Ross Martin Audio DACs
Hi folks
I don't know that anyone has mentioned the Ross Martin (Audio) DACs. I originally stumbled across them on Ebay and the internet. They may look somewhat home-made (which they are) and I think that the website is a mess, but I can vouch for the sound quality. These are pretty much made to order, so that lag time from order to shipment may be several weeks. Communication with Ross is excellent however.
I have the PCM 1794 "Dual Bare Beast" for $279.95. This has "Two Optical, Two SPDIF, 96Khz USB, (a headphone amp), Balanced XLR and RCA Outs A dual PCM1794 without all of the functions of the router." I went for the dual mono configuration because the price was right, I really don't know what it adds to listening quality. These DACs come in various configurations, i.e. with and without a headphone amp, with and without USB, in single and dual configuration, and with various OP AMPs. I went with the National LME 47910 and LME47920.
Prices vary from $179.95 for the PCM 1794 ["Optical and SPDIF inputs( RCA or BNC). Studio Quality Reference Mastering DAC"]. It looks like $219.95 adds USB, and $239.95 gets you the headphone amp. It is really hard to figure out what is what on this site, but Ross was excellent with communication so email him if you have question. You can spend much more if you want other OP AMPs.
Here are links to 2 pages of the website, and a review from Head-FI.
http://rossmartinaudio.com/index.htm
http://rossmartinaudio.com/index_files/Page318.htm
http://www.head-fi.org/t/573586/review-ross-martin-pcm-1794-dac-250-overachiever
As far as my personal experience, sound quality is excellent. I have used optical, USB, and SPDIF inputs, fed it from a CD player digital output and Airport Express optical output, compared sound quality with headphones and speakers, this DAC's headphone amp with output from my Sansui AU 919 headphone jack driven by the RCA output from the DAC, and am extremely happy with this unit. Again, I don't know what dual configuration adds to sound quality overall since most units are not dual configuration, and I couldn't get an answer from Ross on this one, but I recommend this product.
These DACS used to be listed on eBay, where I bought mine, but are no longer listed there, I think because profit margins were too low. All evaluations of his units, as best I know, were favorable.
Marc