Non-Oversampling DAC's

[Carlman]

Can anyone list all the non-oversampling DAC's available today?
I know of 2 offhand, Scott Nixon's DAC's and the Altmann Attraction.
Thanks,
Carl

[bpape]

MHDT Labs

[Carlman]

I couldn't remember if the Paradisea was NOS... Thanks.
MHDT link: http://www.geocities.com/mhdtlab/

I must say so far, these companies (SN and Altmann included) look mighty 'young' based on their sites.

[bpape]

Here is the search link on ebay to find the MHDT products - identified as NOS DACs in the ads. 

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmhdtlabQQhtZ-1

Bryan

[lonewolfny42]

Carl....
The Paradisea is a good DAC....but the Altmann is MUCH better.

[bpape]

Should be for 2-3x the money and mounting on a board.... ;D

Bryan

[lonewolfny42]

Should be for 2-3x the money and mounting on a board.... ;D

Bryan

Your right Bryan....off the top of my head....750 euro's for Altmann + 250 euro's for jitter switch = 1000 euro's (1,000.00 EUR = 1,335.95 USD)

My Paradisea was $500.00.......

[bpape]

Don't get me wrong - I don't doubt that it's better.  I'd really like to hear it.  The Paradesia is what it is, an absolute bargain for the money with a ton of potential for modifications - kind of like the SqueezeBox.  I merely pointed it out as a response to the OP to get together a list of all NOS DAC's - not to suggest it is the best thing out there or better than anything else in particular.

For someone who wants to get into a DAC without dumping a ton of money into it, the MHDT and the SN are both good buys.  Now, the Altman may very well also be a 'bargain' for what it is.  Maybe one of use could come up with an engineered 'kit' to build it into a case? 

Bryan

[Carlman]

Yep.. and the SN I have goes for $475.. and it comes in a box!
-C

[lonewolfny42]

The Paradesia is what it is, an absolute bargain for the money with a ton of potential for modifications - kind of like the SqueezeBox.

Your right Bryan...but the one's I've heard that were modded...didn't sound much better. Stock with a better tube...its a good DAC "for the price".

[Inscrutable]

Can anyone list all the non-oversampling DAC's available today?

I believe all Audio Note and 47 Labs.  Lite Audio DAC-AH (some of theirs can oversample).

[tanchiro58]

Hi Gents,

What is happening to this thread? I just read it and want to add some NOS DAC I know:

-Promitheus SS DAC
-Monica (diyparadise)
-Ack Dack (all version)

[rollo]

there are several Dacs under $500US that are good for the budget minded. The one that has stood above the crowd is the Oritek Zhaolu 2.5 for $450US. Good out of the box but like the other under $450 DACS, it has its limitations.
    For under $500 the power supplies and analog boards can only provide so much. The Oritek with a DIY 100w power supply now takes it up to the level of some of the expensive players.
    Most of the non oversampling DACs just sound the same at this price level. You cannot really expect these DACs to perform like the big boys. Close in some respects but still so far away.
    IMO stop fooling with  the bargin of the week, save your money and buy the real deal. To date using the Lector as a transport the following were compared; Scott Nixon, Promitheus, Paradesia, Beresford and Oritek. All similar with one leading the pack. The Oritek topped them out of the box. With the power supply it was no contest. However the stock Lector just blew them all out of the water. The modded Oritek came the closest but again no cigar. My 2 cents.


rollo

[richidoo]

I didn't see Lessloss mentioned, maybe I missed it.

In studying the Attraction DAC since I've owned it, we learned that it uses an incredible output stage with single 2134 dual opamp buffering the Phillips 8 pin DAC (I forget which chip) driving output stage which is a pair of quad 4134s! Differential output! There is headroom galore and very high input impedance for the DAC to fully express itself. It is an elegant design that sounds really good. Maybe tat is why many NOS DACs lose the treble shimmer, because the older DACs just can't source that kind of current without immediate buffering, as they were probably designed to be used. The digital reciever is unique to Altmann also. It is a Xylinks (sp?) chip which has his own custom programming. I believe he is upsampling to restore full resolution to high freq signal before D/A. He describes the benefit of high sample rate digital over 44.1kHz on his website, it is very convincing. But I think his DAC picks up the slack for you on redbook tracks. I could be wrong, but that kind of simple math, dedicated DSP is not difficult (for him!!) and since it is a custom design, he can tweak the algorithm and hardware to work perfectly together.

Another DAC that I am growing very curious about is this:
http://www.ecdesigns.nl/

He is scaling the mount everest of DAC design, far beyond what is otherwise available commercially. You gotta want it bad to go this kit route. Nice long thread on diyaudio about it.
Rich

[Carlman]

there are several Dacs under $500US that are good for the budget minded. The one that has stood above the crowd is the Oritek Zhaolu 2.5 for $450US. Good out of the box but like the other under $450 DACS, it has its limitations.
    For under $500 the power supplies and analog boards can only provide so much. The Oritek with a DIY 100w power supply now takes it up to the level of some of the expensive players.
    Most of the non oversampling DACs just sound the same at this price level. You cannot really expect these DACs to perform like the big boys. Close in some respects but still so far away.
    IMO stop fooling with  the bargin of the week, save your money and buy the real deal. To date using the Lector as a transport the following were compared; Scott Nixon, Promitheus, Paradesia, Beresford and Oritek. All similar with one leading the pack. The Oritek topped them out of the box. With the power supply it was no contest. However the stock Lector just blew them all out of the water. The modded Oritek came the closest but again no cigar. My 2 cents.


rollo

So were these all non-oversampling DAC's?
Scott Nixon makes 3 or 4 DAC's at various levels.  I have his latest and it's pretty nice.  The Altmann does some things better but some things worse... it's a matter of preferences at that point.

-C