ratio) measurements: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/master-sinad-distortion-comparison-graph-for-dacs.4814/ You'll find plenty of DACs in the $100-120 range that measure well against El Dac ($250).
Jcho
0
May 30, 2019
JDS Labs - El Dac or Aune X1S for dac/amp combo in that price range
cckfc
41
May 30, 2019
Okay, thanks. I was thinking of the grace standard or balanced dac if those drop again
cckfcFocus on the features you need, find devices with those features in your budget, those SINAD numbers indicate damn near inaudible distortion/noise in almost every DAC that site has tested. Inaudible is inaudible no brownie points for making it "more" inaudible. My DAC was released 6 years ago and still handles all formats I care about south of MQA hardware decoding (TEAC UD501). I wanted the dual mono design, own several pieces of gear with this design philosophy and enjoy them immensely.
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