I have gone on a hunt listening to different setups and by far The most balanced and , Hi tech,parts build is the Auralic Vega dac It does everything including DSD,since i had the Bryston dac-1 i listened To the new dac -2 my friends own both dacs Including the Berkeleydac-2 This dac was developed from several Swiss firms and Taiwan,Hong kong. The clock is the lowest jitter I have ever seen listed under$10k It is as good or better sounding then anything Under $8k IMO. It has a very natural warm balance, superb imaging and micro dynamics and excellent sound staging.even my vinyl friends were very impressed and for under $3500 it is a no brainer.my friend bought it after seeing a review in Computer Audiophile. I am for sure buying one this fall.do your homework And build quality is as good or better then Anything out there even in the $10k range,that is saying a lot !!
I just sold the Luxman after hearing the Wyred4 sound dsd-SE dac I used to do a lot of modding with pre amplifiers, and loudspeakers And know parts quality especially much tighter specked items count even more so in digital. The list of parts in the SE I have not seen bettered in anything even at $10 k . The only thing I truly wanted for I was comparing This with the Auralic Vega the parts are actually better in the SE dac Except for the clock they use a Femto clock .since I bought this dac I have been asking them for an upgrade,they said they have to redesign the board ,so what Do It I say ,it sounds great after 125 hours any brightness is gone Now I am working on the to get 300 hours I give digital two full weeks To fully refine. It is very good already and a step up from the well reviewed a Luxman the a Luxman was warmer more lush but lacked the detail I had the nad51 the Meitner Ma-1 I had and was a bit more refined Meaning slightly smoother detail very close since my revels are warmer sounding the wyred may be a better fit.f anyone wants a listen To either the revel208 speakers, Krell 550 integrated, or wyred SE dac Let me know .i am in Ma,near worcester.- New England .
I just sold the Luxman after hearing the Wyred4 sound dsd-SE dac I used to do a lot of modding with pre amplifiers, and loudspeakers And know parts quality especially much tighter specked items count even more so in digital. The list of parts in the SE I have not seen bettered in anything even at $10 k . The only thing I truly wanted for I was comparing This with the Auralic Vega the parts are actually better in the SE dac Except for the clock they use a Femto clock .since I bought this dac I have been asking them for an upgrade,they said they have to redesign the board ,so what Do It I say ,it sounds great after 125 hours any brightness is gone Now I am working on the to get 300 hours I give digital two full weeks To fully refine. It is very good already and a step up from the well reviewed a Luxman the a Luxman was warmer more lush but lacked the detail I had the nad51 the Meitner Ma-1 I had and was a bit more refined Meaning slightly smoother detail very close since my revels are warmer sounding the wyred may be a better fit.f anyone wants a listen To either the revel208 speakers, Krell 550 integrated, or wyred SE dac Let me know .
The only thing bad about the exa sound dac is if you have a external drive ,and a digital player like the Auraliti, or Bryston bdp it will not work It has to be connected to a laptop,or standard computer what a shame for I almost took the plunge .
For my taste I finally broke town and bought the Luxman DA-06dac I could not be happier.to improve it even more so change the stock fuses, And the New Wireworlds series 7 Silver Electra PC is excellent the closest competition was the MSB analog dac,for my taste with the added extra$3k power supply the MasB was a bit better detailed, but with stock power supply I liked the fuller Bass, And layering of the Luxman better.my YG Carmel's are very neutral And this is where the luxman shines ,very natural full sound with a very expansive soundstage ,excellent detail, and depth of soundstage . I got a very fair deal after speaking with Paul at a Goodwins hiend.
MrTennis, you are correct BUT its impossible to know the objective best until we have measurements for EVERYTHING, and we are far away from that point. The current best measuring tool is the ear!
Sorry, I just saw this. My Lampi DSD was one of the early ones and is a DSD-only Dac. I also have a regular L4.
However, its possible to get the DSD module in a regular L4 (if single ended or without too many options) or in any other higher level. A SE L4 with DSD should be about $4.5K, Duelunds and Vol control extra, of course.
The 2013 Gen 4 Lampis are even better than the ones last year. Its so good now, he has frozen the design from mid year.
Audioman58 YOU ARE TOTALLY WRONG. I have the exaSound e20 MK III with .082 Clock and I use it with a Mac Mini with an Apple OS. I also have my HD Boot Camped so I can use Mountain Lion or W8. I then can use ANY Server Software I want. I use Pure Music and A+ on the ML side and J River on the W8 side. I also use a Paul Hynes SR3-12 Power Supply with the E20. Also it is my understanding that the E20 is designed to not benefit from any upgraded USB cables. Other owners that have the E20 and tried an upgraded USB cable have said there is no improvement in sound. I have not tried it yet but plan to in the next few weeks. I will be borrowing a Light Harmonics USB cable. If that makes no difference nothing will.
Please speak to George at exaSound and get all your concerns answered before you make a commitment.
The eXasound totally destroyed any chance I will buy it .i feel with the separate hard drive U.SB cables,and a good player it sounds great ,and no noise from relays, or power supply's .the eXasound only works with a windows based computer very limited. He Vega dac is far more versatile in that price group.
I am told the eXasound dac with 82 FS upgrade is only $100 or so on Only Mk-3 units ordered at time of build, also optionallinear powersupply Is well worth the $400 better everythjng due to the much better control. I just bought a linear supply from Auraliti on their pk-90 player Used a friends Nuforce supply makes a nice improvement Auraliti now has their own better unit ,I am awaiting on delivery. This may be a great option to the Vega dac for similar moneys with the options,and very similar to the Meitner MA-1 for a lot less money .
Another very good DAC for under $5k is the eXasound e20. Comes with a 130fs (femto seconds) clock that can be upgraded to 82fs. It does PCM up to 384/32 and up to 4x native DSD. I bought the 82fs version and could not be happier. Best digital I've had in my system by far.
It would be interesting to compare it to the Auralic Vega in my own system. I heard the Vega through JPS headphones at RMAF and thought DSD sounded very good through it but PCM was lacking. Maybe it needed more break in.
Hello Wisnon Do you gave to have 2 seperate dacs ? Or does the dsd version do everything ? And how much $$ I have heard a last years model very nice ,very musical products the Lamps are.
I wanted to add to the Auralic Vega comparison ,the previous was was a$150 digital coaxial cable. Also I was told it only had 100 hours on it . Two weeks later with 300 hours on it and Wireworld Silver starlight Asynchronus USB totally different ball game the Mytek got blown away In every possible way. I was told speaking via email that 300 hours is needed for complete runin ,and only USB is recommended,for dsd Can only be run through usb, for the record what a difference A couple weeks can make. The reviews were pretty much spot on. It sounded great on all music never thin ,very good balance. I would say a great buy even at $5k.
Well the Lampi DSD has no Dac chip in it at all (tri-level filtration) and is all tube based and has Duelund caps option. I have a Lampi L4 PCM Dac and a separate Lampi DSD-only Dac and its the best digital i heard to date, playing DSD128! I can imagine anything topping that. I will get a chance to compare against a PBD-5 soon.
Actually there are 2 new DSD dacs that are sure top of the line The Luxman 06 dac, the Luxman warm and detail very musical for under $5k k. And pppthe Latest DSD dac from Audio Horizons Full vacuum tube regulated all hand built for $5k from an expert in the field The Luxman is solid state, and the Audio Horizons is Vacuum tube.
The auralic I used from a friend is a bit more refined but the midbass low bass i like better with the Mytek,imo, the Diamond firewire is for sure the Most analog natural especially coming from the Auralitti player.
The Ayon dac is a different dac altogether and doesnot do dsd And is in some respects more analog then the many dacs out there. I have learned as I have gone through several systems in the last few years A dac in one system may be to thin ,or rich in another.for the Money I was stating the Mytek is a great value for the money,not the best, But in my setup very good. P.s The Ayon has had so many problems I sold that dac,not recommemded And their customer service stinks,my unit sat for 3 plus months before they fixed it.i spoke with a few repair centers,even $30k amps . If you buy Ayon a lot of ??
Have you ever compared Auralic Vega to Resonessence Labs Invicta Mirus. Both have similar technolgies, both I believe, are based on ESS Sabre DAC, both have identical specs for jitter (153 fermoseconds) so its not the accident. Both use switching power supplies... Price defference is relatively small.
Have you compare Vega to MSB Analog DAC - currenty, one of my favorite for its price?
To Chyro, I don't know Audioman, but in my shop I have some of the finest pieces of digtial in the world including, Chord, EMM Labs, Esoteric, Meiner, AMR, Naim, and many others.
I have also been doing this for over 25 years, I have never head a piece of digital this good at this price, with this level of technology before.
The Mytek is a nice dac for its price point but it is no where as advanced as the Vega, but for the price the Mytek is good, I personally find the Chord and the M2 products superb at those price points.
A very brief review of your prior posts shows that you've previously pronounced the Ayon CD2, the CD5 and the Skyla DAC to be the finest digital. So are you now saying that this one is superior to those? If I buy this, how do I know you won't proclaim something else superior in the the next 6 months and then I'll be left out in the cold? I can't live that way.
As one of the first Auralic dealers in the country I have to agree with you. This Dac offers remarkable performance for an affordable price point.
I have compared it to many Dacs and you have to spend a least two to three times the Vega's asking price to beat it.
We showed the dac at the last New York Audio show and most people who heard our setup thought our system was one of the best at the show and it was a fraction of the price of the other systems and the Vega was fronting it.
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