DAC with Crack (& HD650)

[Stanshall]

I'm delighted with my Crack - and thanks again to Doc and Paul for their help - and my music has never sounded better. I now wonder whether I can squeeze even more out of both amp and phones as my Fiio E7 DAC seems to be an obvious bottleneck here.

Are there any DACs particularly recommended for this combo? I'm thinking I could go up to 500 bucks.

[Natural Sound]

I'm delighted with my Crack - and thanks again to Doc and Paul for their help - and my music has never sounded better. I now wonder whether I can squeeze even more out of both amp and phones as my Fiio E7 DAC seems to be an obvious bottleneck here.

Are there any DACs particularly recommended for this combo? I'm thinking I could go up to 500 bucks.

Hi Stan. This subject has been discussed quite a bit. If you type the word "DAC" in the search box in the upper right side of this web page you will get quite a few hits.

That said, I'm using the MyDAC while I wait for the Bottlehead DAC to be released.
http://www.micromega-hifi.com/en/products/my-range/mydac
Its one of the better bargains that I know that is capable of 24bit 192khz. It gets great reviews from the critics. At around $370 it falls into your budget too. If you want a good bang for your buck you should give it a look. I bought mine from Music Direct but there are other dealers out there.
http://www.musicdirect.com/p-106045-micromega-mydac-asynchronous-usb-dac.aspx

Another highly regarded DAC is the Schitt Bitfrost. Its around the same price as the MyDAC and its made in the USA if that's important to you.
http://schiit.com/products/bifrost

I'm sure others will chime in here with some other recommendations but that should get you started.

[Stanshall]

Thank you. I should have searched first.

Please let it sink!

[mcandmar]

Have a read through this thread http://www.bottlehead.com/smf/index.php/topic,5077.0.html

I'm looking at either building a Twisted Pear Buffalo III, or buying the Bottlehead DAC when released. Granted both would be higher end DAC's, but there are plenty of options below those price points that perform great.

[John EH]

I am not a big money DAC guy.  I'm very partial to JDS Labs ODAC and Nufuce UDAC2 SE

As I type I'm listening to Chicago via MOG streaming through a HiFiMeDIY USB Sabre DAC fed by a NEXUS 7 (2012) and Sennheiser HD 650's.  I'm blown away.

[ashneel]

You can't go wrong with JDS' ODAC

[guf]

yeah i have the odac just dangling behind my sex ( with orcas ) and crack ( with hd650 ) with a splitter going to both. I'm very happy with it.

[antoineestephan]

Hi
I'm using the Music streamer HD from HRT, it's quite a nice DAC, it supports all the frequencies from 44.1to 128, and everything in between. I never heard the ODAC, I even was considering it, but for me  the deal breaker was that it didn't support 88.2, which I think is a big deal.
I think the HRT MS HD is definitely worthy of consideration, very sweet sounding DAC with my Crack and HD 650.