A warm DAC? People often think that tubes make the sound warmer. Before you describe your preference you need to understand what sound is and how it is founded. But Trial&error made most people forget that audio is all about sound and music.
I started to read about human emotion at the beginning of 2016. I started to work in audio in 1998. Now I can say this; "It would have been easier for me when I would have started to read about the way our emotion works regarding music when I started to work in audio.
But when I talk with other people who also work in audio for a long time, even they do know almost nothing about the way our emotion works regarding music. All the different aspects that sound contains can independently influence our emotions during listening to music.
When you judge and compare the importance of all the different aspects of sound, diversity (layering) in sound is the most important one of them all. This is based on the fact that it can influence our emotions more than all the other aspects of sound.
When you listen to many DACS and amps who use tubes they often have a pleasant and engaging sound. But.......this does not give you access to more layers and a better view of the harmonics of a recording. Often a tube colors a rather big frequency range, so you loose layering in sound.
When you aks people who are listening to a system where tubes are used but still miss layering in sound how they experience it?
They will say: "I like the pleasant sound, but I miss the excitement and becoming one with the music"
What do you need to feel the highest level of emotion when you are listening to music?
When you would like to answer this question, you first need to understand sound and music. A tube or audio system can not create emotion. The emotion is being created by the details and different aspects of the music. Which you will find on the music you play.
This is why you need a system and also a digital source that can give you access to all these details and different aspects of sound. And here you will find the biggest challenge and problem in audio. Because most audio products can not give you access to all the details and different aspects of sound.
And you know why?
Because they do not own them. And what is missing can never be added afterward. We modify many different audio products, but we know that we can only improve those aspects a product already owns. Missing aspects you can never add, unfortunately.
In audio there are many assumptions. Of which many people think and believe that they are true. But.....time and facts can show that many are not even true. Or the best choice they made. Most people think and believe that a separate DAC is always better.
I even did, but when I sold my 20250 euro Meridian 800DAXv4 in 2012 I was (I thought) ready for streaming. My budget was about 10000-15000 euros at that time. I only listened to network players with a separate DAC. But man I was so disappointed.
They all had one thing in common; "The all lacked layering in sound". I said at that time; "Even if you give me this for free, I don’t want it. At that time I had no real idea why it lacked layering. When I met a person on the internet who creates DAC’s and digital sources. It became clear why it lacked layering in sound.
This person works for different brands and said to me: "They should never have chosen for USB as a new protocol". It is a computer protocol and not the best option for audio. The reason why you missed the layering in sound is due to the fact that you will lose layers in the whole freq. range.
But he also made another remark; "A separate DAC made the way of the data longer what is never better. The first network player I loved in 2013 had no separate DAC. In 2013 I started to test many different network players and DAC’s. All tests we did with separate DAC’s showed a low level in the layering of sound.
In 2015 and 2016 I did a lot of research regarding electro-smog, high-frequency noise, and magnetism. Now we use this for all our modifications. For digital audio, we use it a lot. It gives us access to a superior level in layering in sound.
These days we modify Lumin network players, power supplies, and switches. It brought us to a level that we never could have dreamed of. Our clients describe their digital source as; "The most analog sounding source they ever owned.
We made the biggest steps in layering in sound. This is what people describe as warm and analog sounding. We have clients who owned expensive turntables, but when we started to modify their Lumin players, they stopped using their turntable less and less.
So I asked a client: what is the best record you own in quality? He said a 180 grams Patricia Barber. What he also owns on his modified Lumin L1 music server. I said to him: compare it and let me know what you prefer?
So he called me back and said; "The Lumin is even superior in layering compared to my 9000 euro turntable". He liked it so much more. So he decided to sell his turntable. What I did for free and I sold it in parts to other people.
Audio will always be about what is the best sounding source and system you can create. Emotion is the only key to success in audio. When you judge most DAC’s and network players that facts show by sound and stage that most lack different aspects of sound. And most are rather limited in layering in sound.
This has 100% nothing to do with any kind of personal taste. Because it is all based on facts and the aspects of sound which are missing. And most of all the low level in layering what will never give you access to the emotion of your own music.
Life will always be based on facts in the long term. Only for a period of time words can create a limitation in the end result. But the truth will always win in the end!
