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Bargain DAC Suggestions?

Veri

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Hi All,

I am new here and in the market for a bargain portable DAC to use it with my mobile phone (OnePlus 3) and Headphone (1More Triple).

Should I get the Audirect Beam (ES9118) or Sabaj Da3 (Dual SABRE9018Q2C)?

Thanks a lot in advance for your advice
The Sabaj was measured to be good. The smsl idea is a little smaller and same-ish performing.

What's wrong with the audio of your oneplus though? Too low volume?
 

Vince

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The Sabaj was measured to be good. The smsl idea is a little smaller and same-ish performing.

What's wrong with the audio of your oneplus though? Too low volume?

Thanks a lot for your quick response Veri!

Nothing wrong with the audio output of the OnePlus 3 per se (the music volume used is roughly between 50-65% mark).

Just wanted to see if I could improve on the quality
 

Wombat

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Veri

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Just wanted to see if I could improve on the quality

As seen in amir's latest LG phone review, most modern pricy phones will have a good dac in them with good (battery) power, most that could happen is that they are unable to produce the needed power in amplification stage.

The Sabaj Da3 reaches about 93dB signal over noise as measured by amir. The smsl will perform very close. Unless you need the power, your phone will surely have a similar quality already. No portable do-it-all device will give substantial benefit, my opinion at least. I doubt people can even hear substantial difference with desktop products costing $1000. Maybe..

Anyway, the oneplus3 dac section is supposedly quite good and has not been cheaped out on. An external dac/amp will also drain your battery much faster. Think wisely before spending money :)
 

CaptObvious

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I second the sabaj DA3, I have one currently connected to 2 emotiva stealth 8s via balanced outputs.
 

Vince

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As seen in amir's latest LG phone review, most modern pricy phones will have a good dac in them with good (battery) power, most that could happen is that they are unable to produce the needed power in amplification stage.

The Sabaj Da3 reaches about 93dB signal over noise as measured by amir. The smsl will perform very close. Unless you need the power, your phone will surely have a similar quality already. No portable do-it-all device will give substantial benefit, my opinion at least. I doubt people can even hear substantial difference with desktop products costing $1000. Maybe..

Anyway, the oneplus3 dac section is supposedly quite good and has not been cheaped out on. An external dac/amp will also drain your battery much faster. Think wisely before spending money :)

Thank you so much for your input Veri. I just received the 1More Triple a couple of days ago and started reading on portable DACs when massdrop dropped me an e-mail on the availability of Audirect Beam so curiosity hit me.

Good to know there won't be any substantial benefit I will get from these portable DACs
 

Wombat

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Example? From the company that supports their hardware and software years after other companies do?

I was referring to the inability for users to replace the battery rather than be tied to an Apple service centre(pricey) for such.
 
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amirm

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amirm

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dpuopolo

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The Dayton uses the PCM1794 DAC, which is a 24 bit capable of 192 kHz (Think Behringer UMC202HD),
It also uses the AK4113 USB receiver, which goes up to 216 kHz. I have a Dayton. It sounds excellent - a lot like the XtremPro.
Bass seems a bit tighter.
It looks a lot like the FX Audio FX-01 DAC, but internally that unit uses the SA9023 for a USB receiver and a PCM 5102 32 bit DAC.
 
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Zerohour

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ok, I posted about the Weiliang/Breeze Audio SE4 USB DAC (ES9028,SA9226, usd$30-ish) a few months ago

Purchased it around the same time and has been running constantly plugged to my Windows PC (needed a SaviAudio driver from the seller for Win7). Running great for most of my gear.

However, recently got a CA Andromeda on loan from a friend and tested it with it, sadly some audible hiss upon being plugged in

I suppose this means the noise floor is a bit high or mismatched impedance? the Andro is 12.8 ohms
1542126550315.png
 

maxxevv

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Its noise from the system somewhere. Might be the DAC, might be from the laptop.

Try plugging that DAC into an android phone and see if you get the same hiss. If not, then its from the laptop spilling into the DAC.
Savi implementations don't seem to handle USB noise as well as XMOS or Amanero ones ?
 

Zerohour

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I've tested it with my Galaxy S5 using HibyMusic, seems the hiss is still there.

I suppose despite this, it is still an admirable little device. Even with the hiss, I can clearly see why the Andromeda is highly regarded, supplants UERM as the best IEM I've ever tested.

I might get the iFi Ear Buddy or iEMatch further down the road if I ever decide to invest more into these sensitive multi-BA IEMs.
 

DrFlimFlam

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hmm I was looking to buy a new dac, and first every web was saying "DF RED!!!" then I saw that maybe red is overpriced, and went to read that a sabaj D3 would offer much more for less price.

Any other alternative that should I consider? Around 200 max price, It's going to be used with 2 powered speakers, iem sennheiser ie8 and maybe an hd600, but I don't mind having one single jack like the dragonfly, what I look for is just the best sound for a desktop under that price.
 
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