altman attraction dac vs empiracle dac1 12s

Altmann claims he gets the best results with an optical input. He says no need for anything special with the JISCO circuit but at this early stage I think I prefer it with the JISCO off. I'm feeding mine wirelessly. iTunes - Airport Express - optical out to DAC. Works great. The off ramp would really drive up the total price.

I've never heard the other one but the Altmann is very good. Better then the Nixon Chibi I had but costs a lot more too. I hope to audition some of the other high end USBs to see which is best. I would like to hear the Cosecant and some of Empiricals offereings. Empirical has demo units if you put down a deposit but I don't know of any for Wavelength.

Herman, you may want to experiment with the JISCO. I find the sound better with it "on". It is not something you can easily judge "on the fly". You need to listen to half of a song you know very well with the JISCO off, and then listen to that same half a song with the JISCO on. They you can determine which you like more clearly.

At about $1500 (with the JISCO) the Attraction DAC is hard to beat without spending three times the price (maybe more). This is my experience. That said, I have not heard Emprical's new I2S set-up and do not doubt that it is excellent. I think Steve knows his stuff. I believe I saw him mention in another thread that 6MOON's will do a review of his I2S set-up very soon. Good luck,

Thanks Pardales, I've spent quite a bit of time with it now and think I like it better off. I hear a slight increase in resolution with it on but things are ever so slightly smoother with it off. Perhaps something is being masked, or there is a flaw somewhere else in my system, but particularly on vocals it sounds more natural to me with it off. String instruments a bit better with it on.

Sometimes this stuff drives me nuts, but I do like the DAC

Herman - the jitter is undoubtedly lower with the JISCO on based on what you are hearing, but I believe you are probably getting sibilance from the analog output stage and DAC filtering when the HF clarity and dynamics finally come through. The higher jitter when the JISCO is off tends to mask this by lowering the dynamics and creating a kind of "fuzz" in the HF's, so it is perceived as "smoothness".

The ultimate goal is to have low jitter (good clarity) as well as low sibilance and smoothness from the analog section.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Thanks Steve,

My assesment has now changed. Since my last post I got a new set of Duos (check my system) with the Omega upgrade, brass stands and multiple 225 woofers. All the edge is gone. A really incredible transformation. The increase in resolution from the Jisco circuit now doesn't cause any adverse side effects. The Altmann, or should I say the whole system, now sounds incredible.

Great news, Herman. Congrats!

Herman - good for you. I occasionally get this result with customers that purchase more clear and extended sources than they have used in the past. These improved sources sometimes exacerbate other system problems from preamps to speakers and even cables. It can be difficult to locate the offending component.