Another Budget DAC! MusicHall DAC25.2

[Luvin Da Blues]

Just in case anyone is interested, I received this email from Roy at Music Hall

"Hi,
The DAC 25.2 will be available at the end of February.
You can purchase it from www.audioadvisor.com
At this stage it will not be available in Canada.
Best regards

Roy Hall

Music Hall
108 Station Rd.
Great Neck NY 11023, USA
Tel. +1 516 487 3663
Fax. +1 516 773 3891

[Luvin Da Blues]

s'more info on my next DAC(?)

Today an increasing number of music lovers are buying, storing, and listening to music through their computer, media server, or personal music player (iPod). Many are also digitally distributing their music using a Sonos, Squeezebox, or one of a host of digital music distribution systems available on the market. This is a great way to explore and appreciate music but generally it’s done at the expense of sound quality. Until now, music lovers have been forced to rely on the inferior digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and sounds cards contained in those devices, and as a result, their musical enjoyment has dramatically suffered. We designed the dac25.2 to directly address this problem and to significantly improve the sound quality of the music played on these systems.
By uniting a state-of-the-art digital-to-analog converter with a tube output we produce the clarity and precision of a 24bit DAC with the warm rich open sound people love of tubes. The dac25.2 has 4 digital inputs which can accept any coax (s/pdif), optical, XLR, or USB digital input from an iPod transport, computer, media server, Sonos, Squeezebox, CD/DVD in stereo transport, or music hall’s own cd25.2 compact disc player, and it will output two channel stereo analog.
The dac25.2 features the latest Texas Instruments (formerly Burr-Brown) PCM1796 24bit, 192kHz, advanced segment, stereo audio digital-to-analog converter. This processor features 123dB dynamic range, an 8 x oversampling digital filter, and just 0.0005% THD. The dac25.2 upsamples to either 96kHz or 192kHz, which is user selectable on the front panel. To achieve the best sound, we use an advanced asynchronous reclocking and anti-jitter control system upstream of the PCM1796 DAC. For this system, we are using the Philips 74HC574 in conjunction with the Ti SRC4192 Asynchronous Sample Rate Converter, whose master clock is a high precision active crystal oscillator. The dac25.2 also features a large, high current oversize power supply. A headphone output is provided for convenient personal listening.
Features
 Electro-Harmonix 6922 tube output
 Ti PCM1796 24bit, 192kHz DAC
 Ti SRC4192 Asynchronous sample rate converter w/high precision active crystal oscillator master clock
 User selectable 96kHz or 192kHz upsampling
 Sophisticated asynchronous reclocking and anti-jitter control system
 8 x oversampling digital filter
 4 digital inputs: coax (s/pdif), optical, XLR, or USB
 2 Gold-plated outputs: single ended (RCA), balanced (XLR)
 Headphone output with adjustable volume control
 Large high current oversize power supply
 Thick brushed-aluminum fascia and solid chassis
 110v/220v voltage selectable transformer
 Detachable power cord
Specifications
THD+N: <0.04% Tube out (1KHz)
<0.0015% Balanced out (1KHz)
Output level: 2.0V
Frequency response: 2Hz~20KHz +/-0.2dB
SNR: >110dB
Power dissipation: <30W
Dynamic range: > 120dB (24 bit)
> 96dB (16bit)
Crosstalk: <-110dB
Operating temperature: 0 ~ 40℃
Headphone output level: 4V max
Headphone output resistance: 0.3 ohm
Power supply: AC115V/60Hz - 230V/50Hz
Physical
Dimensions: W x D x H (8.5 x 13.5 x 3.75 in.)
Weight: 10 lbs. packed

What's ya guys think?

[Ajani]

What's ya guys think?

At $600 for such a well specked tube DAC from MusicHall, I'd say go for it...

It's so good to see how heavily the audio industry is now embracing music servers...