DAC Suggestion ? 5k · DIGIT-ARC

Hello,

Need a DAC under 5k to use with Swans M10 and ATH-M50X.

Fiio E10k is natural choice. Are there any other options. 2 separate jacks (one headphone + one line out, for speakers) is mandatory.

Thanks in advance

Bump

W

@The Incinerator used to give some good suggestions when he was active here. You can check hifivision forums,they are probably the only audio enthusiastic forum in India.

In India all are expensive...You may dig with Aliexpress.., Lot of variety and options.

W

shreeux said:
In India all are expensive...You may dig with Aliexpress.., Lot of variety and options.

I don't think you can get "quality DAC" from there at much cheaper rates plus nowadays govt has tightened the policy so getting anything above 5k(& that's not just based on its bill value but rather the impression of customs officer) from aliexpress is risky.

whitestar_999 said:
I don't think you can get "quality DAC" from there at much cheaper rates plus nowadays govt has tightened the policy so getting anything above 5k(& that's not just based on its bill value but rather the impression of customs officer) from aliexpress is risky.

Yes, based on lucky some of them not paid duty. While placing an order, if you mention low invoice, they will make as we suggest.

W

That is why govt tightened the rules. Now low value invoice or not,customs official will check the product if "it looks like it costs more than 5k"(bigger the packet size/more complicated the scanner image,higher the chances of this) & will levy customs duty.

So I recieved my headphones, the audio out from my computer mobo is low-ish.
I tried with macbook 3.5 mm jack and its somewhat better (still have to set to 100% volume)..
I think I will need a dac/amp or atleast an amp, for mainly two reasons..
1)the reason i mentioned above
2) very inconvenient to reach out to the back of my desktop to unplug speaker and plug in m50x.since front panel audio is busted (both mic + speakers lol)

If I cant settle on anything, its going to E10k. People are saying behringer u202 is good, but seems very differing opinion...
@whitestar_999
I visited their forums, man its a blackhole. High end audio forum is pure cancer. Their "budget" lineup starts from 300 USD. All the indian forum members are using USD currency instead of INR ? Still looking into older threads in those forums, maybe ill have a reliable review of any good dac other than E10k.

Overall im kinda surprised with M50x, its an overhyped product, or maybe I can experience it's true potential with a proper Dac/AMP. So Ill reserve final judgement later until I get one.

Still consider the best VFM earphone to be E10c/E10bt. Absolute best SQ per price. and ofcourse Swans M10, very nice sounding speakers.

shreeux said:
In India all are expensive...You may dig with Aliexpress.., Lot of variety and options.

can u suggest some models. I can see FX Audio DAC X6 from ZReviews, it seems available at good price 65 USD. But will Gormint put customs on it ? I ordered Rock64 for similar amount (around 61 USD) and no taxes were added.
Also, really dont wanna wait a month for aliexpress lol.

Nerevarine said:
can u suggest some models. I can see FX Audio DAC X6 from ZReviews, it seems available at good price 65 USD. But will Gormint put customs on it ? I ordered Rock64 for similar amount (around 61 USD) and no taxes were added.
Also, really dont wanna wait a month for aliexpress lol.

SMSL very known product. But keep on wait is unavoidable. You may compare similar site Banggood.
Read carefully in google for tips and tricks for purchase in Aliexpress. Plan accordingly.

SMSL M3 USB DAC

Otherwise, save some money to buy this one for safezone...Schiit - Magni 3 - ₹ 9,999
For future proof also.,

W

Have you seen this thread:
Budget DAC

The HifiBerry option, or any other raspberry pi option, if it sounds as good as dedicated DACs, seems like a solid choice.
Just 2 weeks ago, I won a raspberry pi 3 B+, which I had no use for, since I Bought a ROCK64.
If this thing is viable, I'll definitely prefer this.

W

Make sure to ask there before confirming,there may be some tricky points.

Nerevarine said:
The HifiBerry option, or any other raspberry pi option, if it sounds as good as dedicated DACs, seems like a solid choice.
Just 2 weeks ago, I won a raspberry pi 3 B+, which I had no use for, since I Bought a ROCK64.
If this thing is viable, I'll definitely prefer this.

So what did you buy? How much and from where?

TheSloth said:
So what did you buy? How much and from where?

No havent made up my mind, friend going to us next week, probably going to get something from there..

B

I am using my Swans m10 and ATH M50x with FiiO Olympus 2 and FiiO Killimanjaro 2

I forgot to update this thread, I bought a Fiio Q1 Mark 2.. Its been working fine for me, same swans m10 + m50x