SMSL M-8 Mini DAC

Over on the Mass Drop site, they have this well regarded DAC for only $150:

SMSL Mini Dac

This is a DAC-only setup; you will need to run it thru a pre-amp or volume control. It uses the same ESS9018K2M Dac-chip and XMOS USB receiver as my Grace Design M920, which cost about 11 times as much!!

In addition, today I am 71 years old; send some birthday wishes to a lonely old geezer!

Nice inexpensive DAC that does it all. Thanks.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY, you old codger!!!

I recently turned 63. I tell people that I don't feel a day over 60.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday!

Feliz cumpleanos, joven!

I agree wholeheartedly on your assessme,nt of the current Chinese DACs. After I purchased the Maverick D1 and D2. I purcased a midrange DAC by minishow0328 @ ebay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Finished-DAC-decoder-AK4399-WM8805-Coaxial-optical-input-DAC9-weiliang-/140940553466?hash=item20d0b62cfa


He sells every combination of chipset, transformer, and topology that you can think of: R-core and toroidal, single or dual power supply, ES or Wolfram and digital readpout or LED. It was also very good DAC, so I thirsted for more and settled on an R-core with the same chipset as the Grace.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/140986665589?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I also purchased an xDuoo-03, which is tiny, for casual listening. All are recommended

Geezer, happy birthday....
Don't freeze your ass off: we're wearing cutoffs!!! Dale

Gregg, belated wishes for great B-Day.
Great to hear about your DAC success. I just plunged into a US-built Emotiva DAC, (a bit spendier at $400 but not as painful as an $800 Schiit), but it's got balanced outs and has brought a huge improvement to my streaming audio (Tidal thru AirPort Express) experience. Also AB'd it with the DAC inside my Rega Apollo R CD player and it's every bit as good, if maybe not just a touch better.
Enjoy the cold we sent your way. It's warmed up enough here in northern Idaho it might just start snowing.
Did you ever check out that Audio Control EQ?
May you live longer than a New Jersey Tung-Sol.
Cheerio,
Dave

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GREGG !!!!!!!!!!!!!! May the coming years be the best for your ears  !!!!!!!
Please go back in time and tell us what was the tune that made you feel, that tubes is the real deal ? I suspect you can mention a bunch, but there must be one, one you still marvel about. Cheers

Thanks to all who wished me a Happy Birthday!!

The MassDrop is on again for the M8. You can also read my comments under the Discussion topic. I am gkrr.

SMSL M8

I've been tube-rolling the past few months; I think we need a 12-step program! The Shuguang KT-88s stayed in place. I tried 3 kinds of 12bh7a, Tungsram and Tesla 12au7a, and Raytheon 12au7a branded Baldwin. The Raytheon/Baldwins date from the late 1950s, have shiny black 14mm plates, angled halo getters. After many combinations. I finally settled on 3-wide Raytheons on the VTA board. This gives me the best overall sound for all the types of music, although other combos sometimes produced better sound on certain tracks. The Raytheons sound similar to RCA clear-tops, but without the excess brightness; a tad warmer overall, great depth and extension.  I picked up nice stash of 16 from a guy in Missouri, all closely matched, noise-free.

Warm wishes for Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!