Know to recommend some DACs that offer even more value than Denafrips?
Surely some esoteric brand somewhere that manages to do this?
if you visit Audio Science Review they look at a lot of these. (No affiliation, no endorsement, YMMV)
Here’s an inexpensive one that gets good marks (first I’ve heard of this brand was five minutes ago, so again, YMMV)…
In this Herb Reichert talk, a participant recommends Herb to review apparently very high value (that’s Herb’s thing right) DACs by a small Ukrainian company called Abbas.
There’s some (a little) talk on these products if you search. Mostly raving.
From their site: “Most of SE models have a current-voltage germanium converter, which uses audionote tantalum non magnetic resistors.”
That’s nice.
Here’s the Abbas 4.1 SE
https://www.ebay.com/itm/363733979049?hash=item54b03c0fa9:g:9V8AAOSwGOtgQOti
The build quality does look very impressive.
I have been impressed with the portable DACs I have heard from iFi Audio (the Micro iDSD and the Nano iDSD). I own the original Micro iDSD DAC (the one in the silver case) and I continue to be very impressed with its performance for the price. The iFi line has expanded dramatically since the Micro iDSD came out, and I have not heard their newer DACs, but I would expect them to likewise punch well above their weight.
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I’ve been considering to purchase this for some time.
I’m just not sure if I should just go for this objectivist ultra-performing machine or something like the Abbas DACs with premium hand-selected components and tubes and such, which most likely would sound (hate to say this…)… MORE ANALOG.
John Atkinson put this one on Stereophile’s A+ list. So, there must be something about it. An onboard streaming option is available from manufacturer.
Of course performance is not to be (pre-)judged by images of DACs’ insides, but compare these:
Abbas 4.1 SE:
Okto Research DAC8 Stereo:
Not hard to see why the Abbas product is so intriguing… But can’t know without hearing, and surely not buying both.
You can’t make a mistake going with Schiit products in terms of value for money and factory support.
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