DAC under 200€ for new newbies

[Charvel]

Hello everyone,
I know we have a lot of other threads like this one but I'm lost ....
So I want a DAC under 200€ ( if it's an absolute necessity to spend a little bit more, it's ok ). I see the brand TOPPING and S.M.S.L and some guy says it's pretty nice, and ****** shit ...
So, if someone who knows a good DAC at this price, I'm interested !
I don't know who's the best at this price, I see the ifi Zen 2, but a lot of people thinks he do is time and now is dead. I'm lost.
I'm open to knows the opinion of everyone.
( Sorry, I'm 17 ans french, I knows some English brain are actually burning )

 

[Ron Texas]

Look through the reviews database. Sort it by price and check if the item is recommended and if it has the features you need.

 

[sam_adams]

DAC under 200€ for new boobies

Which one of you wiseguys enabled the Fark boobies filter?

 

[Charvel]

Lequel d'entre vous a activé le filtre des fous de Fark

Which one of you wiseguys enabled the Fark boobies filter?

I think I don't understand your sentences

 

[Charvel]

Look through the reviews database. Sort it by price and check if the item is recommended and if it has the features you need.

Okay, WOW this forum is pretty good !! I just discovered it and it's amazing how good he is !

 

[Jim Taylor]

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Some people think that it's the best one out there. Just translate, then copy and paste.

Jim

 

[Anton D]

I have the SMSL DAC and love it.

 

[kemmler3D]

Anything from Topping is probably worthwhile, I have the DX5 Lite ... and have owned the D90 as well, both were just great.

But realistically, you should first think of features you want besides digital in, analog out.

Most DACs you can get for $200 have very good "digital in, analog out" performance. The main differences come in when you want (e.g.) XLR out, or high output voltage, or a sub output, a remote control, etc. So first decide on your must-have features beyond the basics and that will narrow your search quite a bit.

Oh and welcome to ASR! As others have said you can find a lot of info by going through past reviews. That will tell you almost all you need to know.

 

[Rja4000]

Hi
As usual, the very first thing to do is to write down your own user requirements.

What do you want to do with this DAC ?

Connectivity:
A DAC doesn't make sense in isolation:
You'll want to connect it to one or more digital sources (can be a streamer, a PC, a TV, a game station, a smartphone through Bluetooth, a studio mixer or DAW,...) and one or more analog destinations (usually one or more amplifier(s)).
Do you have those already?
What are the connections available for each ?
Also, what does your destination (amp) require in terms of voltage or impedance at the input ?

Control:
Will you use it with an external volume control (can be at the source, in digital, or at the destination, if your amp has a volume control) or do you want to use the DAC to control the volume ? In that case, it should have a volume control.
Do you need a remote control ?

Is there anything else that is important for you ?

 

[Charvel]

Hi
As usual, the very first thing to do is to write down your own user requirements.

What do you want to do with this DAC ?

Connectivity:
A DAC doesn't make sense in isolation:
You'll want to connect it to one or more digital sources (can be a streamer, a PC, a TV, a game station, a smartphone through Bluetooth, a studio mixer or DAW,...) and one or more analog destinations (usually one or more amplifier(s)).
Do you have those already?
What are the connections available for each ?
Also, what does your destination (amp) require in terms of voltage or impedance at the input ?

Control:
Will you use it with an external volume control (can be at the source, in digital, or at the destination, if your amp has a volume control) or do you want to use the DAC to control the volume ? In that case, it should have a volume control.
Do you need a remote control ?

Is there anything else that is important for you ?

Hi,
I want a DAC because I have a lot of dematerialized music. Actually I only use a USB key into my HT amp ( Yamaha RX-V673 ) and it sound pretty bad comparted to my CD player ( JVC XL-E34 ). In one month I'm gonna get an old pc for free ( windows 7, 4Go ram and 320Go of stockage ( AMD graphique card )). I want to reset everything, delete any app that I don't want and only use foobar2000 and asio.
This is what I want a DAC ( with USB input and RCA output in preference )

Complete setup :
Amp : Yamaha RX-V673
turntable : JVC AL-E300
CD : JVC XL-E31
tuner/amp/K7 : JVC DR-E500L
speaker : JVC SP-E500 ( in the future, this gonna be replace by a diy with Davis acoustics and Dayton Audio speaker )
Luxman Slim T4
SUB : Focal SB-25 A1
sub amp : straigh'in first 2c

 

[Charvel]

Anything from Topping is probably worthwhile, I have the DX5 Lite ... and have owned the D90 as well, both were just great.

But realistically, you should first think of features you want besides digital in, analog out.

Most DACs you can get for $200 have very good "digital in, analog out" performance. The main differences come in when you want (e.g.) XLR out, or high output voltage, or a sub output, a remote control, etc. So first decide on your must-have features beyond the basics and that will narrow your search quite a bit.

Oh and welcome to ASR! As others have said you can find a lot of info by going through past reviews. That will tell you almost all you need to know.

Okay, that one of that question that I'm demanding, I see some SMSL and TOPPING have the same chip ( ES9038Q2M, AK4493S, ... ) and what's the difference between them ? And is there a real difference between one chip and two ?

 

[Basic Channel]

Okay, that one of that question that I'm demanding, I see some SMSL and TOPPING have the same chip ( ES9038Q2M, AK4493S, ... ) and what's the difference between them ? And is there a real difference between one chip and two ?

If it's recommended by Amir, I'd say you only really need to worry about features. For example, are you happy with RCA out or do you want balanced out?

Bon matin from Luxembourg.

 

[Charvel]

If it's recommended by Amir, I'd say you only really need to worry about features. For example, are you happy with RCA out or do you want balanced out?

Bon matin from Luxembourg.

I don't need a balanced out, I don't have balanced input. I never used something else than RCA, so yes I'm happy with it.
Bonjour from Vendée

 

[Tell]

Just don't make your decision looking at whatever has the highest SINAD score, say 80dB or 120dB probably won't give you any audible difference, so better look at what features you want for a decent price, and then if it happens to also have 120dB SINAD then good for you, but don't be scared off if it happens to measure a less than perfect

 

[Basic Channel]

I don't need a balanced out, I don't have balanced input. I never used something else than RCA, so yes I'm happy with it.
Bonjour from Vendée

What speaker setup do you have?

 

[Charvel]

Just don't make your decision looking at whatever has the highest SINAD score, say 80dB or 120dB probably won't give you any audible difference, so better look at what features you want for a decent price, and then if it happens to also have 120dB SINAD then good for you, but don't be scared off if it happens to measure a less than perfect

Yeah, I think I'm more interested by the topping because the Bluetooth doesn't matter for me and the auto on off and USB alimentation of the topping is very good option at my eyes.

 

[Charvel]

What speaker setup do you have?

Passive speaker ( JVC SP-E500 ), but I'm gonna change it in the future for a diy, also in passive.

 

[Basic Channel]

Passive speaker ( JVC SP-E500 ), but I'm gonna change it in the future for a diy, also in passive.

Your speakers are older than you are I think.

I can't find much info on the speakers, and am a non-expert, but adding a good DAC might be like putting alloy wheels on a Nissan Micra.

 

[Charvel]

Your speakers are older than you are I think.

I can't find much info on the speakers, and am a non-expert, but adding a good DAC might be like putting alloy wheels on a Nissan Micra.

Yes, I think they are twice ole than me .... Your comparaison ise perfect, but like I said higher, I'm gonna build mine with Davis and Dayton speaker, this one gonna be much better than this piece of crap ....
My grand parent give me for free, so I don't spit on.

 

[PlasticDoc]

Hi,
I want a DAC because I have a lot of dematerialized music. Actually I only use a USB key into my HT amp ( Yamaha RX-V673 ) and it sound pretty bad comparted to my CD player ( JVC XL-E34 ). In one month I'm gonna get an old pc for free ( windows 7, 4Go ram and 320Go of stockage ( AMD graphique card )). I want to reset everything, delete any app that I don't want and only use foobar2000 and asio.
This is what I want a DAC ( with USB input and RCA output in preference )

Complete setup :
Amp : Yamaha RX-V673
turntable : JVC AL-E300
CD : JVC XL-E31
tuner/amp/K7 : JVC DR-E500L
speaker : JVC SP-E500 ( in the future, this gonna be replace by a diy with Davis acoustics and Dayton Audio speaker )
Luxman Slim T4
SUB : Focal SB-25 A1
sub amp : straigh'in first 2c

Any of these options will serve your setup well:

Option 1 - if you do not need bluetooth, remote control or XLR outputs: SMSL SU-1 DAC (85€ in France).

Option 2 - if you need bluetooth, remote control and XLR outputs: SMSL D-6S DAC (199€ in France).

If you choose the SMSL SU-1 DAC, you can spend the extra money and have a lot more fun building an inexpensive but very good Raspberry Pi-based audio player. We have several of these players in our workplace and they run reliably 24/7 (with tweaked /boot/ config file to keep the Pi's electronics cooler).

The DAC connects to the Raspberry Pi via a USB cable (power and audio). You can easily control the player from your computer, phone or tablet. The player gives you access not only to your audio files (on your computer, external USB drive, etc.) but also to a wide range of free internet radio stations (a growing number of which offer high quality lossless audio).

For the Raspberry Pi based player:
1x Raspberry Pi 5 4GB, ~ 70€ (other Raspberry's like the Pi 5 2GB, Pi 4 4GB or Pi 4 2GB will also do the job).
1x Raspberry Pi aluminium box, ~ 15€.
1x Power supply, type USB C, 5V, 3A (a good, newer smart phone power supply will do).
1x SD card (this will hold the player's Volumio operating system, 16GB is more than enough, but you can use a larger one).
1x Volumio Music Player, free / open source software: https://volumio.com/get-started.