whats your favorite dac device - /g/

Anonymous09/07/26, 22:44No.109756199What's your favorite DAC device?

Not the product, but the actual converter chip or circuit? Do you even know which DAC your "dac" has? I mostly use my Parasound preamp which has a Burr-Brown reference DAC. But I think my favorite is the TDA1540, aka DAC1, the first single-chip DAC. I also like the SAA7350GP in my Laserdisc player, it has a strange circuit called Legato-Link Conversion which purports to restore the cut-off harmonics above 44.1 KHz.

Replies

Anon09/07/26, 22:45No.109756211

Pic somewhat related, USD20400, I have been trying to find a device with one of these installed but DIY'ers and audiophiles have driven the prices up to absolutely insane levels.

Anon09/07/26, 22:46No.109756217

oh so it's just audio dacs?

Anon09/07/26, 22:50No.109756248

Another good newish DAC is the ESS Sabre, it has a built in reclocker.

Anon09/07/26, 23:04No.109756361

Designed and soldered myself will never not be my favorite.

Anon09/07/26, 23:13No.109756430

Here let me call in some shills.*ahem* Audio Science Review is wrong, the Apple DAC sucks.

Anon09/07/26, 23:23No.109756496

AD5360 It's not meant for audio but it has no problem doing 48khz and it gives you 10VPP on 16 synchronous channels without extra opamps. You can feed it directly into modular synths.

Anon09/08/26, 01:26No.109757195

Nece MELFs.

Anon09/08/26, 01:47No.109757308

Another DAC that's still a mystery is DAC-1 ie 1540, it can be pushed way higher than other chips even the 1541 and for whatever reason it sounds best with a 12v power supply. Lots of new designs for the original integrated DAC chip, it's crazy. Prices are going nuts too, overseas they will pay $100+ for a single 1540 but in the US you can find many entry level players from the first few years of CD that have this and the filter board (another $100) for $10 used. Many have shit mechanisms and output stages so there's no harm in shucking them for their components.

Anon09/08/26, 07:29No.109758675

I do not care about the DAC chip, it's the entire package that matters to me. That said after filtering out the options by hiss, LTE interference susceptibility and glitches all my DACs ended up being ESS DACs. ES9280 for IEMs, ES9039 for headphones, ES9016 for speakers. AK4377 is also good. Cirrus, conexant and realtek DACs all had issues, but I'm like 95% certain they weren't from the DAC itself but from the power stage, firmware and PCB design. Only ancient shit like R2R has actually broken DACs that destroy the lower bits.

Anon09/08/26, 12:08No.109759865

For me it's the ESS line that hits the spot

Anon09/08/26, 18:39No.109762676

i used to use headphones with a jack to usb c adapter and it was great. i could park, go do my job, and when i get back, without opening my phone, press resume on the headphone input thing, and it would play. then i bought just straight usb-c earbuds. they fucking suck. when i get back to my car, i have to open my phone and press play on the screen, because, from what im told, the DAC powers down and forces me to do so.

Anon09/08/26, 19:02No.109762899

>it's the dac schizo spammer fuck off, retard https://desuarchive.org/g/search/text/TDA1540/

Anon09/08/26, 19:11No.109762991

TI PCM5102A... You need more?

Anon09/08/26, 20:51No.109764115

In 2026, and above the bare minimum price range, does it even make a difference? Asking genuinely and not trying to be a dick. I'm not much of an audiophile, but in music the consensus seems be that $150 audio interfaces (where you send your instruments through a pre-amp and analogue to digital converter, and the signal comes to your headphones through a DAC and amp) are basically identical to $1000 interfaces outside of the amount of inputs and some nice-to-have features. I'd imagine it's similar when buying stand alone components. Obviously, there will be an exception with components that are deliberately meant to "colour" the audio, but even then I'd expect them to just sound different, not better or worse, and for the differences to be (in principle) replicable through simple EQ

Anon09/08/26, 20:58No.109764202

You can look at the datasheet of any modern DAC chip and they're all going to have absurd specs like >120dB dynamic range, SNR, THD+N, but none of the real products with that chip are going to be anywhere close to those specs. Because it's not the bottleneck.

Anon09/09/26, 01:41No.109766358

Chord still shits on all chips

Anon09/09/26, 02:51No.109766760

Haven't DACs been a solved thing for like 30 years now to where there's literally no difference between all of them?

Anon09/09/26, 09:38No.109769003

>it has a strange circuit called Legato-Link Conversion which purports to restore the cut-off harmonics above 44.1 KHz. sounds like a total load of bullshit

Anon09/09/26, 09:50No.109769057

CM9882A