Getting the best out of your mp3's

The X-ACT is a strange thing. VERY cheap and reportedly absolutely dire :( The X-DAC V3 is the first one I would look at, and even then it doesnt do well compared to the 203 from what I have heard. The A3.24 is the Musical Fidelity DAC of choice at the bottom end but these are 2-3x your budget and so thoroughly out of the question :)

The Meridian 203 had an original selling price of something like £600 I think, whereas that X-ACT was a $99 product. No idea why they made it as it only seems to tarnish the Musical Fidelity image...
 
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last question on the subjust honist, anywhere else I can look for new dacs other than the bay, if the links are allowed in my price range or are they not worth it?

thanks,

Babyface UK
 
babyface uk said:
last question on the subjust honist, anywhere else I can look for new dacs other than the bay, if the links are allowed in my price range or are they not worth it?

thanks,

Babyface UK
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DACs were a very, very popular thing 10 years ago - if my memory serves correctly I think Meridian helped to kick the whole thing off in the early 90s. Today, it isnt quite so appealing to have a DAC sat there and so generally, you simply wont find an outboard DAC for sale at your kind of budget. Chord still make DACs, as do Musical Fidelity but brand new you are looking at certainly a minimum of £500 for one of those.

If you have the skills and a suitable iron, you can piece together the final stages of a Monica 2 DAC for your budget. Google should throw up the relevant links, although I would advise you to have a truckload of salt on standby becuase these DIYers dont half rave about their own stuff :)
 
Ref the DACs mentioned. I have a Meridian 203 aswell as a DS N OS DAC v2, used to own a v1 N OS, and have heard a number of of bits of kit along the way.
The 203 is an OK DAC and can probably compete with CDPs upto £500. The v2 N OS is a good deal better, being a lot more natural in it's presentation. It Also responds well to a good PSU on the front end. I recently compared it to a £1k Quad 99. IMO the Quad had the edge, but not by much.

Have to say that I'm looking at a new CDP myself.
This weekend I'll be listening to a Meridian G07 and have another DAC lined up which is meant to be rather good.
 
thank you for all your replies, apologies for my late reply ive been away for the day. The posts have deffinetly shed a lot of light on the subject. I think the best thing to do would be to test my music via amp/cd and then again amp/mp3 128-320. Hopefully then I will get a good idea of the difference. Cheers guys
 
Thank you for your advice 9designs2 very helpful, I'm into classical and a lot of vocal music so its important it sounds sweet.
 
just noticed something, the budget was for the sound system alone not including the pc, only the amp/speakers/soundcard :P
 
Well after reading those posts I think I'm going to scrap playing mp3's alltogether! Sticking to cd's seems like the best option hehe
 
Well after reading those posts I think I'm going to scrap playing mp3's alltogether! Sticking to cd's seems like the best option hehe
 
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