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On the real price of cheap DACs

69.53.55.248

A number of years ago I purchased several Sonos Connects for my house in order to feed digital music streams. The line outs were pretty bad as far as sound quality went so I grabbed a DAC that was handy and Lo and Behold! A much improved sound feed. I then grabbed a DAC from Maverick, a TubeDAC 9 and TubeDAC 11 from Grant Fidelity to round them out. They were more than adequate to transfer a 44.1MHz digital signal and make them audibly better to the ears. I wasn't very concerned about getting a true high end source as the Sonos is limited to 44.1MHz and, after 70+ years, my ears aren't much better. I played with better chips as well as upgrading the built-in tubes as the stock Chinese bottles were on the crap side. They sound good to my ears, which is what matters.

The down side to cheap DACs is that they are cheaply built. Biggest culprit is the RCA jacks on the outputs. Flimsiest things I have ever had to work with with minute traces feeding the signal to them as well as just being mounted in a very flimsy fashion that will fail over time.

There you have it. One man's opinion.

Follow Ups:

That's a very broad generalization. Define cheap.... - AbeCollins 08:02:03 03/30/24 (2)
Are you talking cheap or seriously cheap?

;-)

I consider my seriously cheap DACs to all be about sub $500. My cheap DACs are sub $2000. It's all relative but by audiophile standards I think sub $2000 might still be considered cheap.

Seriously cheap DACs are seriously challenged with budget constraints on compoent selection by the designer. In my not so scientific humble opinion you have be around $1000 (+/-) to get over the hump of cheap component constraints.

All that being said, I have yet to have a RCA jack go bad on any of my seriously cheap, cheap, or other DACs over the range of $100 up to $5000. I did have an XLR jack go bad on a pricey Jeff Roland integrated amp.
- +1 ...........nt - Cut-Throat 13:50:11 03/30/24 (0)
  nt
- RE: That's a very broad generalization. Define cheap.... - mhardyman 09:11:05 03/30/24 (0)
  Seriously cheap. No doubt about that. All of my gear is home built, as in, tube gear kits from Bottlehead, Transcendent Sound and Bob Latino's ST-70. If one system totals over $2,000 it is an outlier. It all sounds good, based on other's opinions which I trust far more than mine. I doubt my own ears at time.
  
  It's all about perspective, which means the music sounds good and creates foot tapping pleasure to the listener.
RE: On the real price of cheap DACs - Cut-Throat 17:05:30 03/29/24 (1)
Never had a problem with RCAs on any component in over 50 Years of Audio... That seems to be one area that I've never done anything to, other than clean.

I have bought about a half dozen 'cheap' Dacs... I'll call a Cheap DAC less than $300..... I've got some Schit DACs for less than $100 - The RCAs are still Solid over 5 years.... I've got some Toppings and the RCAs are solid there as well...

I respect your opinion, but I've never had a problem with an RCA.... Most everything else it seems I have.
- RE: On the real price of cheap DACs - mhardyman 17:19:12 03/29/24 (0)
  I was initially surprised as well. I think the main reason that this was in my face was due to the multiple moves I made (four different houses) as well as the general moving stuff around in each location to fit things better than what happened on the very first day. The Maverick D1 was the first casualty and I had to beef up the mounting for the RCAs as well as fix the grounds. Oh, well, keeps me busy...

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