Agreed. I have to hope they spent the money on the inside cause lord knows they didn't spend it on the outside. From what I've read so far, it sounds like they combined the previously separate DC power supply inside the box as well as the separate streaming box. I can't find any info on what DAC chip, but I want to say an article hinted it was a higher-end AKM.
I hate to be as superficial as this, but the case really does make me hesitate on buying it. It's just so....plain. |
I’m getting close to just trying one out from a place with a good return policy. Waiting for a job offer to either happen or not happen. If it does, I’ll have some extra disposable income. |
I bit the bullet on trying out a DDP-2 in home. I'll circle back and let you know how it turns out.
I'm using a Parasound ZDAC right now, which is fine and sounds good, but it's developed a transformer hum which spurred me into jumping on a replacement. It's only recently become audible in the signal chain that the transformer is humming.
The rest of the system is a Primaluna Dialogue Premium Integrated with Electro-Harmonix KT88s and Mullard NOS 12AU7s feeding Spatial Audio M3 Triode Master open baffle speakers with Zu speaker cabling and Blue Jeans interconnects. |
Update: got the IP address figured out and got Airplay up and running. Then a firmware update unlocked Spotify connect which sounds noticeably better than Airplay.
So far, I’m noticing much more rounded bass presentation with more authority and depth. Treble has smoothed out a bit since start up when it was pretty scratchy. Sound stage is much deeper than the Parasound and far better controlled.
It is still early on, but so far it’s promising on sound.
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I've not been able to figure out how to connect to the device for files on the network that aren't on Roon. There is a very limited web interface for the device that lets you rename it, update firmware, set bluetooth discoverability, etc. but no mention of how to connect it to other files or how to browse and play them. I reached out to my dealer and they said Peter Madnick from ELAC will email me to help out. I'm relatively savvy on some networking stuff, but have never delved into setting up streaming connections within my own network, so hopefully that can shed some light on it.
After running all night last night, the sound is continuing to smooth out and the differences between the selectable filters are getting more noticeable. |
Still getting a bit smoother day by day. Voices are standing out nicely now. Listening to some Fleet Foxes and it’s sounding much more natural than day one with a little more separation in between layers of the songs. Still a bit of not-broken-in smear but I’m seeing more and more of the “character” of the DAC which I’d now describe as decidedly solid state with controlled sound but supplementing some of the spooky realness and depth and width that tubes seem to add. |
Weeeeelll shoot.
I just had an a-ha moment with this DAC. One of my test songs that I know backward and forward sounded pretty damn awesome. You may laugh but it’s Gordon Lightfoot’s If You Could Read My Mind. I’ve always loved the layering of three guitars, a bass guitar, and a set of strings. I can’t recall hearing them more clearly separated and identifiable in space. With many other sources, there tends to be a smearing of the instruments such that strings all sound like a synthesizer and not a violin, viola, and cello. I had the thought during the song “well, how am I supposed to return this now?” |
Just over a week with the DDP-2.
The DAC is really really good. Tons of space between instruments which makes it easy to pick up nuances previously unnoticed in songs. Not as much midrange punch and warmth as I would like but the neutrality across the range is really nice.
I plugged in some headphones today (Sennheiser HD650) and it’s fairly disappointing. Compared to the headphone amp on the Parasound, the ELAC is thin and veiled. To get the Senns to sound as well rounded as on the Parasound, I have to crank it to uncomfortable levels. Where the Parasound imaged sounds as though they were coming from the inside of my forehead, it’s like everything is behind my head and through a blanket. Hopefully, it’s just that the headphone amp part has not gotten any attention and needs some break in as well. |
The headphone amp has thankfully gotten a bit better since I’ve left headphones on it for a few days to break in if it needs that. Picking up the headphones again, I found it had improved and sounded more fleshed out. So there’s hope.
On streaming from services, I’m using Spotify connect and it’s worked very well with the DDP-2. No playback issues, no dropouts, no noise, no problems.
There are zero instructions for how to get my flac files to stream to it and it and the web interface is barebones. You can only rename the device on the network and login to the WiFi. That’s it. So for streaming on your own network or for non-Roon browsing and playing your files, it offers no solution.
For that alone, because of the amount of files I have, I may be returning it so I can get a better and more cohesive streaming solution with a Bluesound Node and a different less costly DAC. |
Hi Chris,
I appreciate the response. While the methods you mentioned are possible, in my mind it kind of defeats the purpose of having a streaming DAC if I have to connect it to a computer. If I’m doing that, I might as well do all of the streaming from a computer and get a DAC that doesn’t have the capabilities for it built in. I know it’s pretty much the standard these days, but i really wish products wouldn’t be released until they are fully baked and not with an asterisk beside certain advertised features. I know that’s not always possible. |
Thanks for prompting me. I ended up returning it. As a DAC and probably as a preamp it’s really really good. I was primarily interested in a streaming DAC and it does most of that, but too many of the features advertised weren’t fully baked so rather than hope they would be all that I would like, I decided I would risk going beyond the no return policy to find out.
The DAC is really really good. I kind of wish they left streaming out of it and just made a really good DAC because it sounds great. The filters on it are arguably too subtle to differentiate, but there was some slight flavor difference between them.
Didn’t get to try it as a pre amp since it was going straight into an Integrated amp, but the sound quality from the DAC section was very encouraging.
Overall, I’m going to wait a bit and let them flesh out the software and try some different standalone streamers with a standalone DAC. Probably going to try an R2R just to see what the fuss is about and thinking of the MHDT Orchid for that first. |
To be clear, it will stream Spotify without a computer. It only needs a network connection for your phone to see it as a Spotify Connect endpoint and stream. No issues with that. |
Ex-nay on the condescension-eh, there. |
