Recently I was looking to upgrade my DAC ( Weiss 501mk2). While I was all happy about 501, I asked my local Weiss dealer to lend me their new flagship Helios for a home audition. I could hear the improvement but not justify the doubled price tag in my opinion. Then I was asked by another dealer to try the flagship of SoulNote D3 which is 4 times the price of my 501. Since then I tested in my premise MSB Reference , Esoteric K01-X , Playback Design, CH… all 2 to 5 times the price of my 501. They all sounded better one way or the other but nothing “wow” …
A friend recommended me to give a try to Cayin D30th (or Cayin Soul D30) , which is a Chinese manufacturer making mostly head fi amps / DAC. I was very hesitant with lots of doubts at first but once I put it side by side to compare with ALL the others, the Cayin D30 blew them away within the first 30 seconds!
1: Dynamics : all the drums , piano keys strikes are significantly better at any volume level. Microdynamics are much wider
2: 3 dimensional : by comparison ALL the other DACs produce layers of depth but not in a 3 dimensional imaging like the Cayin. The whole soundstage are much more defined
I played mostly on vinyl but since I had the Cayin I notice I had not play my turntable for over a month! It’s very engaging , musical (analog sound?) I didn’t experience with any of the others DACs
I feel the Cayin D30 owes some proper exposure : it has two completely independent sets of Chip Set ESS 9039 Pro (up to DSD512) for the “modern CDs or files” and a Phillips 1307+1547 (1-bit) for the “Classic red book CDs 44.1hz)I found myself most enjoyed with the classic mode with the CDs I bought in the 90s.
it’s much more balanced, smooth and natural with these “vintage” CDs than most of the remastered/ upsampled reissues. Makes me query does all these MQA ,K2, SACD, DD512 format produce better sounding or just “different” sounding?
Another discovery : the analog portion of this DAC : the separate Power Supply weighs 50i lbs ! I tend to suspect the quality / materials used in the power supply yields a bigger impact on the final SQ, than any of the “modern” digital technologies (MQA / upsmapling rate / connectors and OCXO clock! )
I believed in big name brands but in the last 4 weeks this not so famous DAC just beats every DAC and my ears made the verdict : I sold my Weiss and now a happy owner of Cayin
Anyone in the market for a high end DAC ($10k+) should give this a serous audition
