Grace M900

[bayswater]

I’ve never been happy with the D/A path on the converters I’ve had. Thought about getting an M2 for monitoring, but the long thread on the M2 and M4 with all the problems cited put me off that. So, now I’m wondering about using the Grace M900 for D/A. Anyone have one? And is it markedly better than the bog standard MOTU and Focusrite stuff?

[mikehalloran]

I’ve never been happy with the D/A path on the converters I’ve had. Thought about getting an M2 for monitoring, but the long thread on the M2 and M4 with all the problems cited put me off that. So, now I’m wondering about using the Grace M900 for D/A. Anyone have one? And is it markedly better than the bog standard MOTU and Focusrite stuff?

It's not using the Cirrus chip sets that are powering so much of what is out there.

The m900 DAC uses the latest generation AKM 4490 chip, which features 32-bit processing and supports sample rates up to 384kHz PCM or 256x DSD. The USB interface operates in asynchronous mode allowing the m900 to be the clock master which makes the system immune to USB bus jitter. S/PDIF and Toslink inputs allow the m900 to enhance to any DAW interface with true reference quality D/A conversion, headphone monitoring and stereo speaker control.

Whether you will hear all of this wonderfulness is not something I can answer.

Most of the M2 functionality is missing so that's not an issue. -10 RCA, optical, USB inputs only. Can run bus or powered hub depending on the Voltage requirements of your headphones which eliminates some issues.

It would be interesting to A/B against my other headphone amps but not willing to shell out the Dough for the Do-Re-Mi to find out.

[tremo]

Don't know how far your budget will stretch, but the RME ADI-2 DAC FS is on sale until the end of August -- marked down from $1299 to $999. I'm researching it now, and it's very highly regarded. I'm trying to figure out if it would be a big step up for critical mix work from the DA in my 828es (which, like the RME, uses an ESS DAC chip). Can't seem to find anyone online who's directly compared the two.

https://www.rme-usa.com/adi-2-dac.html

[bayswater]

I’m fine with the A/D I have. Oddly, when I output to a file or disc I can play back on the high end system, things sound great. When I play back through the Focusrite or MOTU converters, not so great. I have a Tascam that sounds great in both directions, but it’s 18 bit, so not easy to use on tracks wth a great range. Other advice I got elsewhere is that the Grace through Senn 650s is about as good as it’s going to get without a very large expense.