Regarding DACs

DACS are extremely important part in the digital system...better the dac better will be sound quality but see you need to club this with good preamp as well...
prices of the DACs but they come in expensive line but some reasonably good dacs come for 45k and above... but you need to put preamp which is about in the same line... but one more thing...

the preamp sounds best with only battery sources...so if you find a preamp with battery as source then you can go with that...

cheers,
Sandeep

Are there any passive pre-amps available in the market? Or just line level attenuators?

Sanjay

Look for chinese DACs such as the zhaolu and the like. They are real cheap and sound better than US made dacs that cost many times their price. I got a citypulse DA7.2 based upon BB PCM1796 converters for 400$(inclusive of shipping) imported from HK thru this site:

http://www.diykits.com.hk/

Another headfi'er compared the citypulse to a meitner bidat (supposed to be a legend) and found the citypulse to sound much better than the bidat.

I was made to understand that sushil anand of PLAY has an "advance acoustic" DAC which has a tube output stage. dont know pricing yet or if he has the pieces.

audio note 1.x was available sometime back at oceanic pune.

I presume Burge of AVI would have the theta dacs.

Other than that nothing else comes to mind. Someone should bring in the Bel Canto, benchmark, scott nixon or CIA dac's.

I wonder if the benchmark is avialble with the pro audio guys ??? Wonder which other pro audio DAC makes for a good DAC for a home stereo system ?

Manek.

Those diy kits dont have good quality parts may not sound good not high quality opamps are used in that beware of those stuff... highend diy dacs costs alot...

cheers,
Sandeep

Manek schrieb:

I was made to understand that sushil anand of PLAY has an "advance acoustic" DAC which has a tube output stage. dont know pricing yet or if he has the pieces. audio note 1.x was available sometime back at oceanic pune. I presume Burge of AVI would have the theta dacs. Other than that nothing else comes to mind. Someone should bring in the Bel Canto, benchmark, scott nixon or CIA dac's. I wonder if the benchmark is avialble with the pro audio guys ??? Wonder which other pro audio DAC makes for a good DAC for a home stereo system ? Manek.

You can get quite a few used/newe BM DAC1s for ~400-700 on ebay. Many of these ppl will even ship to india. I was initially considering that. However after going thru a lot of posts at head-fi, the general consensus was that the DAC1 wont stand a chance against a zhaolu unless you do some serious mods on the DAC1. There's a huge dedicated source components section at head-fi which is the first place I'd visit if I were looking for a DAC.

On a side note, the Bel Canto DAC3 is out recently... Features USB input :D.

reignofchaos schrieb:

Look for chinese DACs such as the zhaolu and the like. They are real cheap and sound better than US made dacs that cost many times their price. .

I've not heard the Chinese Zhaolu DAC. From your comments it appears that the Chinese DACs have a Japanese & maybe even an European sound (read, in general, "musical" vs. "analytical").
Tho' there are several US DACs that are tending more towards musical than they ever have been such as Birdland Odeon, Scott Nixon, Benchmark, AudioLogic, Audio Sector to name a few. I can cetainly speak for the Scott Dixon Saru DAC+, which is more on the musical side than any other US DAC I've heard.

reignofchaos schrieb:

Another headfi'er compared the citypulse to a meitner bidat (supposed to be a legend) and found the citypulse to sound much better than the bidat.

The Meitner Bidat is a legend indeed but it seems to have done its time today in STOCK form. To match its present-day competition it needs to be sent to Museatex for updates & mods. In the used market, a Bidat ad listing hardly lasts a few hours!

SDhawan schrieb:

Are there any passive pre-amps available in the market? Or just line level attenuators? Sanjay

You can go in for an attenuator (10K impedance) or even better - a transformer based solution.

Regards
Siva.

The Axiom from luminous audio was bought by a friend from the US. I was simply amazed at that little thing for 150US.

manek.

Manek schrieb:

The Axiom from luminous audio was bought by a friend from the US. I was simply amazed at that little thing for 150US. manek.

Manek,
looks like this Axion from Luminous Audio is a cheaper version of Placette's passive preamp that sells for 10X more! The Placette's uses nude Vishay resistors while the Axiom allows a choice between Holco & Caddocks. Given that several people are awed by the Placette passive, I'm not surprised at all to read that the Axiom sonics are fantastic esp. so for that price.

Doesn't Corrson (Siva) offer attenuators from DACT?

A simple passive attenuator can easily be made from a dual DACT 10k attenuator, and housed in a compact box, with input and output RCA connectors.

I've been using a DACT attenuator in my own preamp for years, and it's fabulous. I haven't found a better volume pot yet.

Another easy DIY project, too!

Viren.

A Passive pre amp is also a Great way to get going.

I recall someone had posted that he had a DACT Atten. for sale, on this forum.

The pain with these... I have endured since I becan, is the lask of convienence of a Remote. I now use my kids for that !

Debu schrieb:

Hi, Saw some posts on DACs, caught my attention. Could you enlighten me on what are the good DAC brands, and price/ availability in India. Thanks, - Debu

if you have the skills and the means ..best option is to buil one...like i did..almost actually left it when i had all the parts soldered..just needing casing work..
hopefully i should get to hear it in a coupleof years time

nice discussion on the chinese DACs. i really must try one of them...

http://www.audioasylum.com/scripts/t.pl?f=digital&m=122449

Arj schrieb:

nice discussion on the chinese DACs. i really must try one of them... http://www.audioasylum.com/scripts/t.pl?f=digital&m=122449

Arj,
I might or might not have read this particular thread (I did not click on the link) but I'm a regular visitor at AA & I've read a number of threads on the Lite Audio DAC AH & on the Zhaolu.
There was 1 thread posted only yesterday wherein the inmate reported that he bypassed the opamp output stage of the DAC AH by using 2.0uF caps & fed the DAC output directly to the preamp. The sonics, per this inmate, were superior to the Zhaolu by a good margin.
Well, this is audio: one guy likes the Zhaolu over the Bidat, another likes a modified DAC AH over the Zhaolu!

Amp_Nut schrieb:

A Passive pre amp is also a Great way to get going. I recall someone had posted that he had a DACT Atten. for sale, on this forum. The pain with these... I have endured since I becan, is the lask of convienence of a Remote. I now use my kids for that ! ;)

I have just managed to fit a motor to the DACT for couple of customers who bought the AP PM1 valve preamp. So, the DACT is now remote controlled....

However, this motor is damn expensive...and has to be imported from US. I would still prefer to get up from my couch to adjust the volume...and use the extra money to upgrade other components in my setup