Tube v. SS DAC

[Formerly YB-2]

Here is a good thread on DACs where a couple of the posters have tried various DACs, both tube & SS, and their thoughts on same.
https://www.audioaficionado.org/showthread.php?t=44092

[JBT]

The Balanced Rex Dac is a Tube Dac I forgot about


https://balanced.com/p-rex-dac

[W9TR]

Does anybody make a true tube DAC with tube switches instead of Solid State?

If this DAC were an R2R DAC it would have 16 tube switches and whatever analog tube circuits it would need for the output.

[GeAllan70]

I have one of these... been fun to mess around with... has both Tube and SS output...

[JBT]

Originally Posted by W9TR

Does anybody make a true tube DAC with tube switches instead of Solid State?

If this DAC were an R2R DAC it would have 16 tube switches and whatever analog tube circuits it would need for the output.

I don't think so.

[JBT]

Balanced Rex Dac for 19 thousand


https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=zRj91iDdnzs

[For The Love of Music]

Not sure of budget, but this is a solid contender...Brinkmann Nyquist MK II. Uses Telefunken NOS 60’s vintage tubes

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[Formerly YB-2]

Originally Posted by W9TR

Does anybody make a true tube DAC with tube switches instead of Solid State?
If this DAC were an R2R DAC it would have 16 tube switches and whatever analog tube circuits it would need for the output.

Is that a total of of 16 tubes or 16 per channel? Add in a couple of rectifier tubes and buffer tubes and one is up to 20 tubes, minimum. As someone who had to keep radar repeaters running on Navy ships back in the '60s, would say any piece of gear with that many tubes 'could' be a pita to maintain. Several spares and a tube-tester and good ventilation. Would be quite large and heavy to support the needed space for so many tubes and power supplies. Think of a tube power amp that makes more than 75wpc. Am thinking the MHDT Lab Pagoda (balanced?), or similar, makes a lot of sense for a ladder-DAC.

[W9TR]

That’s 16 switches per channel for a total of 32 switches, but there are a lot of dual triodes like the 12AT7 so you’d probably only need 16 tubes.

I just think it’s kind of interesting that tube DAC’s are all really solid state in their cores and no one has done a true tube DAC.

Tom

[jbaudio68]

Don’t forget the AMR DP-777