Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

JA pretty much trashed it in the measurements section. Perhaps another example where measurements and human hearing are at odds?

Dave

First, I have read may of your posts, glory, as they frequently pertain to products of interest to me. Your opinions of products/manufacturers are strictly binary (1 or 0) and your posts are unfailingly condescending to others. Not just a bad day here and there as happens to us all, but always.

Second, I own the Exogal Comet Plus. I have found it to be a product that requires time to appreciate and was tipped on that by the friend that recommended it to me prior to my purchase.

I have also found it to be perhaps the most sensitive component I have owned to cabling. Different power cords, USB cables, and even upstream Ethernet cables (in that order) will swing it significantly in a favorable or unfavorable sonic direction. Its sonic character becomes that of the accompanying cord/cable to an comparatively large extent. This, to me, indicates its intrinsic neutrality/transparency/revealing nature, but it is what it is regardless of labeling. I regret that Exogal chose to discourage buyers from experimenting with cords/cables in the product manual and suggest that Jeff reconsider that position.

My usual favorite line of power cords, the "tunable" Synergistic Research active type, drives it from semi-warm to ice cold depending on the model. The usually overly-bass-ripe Tesla T3 UHC power cord is the best I have yet tried with the Comet as it adds low-frequency heft to its sound, which I feel to be the primary challenge in getting the Comet to really sing.

The very fast and ruthlessly revealing WW Platinum Starlight 7 USB cable between my Aurender and the Comet was unlistenable (however that USB cable was magic with the Modwright Elyse). Substitute the Shunyata Venom USB and the sound is somewhat dull, as it was with the other DACs in the comparison. Then, a Curious USB and the porridge from the Comet is nearly just right.

After then comparing three upstream Ethernet cables between my router/modem and my Aurender using the Comet, the excellent SOtM dCBL-CAT7 ethernet cable with its built-in noise reduction network and NASA-level connectors, I found to be not organic enough for the Comet, the SR Ethernet Active UEF SE about the same, but the gray UEF tuning bullet vs the overblown-sounding silver one was very good at adding some needed warmth, yet the Purist Ethernet cable is the best combination of the bunch in this chain in my opinion. Organic, musical, detailed, balanced, beautiful. VERY good cable period, that Purist, and the least expensive (and complex) of the three.

I still, to this point, find that the Comet slightly lacks "Meat on the Bone" harmonic texture and can sound lean compared to robustly rich (in a good way) DACs I have compared it to. However, it showed such promise as a potential keeper from nearly the very beginning in resolution, detail retrieval, PRAT, listener involvement, and tweakability that I will recommend it to those that cannot buy a $$$ "plug and play" DAC and enjoy/are willing to work with it regarding ancillaries.

Dave

Thank you for sharing your opinion and your results, Matt. The context of different findings in systems of varying resolution is important here as you say.

Dave

klh007,

Whether he did or not (honestly, I am not sure whether his last post is just saracasm or not), he did bring up a good potential opportunity to further improve the Comet’s sound - vibration control. I tend toward using conductors to transfer vibration to a dissipative interface, so I thought the hard metal bearings on the bottom of the Comet that are direct coupled to the chassis would be ideal, but perhaps improvement is possible through experimentation. I have had great success with Symposium platforms as a dissipate membrane.

Also, since the Comet uses an external power supply, isolation (not rubber!) of vs conductance from the DAC itself might be beneficial. I plan to test these things next.

Dave

"So yes the Terminator is a very very good dac and it is priced very reasonably, state of the art not quite, great sound for the money probably."

"The Terminator does seem like an excellent piece on paper and I am sure there are people who will dig its presentation, but there are other issues with a tiny unknown company such as driver compatibility, long term reliability as well."

Unreal. Speculation in its most insidious form.

Audiotroy, until now, I have maintained a "benefit of a doubt" posture while reading through the droves of posts critical to your methods and motives but your statement above suggests a mentality similar to some others here who believe they can judge the sound of a product without actually hearing it by employing some type of mental osmosis. That is forgivable (if extremely annoying) coming from a mere contributor, but not from a dealer soliciting trust from potential customers. Or maybe you are just the type of dealer that feels it necessary to cast unsubstantiated dispersions on brands that you do not sell in order to create an advantage. Either way, you "probably" should avoid this in the future.

The Formula is a top-drawer DAC and one I would certainly place on my shortlist of $14k and up DACs. The Six Moons review of the Terminator implied that the reviewer found the sound quality of the two DACs so close that selecting either for one’s system would be a matter of personal preference, which is an amazing outcome for a new product priced at over $9k less than its competitor.

It is good that Aqua had the smarts to further improve the Formula. Perhaps it will now show why it costs 3 times the price of the Terminator.

As for reliability, it is true that Denafrips is a young company but offers a 3 year transferable warranty and all reports thus far unanimously praise the service and responsiveness received from Alvin at Vinshine Audio.

The Aqua products are not without reports of operational issues. In fact, one Terminator buyer posted that he purchased it while his Aqua DAC was away for repair.

Your implication regarding concerns about the Teminator’s FPGA section is simply fiction. In fact, the Terminator’s FPGA allows for numerous custom I2S pin configurations to ensure compatibility with the multiple I2S schemes from various manufacturers of streamer/renderer/server products. The Terminator also provides both HDMI and RJ45 I2S inputs. Aqua chose to limit its I2S input functionality to its own proprietary configuration.

Lastly. I feel sure that an ultra-credible audiophile like Mike Lavigne would prefer to be left out of your future machinations.

Dave