My new (old) DAC and what I learned today...

[phileserver39]

Howdy All,

So I risked pissing my gf off today and made a rather quick decision to purchase my first "outboard" dac from a guy who placed an ad on Craigslist.

Mind you I have been using my PC as my source and using an ASUS STX soundcard (with upgraded opamps) as my dac. I have always known that the source reigns king in the signal chain (that statement ought to spark a nice discussion! :) but, man, I didn't know that a 20 year old dac would blow away my close to top of the line consumer grade sound card.

The DAC I am bragging about is the Audio Alchemy DDE V1.0 DAC which hit the retail market sometime in the very early 90's. Here is a [link](http://hometheaterreview.com/audio-alchemy-digital-decoding-engine-v10-dac-reviewed/) to a review if you are interested.

Wow. Just Wow. Whodathunkit that a 20 year old DAC would best a $200 top-of-the-heap mass marketed card in 2010?

The bass sounds fuller and tighter at the same time, the decay is more natural and unhurried- especially on the high notes (the high hat in Steely Dan's Do It Again, for instance, sound so much more real and less digitall), the instruments are better separated, the sound stage has more bredth and (more impressively) depth, I could go on and on.

I got this puppy for $75 and a couple gallons of gas. Guys, if you come across one of these for the same price and you can squeeze one into your rigs where it makes sense DO IT!

Happy New Year,

J

PC---Audio Alchemy DAC---YS Symphonies Plus Tube Pre---NAD 2400THX Amp--- Allison Four Large Bookshelf Speakers with modded Tweets--Using All homemade silver interconnect cables

[poppachubby]

Good for you! Great price too. I am not surprised at all. The difference you are hearing is in the analog output. A sound card has no chance of touching a dedicated DAC.

For good ol 16/44.1, some of the older units still sound fantastic. I have heard the PSAudio Ultralink in detail and it sounds great. It's old as digital itself.

Enjoy your gear!!

[phileserver39]

Good for you! Great price too. I am not surprised at all. The difference you are hearing is in the analog output. A sound card has no chance of touching a dedicated DAC.

For good ol 16/44.1, some of the older units still sound fantastic. I have heard the PSAudio Ultralink in detail and it sounds great. It's old as digital itself.

Enjoy your gear!!

Funny you should mention the PS Audio DAC Poppa...

The guy who sold me this DAC used to run a high(er) end audiophile shop and, when I asked him what he thought would be the winner between the Benchmark DAC1 and the comperable PS system he said it was tough to decide. He did rave about the power supply on the PS DAC and threw in a bunch of stuff that sounded legit all in praise of the PS DAC (for the $). Soooooo...

I might just decide to save a couple hundred buckskis and go the the PS DAC in a couple months when I have cash in hand.

I must say that the DAC I bought today was the best, singular, $75 ever spent on my signal chain.

A New Year's toast from my system to yours,

JC

[Mr Peabody]

Definitely a good price. And as you found, a higher end DAC will continue to sound good over time and it will hold it's own against newer technology up to a certain price, usually surpassing the entry DAC range. Although newer players may have a more modern decoder or better specs on paper as Poppa noted the analog stage is extremely important as well as many other aspects. Good move....

[phileserver39]

Definitely a good price. And as you found, a higher end DAC will continue to sound good over time and it will hold it's own against newer technology up to a certain price, usually surpassing the entry DAC range. Although newer players may have a more modern decoder or better specs on paper as Poppa noted the analog stage is extremely important as well as many other aspects. Good move....

Thanks for the confirmation of the deal I got Mr. P. Thank sweet baby Jesus in a sidecar for this site and my ability to vent my excitation in my hobby- my gf just told me that she was going to stab me in the eye if I bring up my new DAC one more time.

Happy New Year,

J

[Feanor]

Howdy All,

So I risked pissing my gf off today and made a rather quick decision to purchase my first "outboard" dac from a guy who placed an ad on Craigslist.

Mind you I have been using my PC as my source and using an ASUS STX soundcard (with upgraded opamps) as my dac. I have always known that the source reigns king in the signal chain (that statement ought to spark a nice discussion! :) but, man, I didn't know that a 20 year old dac would blow away my close to top of the line consumer grade sound card.

The DAC I am bragging about is the Audio Alchemy DDE V1.0 DAC which hit the retail market sometime in the very early 90's. Here is a [link](http://hometheaterreview.com/audio-alchemy-digital-decoding-engine-v10-dac-reviewed/) to a review if you are interested.

Wow. Just Wow. Whodathunkit that a 20 year old DAC would best a $200 top-of-the-heap mass marketed card in 2010?
...
Happy New Year,

J

The older DACs have a certain consituency; some people feel they haven't been bettered, at least not for 16 bit / 44.1 kHz reproduction.

The old Philips TDA1541 or 1541A or 1543 are famous for good sound and are still very popular in new, "non-oversampling" (NOS) DACs.

Many people also like the older, 20-bit ladder DACs such as the Burr-Brown PCM1702 found in my own Assemblage DAC 1.5. I like this DAC few well and haven't had an urgent desire to replace it. It has HDCD decoding via the Pacific Microsonics PDM100; the downstream I/V and buffer stages are handled by four dual op amps. In my case the original op amps were replaced by eight, (four pairs), Texas Instruments OPA627 op amps. The only downside is that the Assemblage won't handle hi-rez.

[phileserver39]

The older DACs have a certain consituency; some people feel they haven't been bettered, at least not for 16 bit / 44.1 kHz reproduction.

The old Philips TDA1541 or 1541A or 1543 are famous for good sound and are still very popular in new, "none-oversampling" (NOS) DACs.

Many people also like the older, 20-bit ladder DACs such as the Burr-Brown PCM1702 found in my own Assemblage DAC 1.5. I like this DAC few well and haven't had an urgent desire to replace it. It has HDCD decoding via the Pacific Microsonics PDM100; the downstream I/V and buffer stages are handled by four dual op amps. In my case the original op amps were replaced by eight, (four pairs), Texas Instruments OPA627 op amps. The only downside is that the Assemblage won't handle hi-rez.

Howdy Feanor,

Yes- a downside of this DAC is that it's range only extends to Redbook standard. That is OK as I still have my ASUS card should I get a hi-res hair up my proverbial butt.

I am starting to really experience that the DAC is about the finesse (the owner of the bar) and the amp is the muscle (the bouncer who can kick you and your buddies out onto the street).

Happy New Year!

J

[Mr Peabody]

Howdy Feanor,

Yes- a downside of this DAC is that it's range only extends to Redbook standard. That is OK as I still have my ASUS card should I get a hi-res hair up my proverbial butt.

I am starting to really experience that the DAC is about the finesse (the owner of the bar) and the amp is the muscle (the bouncer who can kick you and your buddies out onto the street).

Happy New Year!

J

LOL, that's an interesting analogy.

[phileserver39]

LOL, that's an interesting analogy.
I thought it fitting for New Years day.

Rock on,

JC