At Last…The Ultimate DAC Buyers Guide (2021 Edition)

Introduction

I have often felt intimidated by rankings of DACs in popular Hifi magazines. I’ll be upfront with you – sonic differences between various DACs nowadays are miniscule. Older chipsets which includes digital gear made in the 80s or 90s were susceptible to power supply noise and signal jitter. However, with the latest generation of DAC chips from Analog Devices, Texas Instruments (Burr Brown) or Cirrus, manufacturers can build decent digital audio products for a lot less money.

What’s the secret of “better than average” DACs?

Having experimented with digital-to-analog converter circuit development, I know that in order to get good performance it’s not about a single “magic chip” as the killer ingredient. Instead, the real secret lies in designing a circuit that can approximate the chips advertised Signal-to-Noise specifications as closely as possible. Unfortunately, many designs fall short at that critical step. A competent engineer knows how to build a fantastic DAC even with a basic chip. It’s just the sum of experience, clever design decisions, PCB layout and grounding, power supply conception, EMI shielding and components selection. That’s why two DACs based on the same converter chip potentially sound and/or measure different.

See also my article on what the differences between cheap vs expensive DACs are.

If digital technology has reached maturity, what should you be looking for?

Look for features and reliability in the first place. Choose a DAC from a manufacturer that puts science before snake oil. A DACs job is to get the signal out unchanged, not add any “flavors”. I’m tired of bloomy BS descriptions of “sound signatures” in a DAC. Anything deviating from the original signal is a flawed design – period. Good engineering pays off.

I’d personally not put all my money into a digital-to-analog converter. Technology is evolving at a dramatic pace, in just 4-5 years, better DACs will blow your 3k megabuck converter out of the water (have witnessed this personally).

I personally prefer to buy all my gear from Amazon whenever possible because I know I won’t have any headaches with warranty. Plus I can return my purchase within 30 days if I’m not happy.

Do you need a DAC at all?

Surprise. You don’t need a DAC. If you already own an iPhone / iPad, you could simply plug that into your stereo system using a simple lightning to headphone adapter for less than 10 Euros. Similar adapters exist for Android. Mobile devices are capable of high-resolution playback. So if you’re happy with 75-80% of the quality of a high-end DAC, I would try this route before spending money.

Which DACs do you want me to review next? Please drop me an email. Keep in mind that I don’t get free review samples and I have to buy the products myself so I’d be glad if you limit your wishlist to the more affordable products :)

All new updates for 2021 I have completely revamped this page to share my experiences with digital-to-analog converters in the past 5 years. Most of my predictions turned into reality as Chinese manufacturers have now mostly taken over this market. It’s simply astounding what type of quality you can get for a fraction of the cost of European or American manufacturers. My preferred manufacturers are now Topping, Gustard and Matrix Audio. My favorite non-Chinese manfacturers are RME and Benchmark. (advertisement links). All of these companies produce suberp products. Of course, there will be others, too but this is just my recent experience. Want to see the old list of recoemmended DACs? Click here to access the archives from 2015 – 2020

My very own Gustard X20u is still gowing strong and provides trouble-free breathtaking performance. I never regretted buying it. I use it alongside my RME ADI2 PRO DAC which has an AD converter built in that I needed for my phono stage. I just didn’t see any compelling reason to buy an expensive analog preamp and more cables when I can have the best in a single box.

I have divided all my recommended tried and true DACs into separate categories “Reference Class” and “Top Class” which seems more prudent than bloomy descriptions of sound quality. Excluded are those DACs that I haven’t had a chance to try yet or simply because they don’t measure up to my standards. I’ll keep constantly adding to the list as I review more gear so please be patient.

My current advice is to stay away from DIY DACs from eBay. Yes, I previously recommended that route but many of my readers complained about horrible performance, reliability issues, fake chips etc. It’s just not worth the hassle anymore when you can buy a great DAC performing DAC for less than 100 Euros.

Most audiophiles would be best served with any Top Class DAC candidate. You need to spend significantly more for real audible improvements. This is where you get maximum bang for your buck.

Note: I’m not selling anything on this blog – these are solely recommendations based ony my personal opinion. I also focus on what products that likely offer the most bang for the buck. You need to visit the appropriate retailers to purchase any of these DACs

Reference Class is for those who already own an end-game setup with speakers and headphones perfectly tweaked or need the extra features that usually come with these DACs.

Tip! You can potentially save huge amounts of money by purchasing used high-end audio gear.It’s not uncommon to see savings of 45% or more if you know where to look. Check out eBay or Audiogon classifieds. Great DACs that were over 1000 Euros just a couple of months ago, often trade for 500-600 Euros on places like Head-Fi.org.

Reference Class – Cost no object

Candidate 1:

Gustard X0
I’m still in love with this. Unfortunately it’s not made anymore but you may as well get the successor. First time I heard it, I had to recover from my shockingly good experience with the Gustard X20u. Even though it’s dated now, it still kills many recent DAC products I’ve come across. Gustard has since released many successors – reportedly getting better, haven’t heard those yet but look just as great.

• Chipset: Dual ESS Sabre32 9018
• Remote Controllable
• Works as a preamplifier
• Inputs: 1x USB, 1x coaxial, 1x BNC, 1x optical, 1x I2S
• USB XMOS discrete daughter board supporting virtally any operating system

Candidate 2:

RME ADI 2 FS PRO with headphone amplifier- about 1800 Euros on Amazon(Amazon DE Link)(Amazon UK Link)
(advertisement links)

Fully balanced professional unit featuring the beloved AKM DAC chips with premium components, full DSD support and headphone amplifier. I bought the latest revision of the ADI Pro 2 last year and it’s MUCH better than any previous iteration. Pure sonic bliss. It’s totally on par with the Gustard! Price seems high but when you factor in the brilliant volume control, eqalizer and AD converter, it’s priced more than right. This is a better buy for European audiophiles as the RME tends to be a bit less expensive than Mytek or Benchmark.

• Chipset: Dual AKM4493 with DSD256 support
• Balanced Headphone amplifier
• Remote controllable
• Works as a preamplifier
• Inputs: 1x USB, 1x optical, 1x coaxial
• Outputs: 1x RCA L/R, 1x XLR L/R
• USB driver support: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux (no drivers)

Candidate 3:

Benchmark DAC 2 HGC with headphone amplifier- about 2000 Euros on Amazon(advertisement link)
Benchmark DAC 2 L without headphone amplifier- about 1800 Euros on Amazon(advertisement link)Fully balanced, sophisticated hybrid analog/digital volume control. Headphone amp featuring 0 Ohm output impedance (excellent match for Sennheiser HD650).Premium quality electronic components. NOTE: There’s a new version out with the latest ESS DAC chips – waiting to get my hands on one unit.

• Chipset: ESS Sabre32 9018 (Quad DA)
• Headphone amplifier
• Remote controllable
• Works as a preamplifier
• Inputs: 1x USB, 2x optical, 2x coaxial, 2x analog
• Outputs: 1x RCA L/R, 1x XLR L/R
• USB driver support: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux (no drivers)

Other contenders:

I briefly had positive experience with the Topping D90 DAC as well as the Matrix X-Sabre DAC. Both of which were breathtaking, had great build quality and were a joy to listen to. But before I cannot to an in-depth comparison with my RME ADI2 and Gustard X20, I won’t be able to tell how good they really are (maybe the D90 is even better than all the above ones?).

Top Class – Top of the line DACs, clearly above average

You will now the the vast majority of DACs. Don’t expect drastic sonic differences between 100 Euro and 500 Euro units so I rather focus on the ones I’ve tried and heard in audiophile systems of my friends.

SMSL M8 DAC – about 239 Euros from Amazon.com(Amazon DE Link)
(Amazon UK Link)(advertisement links)
World-class DAC on a shoestring budget. Top Class rating is only with a separate 9V DC power supply.Read my review here. Note that the latest iteration is the SMSL SU-8 (advertisement link) which is far superior to the one I reviewed. I had a chance to try it out at my friends house and was amazed at the quality level. I think it probably is very very near Reference Class by now.

Recommendations Less than 150 Euros:
At the lowest end of the price-spectrum, we’ve got the Topping D10s and Topping E30 (advertisement links). If you just need a no-frills USB DAC, no balanced outputs, no headphone jack and no volume control, get the D10s. It has great ESS Sabre chipsets inside, can play back any high-res material, even DSD. I listened to it on a friends horn system and was mightily impressed. I thought a much pricier DAC was playing. Since he also has a dedicated preamp, this little DAC was all he needed. In terms of sound quality, it feels a bit rougher than my RME ADI DAC but heck, we’re talking about a hair above 100 Euros(!) The D10s (advertisement link) is also super-leightweight, it weighs just a hair over 300 grams. So if you need to travel and want great sound quality on the road, may want this. But since it doesn’t have a headphone jack, you still need an amp.

Recommendations Less than 200 Euros:
In this price bracket I’d personally look at the Topping E30 (advertisement link) which currently retails for 150 Euros. It has the same great AK4493 chips like in my RME DAC, beautiful display, remote control for input selection, volume adjustments. It’s unbelievable how much you’re getting for that price. It even comes with coaxial and optical inputs. My advice: spend more money on your speakers and room acoustics and get THIS DAC – you won’t see better value.

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