Suitable DAC

[Miserablegit]

I’m finding, working from home more than my office in London, I’m more likely to be listening to music on my headphones - I’ve got a Tidal hifi/masters subscription.


At present I’m streaming from an iPad Pro to Beoplay H9s.

I’m looking to upgrade. Considering a new dac and wired headphones.
Budget ideally less than £1000. I know it’s very difficult to do that and I should really stretch to the £5k PH minimum but this is not going to be a long term option (I hope)

I’d set my mind on a Marantz HD Dac1 only to find they’re no longer available except s/h.

I need a dac into which I can plug the iPad or a streamer/dac combo with headphone out. I can then incorporate it into my other systems when the time comes.


Any recommendations please?
Thanks

Edited by Miserablegit on Wednesday 28th September 10:34

Edited by Miserablegit on Wednesday 28th September 10:34

[bigandclever]

Someone who knows what they're talking about will be along in a bit, but I have the Audioquest dragnonfly red and a USB/lightning connector to plug it into my old-ish ipad pro. Works for me.

[Miserablegit]

Many thanks - I don’t need portability as when I’m travelling I’m perfectly happy with the Bluetooth to the H9s but I’ll bear that in mind
If I’m getting another dac it would be useful to have inputs for the myriad other digital out devices I have but it’s not a deal breaker

[C n C]

Although I haven't used the headphone out on it, (so can't comment on this aspect, but it does get good reviews), I'm using the Audiolab M Dac+ in our living room system and am very pleased with the results.

Looks like it's available from Richer Sounds for £679.

[Miserablegit]

Thanks - I’ve got an M-one in the office- I like the sound but I’ve had the occasional channel drop-out issues with it so it’s put me off Audiolab a bit.

[AndrewGP]

I have an RME ADI-2 DAC FS in my main system (fed by a BlueSound Node from Tidal) which I think is superb and I think it would fit your needs well. It's a very accomplished DAC and headphone amp too. It's very tweak-able, the manual is huge!

Loads of very favourable reviews eg here and here

Specs from the RME website here.

[Miserablegit]

Ooh- shiny! I’ll take a look- many thanks

[mikef]

Tidal uses the MQA compression scheme - I’d look for a DAC with hardware MQA decompression

I use an iFi XDSD for Tidal, See devices with MQA support here

[Miserablegit]

Many thanks all

[TEKNOPUG]

A grand for both or just the DAC?

[Miserablegit]

Budget was £1000 for both.

In true PH style I’ve now gone down another route and bought a NOS Naim Unitiqute 2 - I know it won’t do MQA and I’ll probably end up buying one of the DACs listed here so people’s efforts have not been wasted.

[thebraketester]

The biggest improvement you'll make is in the headphones themselves. Look at what grado have to offer. Even their entry level headphones blow most of the competition away.

[TEKNOPUG]

Miserablegit said:

Budget was £1000 for both.

In true PH style I’ve now gone down another route and bought a NOS Naim Unitiqute 2 - I know it won’t do MQA and I’ll probably end up buying one of the DACs listed here so people’s efforts have not been wasted.

I'd be splitting the budget ~ 75/25 in favour of the headphones.