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Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Hi All.

Putting together a reference level system.
My Source is predominantly standard 16/44 played from a MacMini using iTunes and Amarra. Some of my music is purchased from iTunes and the rest is ripped from standard CD's.
For my tastes in music, my high def catalogues are still limited; so Redbook 16/44 will be my primary source for quite some time.

I'm not spending DCS or MSB money. But $15-20k retail is not out of the question.

Upsampling vs non-upsampling?
USB input vs SPDIF?

All opinions welcome.

And I know I need to hear them, but getting these ultra $$$ DAC's into your house for an audition ain't easy.

Looking for musical, emotional, engaging, accurate , with great dimension. Not looking for analytical and sterile.
mattnshilp

Showing 2 responses by jay23

jay23
210 posts
 
@georgehifi 
Funny you mentioned these two, we had exactly this shoot out for a whole day on a reviewers system at his place in the beautiful Blue Mtns on his Wilson Alexia MkII, Gryphon Antillion Evo Signature my passive pre. We also went direct, with the same results.
The Total dac was far better than the Bricasti in every area, even the owner of the Bricasti SE conceded, and is going to sell it to go to R2R.

Don’t get me wrong the Bricasti was lovely and sweet and smooth, but not exciting when compared, it had no jump factor like the Total, that snapped your head back in disbelief with some of the dynamics, and yet it still stayed sweet and smooth when needed.
You could hear deeper into the music because of this expanse from quiet to loud. And it gave all this to you not from the speaker but all around it with an image and depth that washed over you instead of directed from the each of the drivers of the speakers, as if the speakers weren't there in the room.

Cheers George
We had 5 techs, 3 non techs at our meeting and were all insistent on perfect level matching.
All levels were matched overhaul not by spl by ear or meter but by the voltage down to the mV fed into the speakers at differing sine waves with a tech cd to get the levels absolutely identical to the mV
And the Total Dac 7 with larger optional off board power supply, was by far the better, with PCM Redbook replay.

Cheers George

Did you really only use a passive preamp or direct to DAC for this DAC comparison?

This would give the Total DAC a big advantage, as its output is 6.4 Vrms max, compared to the Briscasti's 2 Vrms.
jay23
210 posts
 
@georgehifi 
If you bother to have read it, we also went direct. And there was a preamp (that I didn’t want to mention as Mick Maloney is an acquaintance of mine but seeing you want to know)

Oh the irony. 😂 YOU may want to GO BACK TO SCHOOL and LEARN HOW TO READ. In the same statement you quoted:

Did you really only use a passive preamp OR DIRECT TO DAC for this DAC comparison?

The reviewer who’s system we used is Edgar Kramer of Audio Esoterica, Australian HiFI, 6 moons, and is also the principal of Soundstage Australia, and if you bother to do some work you’ll find he also has a Supratek DHT Reference which was used but taken out as it didn’t give what the other configurations gave, as it was too coloured.

https://www.soundstageaustralia.com/index.php/reviews/84-wilson-audio-specialties-alexia-series-2-lo....

It also seems like you are confused on the gear you listened to. Based on a quick search, it looks like there is a Gryphon Antillion Evo, and a Gryphon Antillion Signature. The link that you provided shows it is the Gryphon Antillion Evo

........direct into 100kohm of the Gryphone, nor into the 10kohms of the Lightspeed Attenuator.

Cheers George

Where did you see a 100 KOhm spec, or learn how to spell Gryphon? The spec sheet only shows a 20 KOhm input impedance.

http://www.gryphon-audio.dk/Content/Downloads/Technical_Specifications.pdf

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