Jeff Poth from Enjoy the Music reviews the DAC-200ts digital to analog converter!
“The top flight sonic performance ruled the day despite my desire for better network connectivity (again, seems to have been a review unit issue), plus would desire an RF-based remote rather than IR and a better display. Would hang on to the Cary Audio DAC-200ts DAC within my audio system if it was possible. The sonics are superb plus I love the sample rate conversion and tube output options. It’s not an inexpensive unit, though, so it must return to Cary Audio. The “soft” sound I’d previously associated with the Cary Audio brand only came out when I asked for it by implementing the tube stage or the “wrong” (to me) upsampling rate. It’s natural sounding and doesn’t give up resolution or dynamics to achieve it. Assuming the networking issues are truly resolved, which I think is a fair assumption (shouldn’t be that hard), then the Cary Audio DAC-200ts DAC would be a terrific unit to use in a modern stereo digital rig. It has all the features and connectivity you could desire and produces great sonics. The build quality is fantastic too!”
“My ratings are fairly high across the board and we must keep in mind I’m a pretty picky guy. So I leave some room for something better (though I haven’t met it in my rig). The low value rating might give some pause, yet it’s a function of the higher-end price point (remember, though, it has two preamplifier stages which contributes to that) and some of my concerns with display and control/network performance within the review sample. I can’t imagine a DAC at this level that I’d give a five star value rating, so don’t be dissuaded by the value score if you’re considering a stereo DAC at this very reasonable $3995 price.”
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