DAC & Headphone Amp - £200 budget

JamieMcC

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Aug 25, 2013
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Jamie
HiFi Trade?
  1. Yes
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uzzy

Grumpy Old Git
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Apr 16, 2006
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David
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Here's a curve-ball for you and bang-on the budget:

Cambridge Audio 740C

Yes, it's a CD player, but with twin Wolfson DACs, Analog Devices upsampling to 24/384, and most importantly two digital inputs, each of which can be either optical or coax, it makes a useful DAC with a different flavour to a lot of the ESS Sabre-based standalones. And you get CD playback thrown in for free :)
Not sure if this works or not. (in the heading) and may be fixable in the description .. so no telling if it works as a DAC but certainly not working as a CD player ..
 

bullinachinashop

Wammer
Wammer
May 11, 2022
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Milton Keynes
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Chord Mojo on eBay from moorgate-acoustics with six months warranty.

The CCA worked fine with my mojo I used it in a bed room system the CCA powered by a battery power bank you can connect the mojo also if you have a bank with fast charging capacity and a second usb output.
Plenty of 3.5 trs to RCA plug adapter cables on Amazon and eBay.

[URL]https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165...G8tV1NoubramRdR18SimE5X0=|tkp:Bk9SR9ymrsuvYQ.[/URL]
Great shout but I missed it, sold this arvo!!
 
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dhansak

Wammer Plus
Wammer Plus
Aug 24, 2021
342
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Edinburgh
www.danielwebb.online
AKA
danaudio
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I’ve currently got:
  1. Helm Bolt
  2. Cayin RU7
  3. Topping E30
  4. Topping D10s
  5. Meridian Explorer2
I've also had a Chord Mojo and Dragonfly Cobalt; both moved on. Chord for battery/size reasons and Cobalt due to disappointing sound.

The Cayin is my current favourite.

The Meridian has been long standing in my second system.

The HELM is for portable use where the small size is a bonus.

They're all good, I enjoy swapping in and out.
 
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wHIZZY

Measured Subjectivist
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Apr 12, 2016
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Sunny Devon
HiFi Trade?
  1. Yes
  2. No
Hold on, I'm talking rubbish 🤦 just found one on eBay, sold in November for £85! Sorry...
No, you are not talking rubbish, I sold mine about 2 years ago and from memory it went for around £350 - £400 ish. I believe they date back to 1989 and were claimed by Musical Fidelity to be the first stand alone DAC. Personally I think they are a beautifully smooth sounding DACs but not that detailed in comparison to modern designs. Of the current crop my choice would be a s/h Mojo.
 
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dhansak

Wammer Plus
Wammer Plus
Aug 24, 2021
342
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Edinburgh
www.danielwebb.online
AKA
danaudio
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
The Cayin is my current favourite.
After replying to you earlier this morning, I've just switched this out and back to the D10s, converting to DSD using HQ Player, and to be honest, it sounds 'different' and, therefore, maybe, seems 'better'!!

Any of these DACs do a decent job, especially given the price point.

The Cayin arrived on Christmas Eve, and I have decided to return it. It's not worth the £180 over the other devices I already have.

Order a few from Amazon, play around for 30 days and return what you don't want. That would be my advice.
 
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bullinachinashop

Wammer
Wammer
May 11, 2022
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Milton Keynes
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
@bullinachinashop
This covers, your need for a DAC + HA. I've had it here recently on loan, whilst my DAC was away for further pimping and you'd struggle to better it for the money. It really is a superb sounding DAC, clean, open, rich & detailed.
https://www.hifiwigwam.com/threads/geek-pulse-xfi-dac-and-lpsu.114194/#post-2348176
Thanks I've PMd Andrew as he'd had already kindly offered to lend me another DAC on trial. I'll have a chat to him about it. Good to here you rate it as there's not many reviews online👍
 

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