Music Hall DAC 25.3 USB Digital Audio Converter Review

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(More customer reviews)There is a lot of controversy about what a DAC needs to be and how much it should cost. Some would say you are insane for spending 600 bucks on a DAC and some would say you need to spend an order of magnitude more. In my research I found that I might get a DAC that sounds as good as the MH for less money, but this unit has functionality the others don't. My review:
Sound- It sounds great. A good DAC should faithfully reproduce music and eliminate jitter and other artifacts you hear from digital sources. It's a simple task. This does just that, but with an added bonus. The tube output stage tends to warm up the sound just a little bit, and gives a little more life to compressed audio files. This is subject to taste however. Some people prefer a more clinical sound. Me: I prefer the warmth.
Features:
- It has a built in headphone amp. Nice feature. It sounds good, but I'm no expert on headphone amps.
- It will up-convert your stream to 192kbps or down-convert to 96kbps. I tend to leave it in auto mode. I don't think it adds anything to up-convert.
- The unit will switch itself into standby mode when it loses a signal.
Inputs: It has a lot more inputs that similarly priced DACs. USB, optical, coaxial, and XLR. I use the optical and USB inputs, and the unit intelligently switches between the two when one signal is lost and another is present. This is a nice feature, and necessary because there is NO REMOTE.
Build: It is built very well. A quality piece of gear. Buttons and dials operate smoothly with just the right amount of resistance. I have a complaint about the form, however. It is a little long and skinny. Not longer than many 19" deep components, but longer than the other music hall gear it is designed to go with. This makes placement a little challenging. I do love the simple aesthetics of the unit. One note: the picture on just about every site that sells this thing is silver, but I don't think a silver unit was ever made. I can't find one anywhere. They are all black.
How I use it: I have a music hall a15.2 integrated amp, an HSU VTF-1 sub, and Def Tec studio monitor 350 speakers. My source is either a laptop, connected via USB, or an apple TV connected via optical acting as a digital transport. It's a great 2.1 channel system for a small room. I listen to a lot of MP3s :( , but am in the process of re-ripping all my music from CD in a lossless format. The lossless files sound amazing!
Bottom line, if you want an audiophile grade DAC and like a little tube sound, input versatility, and might use the headphone amp, this is the DAC for you. And it won't break the bank. If you're considering buying a CD player, DON'T! Rip all your CDs using apple lossless, FLAC, etc. and hook up a PC to this DAC and you have a set up that will out perform most high end CD players and will be much, much more convenient.
PS- Pandora (with the upgraded audio) really sounds great when run through this DAC via USB from a PC!
PSS- Yes, this will sound better than the DAC in your computer, PS3, apple TV, etc.
PPPS- I don't always give an item 5 stars, but I could think of very few things to improve on this product!

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