DAC for under £200

[markop2003]

Budget is up to £200.


Preferable:
Headphone output
RCA output
Volume control, don't need an amp as my cans are low impedance and high sensitivity.

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The possiblities:
V-DAC - £130

Beringsford 7210 - £100
Beringsford 7220 - £150
Beringsford Caimen - £180 (when they come back in stock)

ibasso D2 - £165 (though they can be imported or found on ebay for less)
iBasso D10 (seems to be the D2 with extra inputs) - £265 (may be able to import for less)

Fireeye 2 - £75
Fubar 2 - £125 (currently £15 on ebay)
Fubar 3 - £215
Spitfire £257

Valab nos - £25 (ebay)
09 Zero - £100 + modded transistor opamps (including pp and tax)
CSG straight - £75
Lite DAC-AH - £135
Audionote DAC Zero - £75
Aune - £100

Probably won't get these 2: but just for comparison:
DAC magic -£220
Asus Xonar STX - £135

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Basically what is the best DAC i can get below about 200 quid. I'll be using them with headphones and speakers, must have an open sound as i'm using them with A900s.

 

[cerebral744]

The V-dac is a really good product for the money, been using one at my friend house and he's well please with it.

But i can also vouch for the dacmagic, while it doesn't have a volume control or headphone output it does a really good job for the money

 

[markop2003]

The V-dac is a really good product for the money, been using one at my friend house and he's well please with it.

But i can also vouch for the dacmagic, while it doesn't have a volume control or headphone output it does a really good job for the money

Would you say the V-DAC is any better than the DAC magic? What hifi had a showdown and those 2 and the Beresford 7220 all got pretty similar results.

The thing i really want to know is how these compare to the Zero though cause those are real bargains now that the compass and that new american DAC out (both out of my budget)

 

[jbloggs]

The DACMagic is overpriced and overhyped!

I owned one and compared it to a ZeroDAC (upgrade version) at half its price and the ZeroDAC gave a clearly better sound quality.

The V-DAC @ £130 is a good deal...

If you can spend slightly over £200, the Audio-GD Compass is worth looking at, also see Here and Here

 

[markop2003]

The DACMagic is overpriced and overhyped!

I owned one and compared it to a ZeroDAC (upgrade version) at half its price and the ZeroDAC gave a clearly better sound quality.

The V-DAC @ £130 is a good deal...

If you can spend slightly over £200, the Audio-GD Compass is worth looking at, also see Here and Here

I waqsn't aiming to go over £200 but the exchange rate seems to have gotten even better since last time i looked at the compass (was closer to £275).
If necessary i'll put it on my christmas list for this year, people never know what to buy me so i always end up with cash, i'm also currently owed a christmas and birthday present from my parents so i'm sure that will pay for it if necessary.

The only problem with it will be space, i have the space it's just finding a spot where i'm not gonna have to pay for an ultra long optical cable and interconnects.

 

[marscay]

The Beresfords are very good, and punch a lot higher than their price would indicate. I would definitely go for the Caiman though (if he decides to make another batch) or failing that get a standard 7520 and have someone install the Wolfson 8716 DAC into it.

The detail in the Wolfson is very very nice, as a reference i am feeding my AV9 amplifier (which had a retail of £3.5k just over a year ago) with the £200 Caiman instead of feeding it a digital stream and using it's DAC - far more resolution with the Caiman for stereo.

Quite a few users have sold their mega £££ DAC's to use one and spent the difference elsewhere - plus it has socketed opamps so you can experiment with various opamps yourself which in itself is an extremely handy tweak to have.