DAC Shootout Starts This Weekend
I use a K50 from antipodes, I was considering the plink streamer but also felt in a way I am boxing myself to this combination where as the K50 can be a little more versatile. I should mention that already having the K50 prior to mpd6 played a big role in the decision as well. It is a wonderful dac. |
@f208frank Congrats on the DAC. How are you streaming to it? I have a PLink streamer but no Playback Desings DAC 😀 so I have no clue how the PLink sounds.
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Wow what no responses since 11/14/2022? Anyways I have received my playback mpd-6 and it is an absolute joy. Truly an endorphin pumping machine. I have had in my past: 1. chord dave 2. holo may 3. benchmark dac 4. sagra I like the mpd6 the most and the previous dacs I owned are listed above in order of my preference. I generally prefer the detailed but still very enjoyable type of sound which as well all know it is usually trading one for the other in either direction. As of now, though it costed a partial arm and leg, no regrets and smiling ear to ear on a daily basis. Scott can you chime in if you ever come across this the differences between Weiss 501 and MPD6? My second choice behind the MPD6 would have been the Weiss based on what was read. Thank you. |
@yyzsantabarbara i know they will accept a direct fiber input from native Playback devices. They have their own sources. I will ask Andreas if it is possible for the DACs to receive a fiber signal from another source. @thieliste preamp stage and volume control in both units are very good. I have found that it has worked well with both pairs of my monos (CANOR and Art Audio) along with the stereo amps (AGD, Rogue and Carver) I have lying around. That said, I have never heard a DAC output stage that compares to my Art Audio or CANOR preamps. They just sound better. It will do the job without frustration, yes. Will it be the absolute be all, end all in terms of match, unlikely. |
Playback Designs MPD-6 Edelweiss DAC – Verdant Audio Playback Designs MPD-8 Dream DAC – Verdant Audio
Can the PLINK input take a fibre optic stream directly like the Lumin X1? How is the volume control on the DAC? Improved with a preamp?
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Okay....new DACs have arrived. The first unit I am going to write up is the AGD Adante. Coming soon will be the Modwright UDP 205 and Soul Note D-2. I know the modwright isn't available new anymore but it deserves a mention given how engaging it is. The AGD Adante is, in fact, a full preamp with DAC and Phono Stage built in. The DAC is a 24bit R2R and there is an on-board player function. The on-board player was Roon Ready but with Roon Ready certification (in 2021), Roon's new rules are incompatible with the hardware in the Adante. You can stream hi-res via Mconnect or any other UPnP/DLNA software. Talking to Alberto, the owner of AGD, he strongly suggested that the unit is far better than its price point of $12.5K as a DAC. I doubted this and expected that it would be a $5-$7K DAC in a very good preamp and it would fall short of the excellence one expects from the Bricasti M1, Weiss 501, Chord Dave, etc.... I was wrong. This unit would be at the top end of performance in that price range and is really more comfortable paired against the Playback Designs MPD-6 or the Rockna Wavedream Signature. Detail performance vs. the Weiss is similar. The Weis is an incredibly detailed DAC that delivers a surprising levels of nuance and detail with solid staging. It is brighter than neutral and can be a hair cold in the wrong system. It's preamp stage is good but a hair limited in terms of volume control. The biggest advantage is the ability to attenuate output to ensure good matching to a power amp. The Adante is not even a hair bright. It is what one expects from an R2R and is neutral to a hair warm. The unit shocked me by delivering as much detail as the Weiss. But it is also not terribly laid back. There is a good balance tonally. Staging is large. It lacks the raw scale in terms of height and width of the Rockna Wavedream Signature but delivers a very large image and has great depth. It may lack the depth and stability of the Chord Dave in terms of image between the speakers but has excellent depth. Taken as a whole, this is an extremely well balanced DAC that is maybe not the very best in any one way, is better in some ways than most of the other units. In terms of tonality and raw performance, it is probably closest to the Playback MPD-6. In terms of actual performance on individua songs, the MPD-6 is better in some ways and Adante in others but it is probably its closest competitor. If you read some recent reviews of the Adante, a reviewer said it even compared favorably vs. the ever so popular Mola Mola. My hunch is that this excellence is being driven by the true preamp stage. Regarding performance on our test songs, the drum rolls on In a Sentimental mood are crisp with good separation but natural. Bass is plucky and clean and there is good air around the cymbals. Piano has sparkle. Overall sound is slightly less forward than the Playback. Be Still My Beating Heart sounds massive. It didn't occur to me to even think about sibilance in Stings voice till nearly the end of the track. Just not relevant with this DAC. Noise floor is very low. Bells are very real sounding. Images were coming from behind me at certain points. Liberty has incredible detail. The FX are detailed and coming from space, not the speakers. Her voice is forward without sibilance. There is energy in the highs while the sax sounds sweet and engaging. Duende is perfect. The opening bass solo has amazing detail without drifting into distortion. There is a wonderful level of energy and dynamism without it drifting to fatiguing. In the Berg piece, separation of instruments is great and the image is well sized. It may be a bit large and lose a touch of the intimacy but that is an expected compromise. The units lacks the energy and dynamism of the Jadis JS1 MKV and even the Rockna Wavedream Signature but it delivers a certain truth and sweetness that cuts through in a very positive way. This unit basically exceeded my expectations in almost every way. If you are in this price range, this is a must listen.
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@snopro we are in process of moving so I am experiencing a touch of upheaval at the moment, but YES! Those are two DACs I very much want to hear. PM Me and we can arrange something in August. |
Hi Verdantaudio, I have been following your post, My friend and I have Dac's that you are interested in hearing. Maybe one day we can bring them over for a listen. I have a Mola Mola Tambaqui and my friend has an Aries Cerat Kassandra II dac. We live in NYC area. Let me know I'll give you a call Best, Joe |
@kray sounds like you are looking for a neutral to warm DAC. I would definitely check out the Bricasti M1. It is a better comparison vs the Meitner. @twoleftears i checked out those DACs. Appears to be an interesting option. Will dig further @in_shore i recently picked up inakustik at Robert’s advice. He definitely has a good ear. I was in his room at AXPONA. The Aries Cerat gear was awesome. |
@Verdantaudio such a good topic , I’d just like to mention I was at Robert of Worldwide home and was treated to a brief listening session of Aries Cerat tube mono block amplifiers and preamplifier, Cerat Aries dac with the Pink Faun server all near suitcase size components . |
Yes, but to the best of my knowledge the DAC III Balanced is the sweet spot for performance vs. price and is in the same price range of many of the DAC's that Verdant has listened to. The price of the DAC III B is in the area of 12K in stock form without the various upgrades Slawa of SW1X offers. I started with a custom built DAC II Special and then had many exchanges with Slawa about his opinions as to his DAC's and where the performance curve begins to flatten out. |
@verdantaudio thanks for this great thread. I read every page! I recently posted about moving from separate streamer/power supply/DAC to one unit and the Bricasti M3 came up there too. So I’ll be trying that plus a Meitner MA3 and possibly and t+a MP2000RII. I did my own small DAC shootout with several under $3k dacs, so I guess it’s time to start trying the $5k-$10k range. |
Currently 8 DAC models on offer and another in the pipeline. https://sw1xad.co.uk/products/?prod_cat=digital-to-analogue-converters-dacs There are a number of enthusiastic owners over on AudioCircle. |
So, as mentioned previously, the MPD-8 Dream DAC from Playback arrived and is now fully tested. This took some effort as I have an amazing opportunity to listen to the flagship integrated amp from AVM and I just received my Inakustik sales samples which were incorporated into the system. That said, for the test, we rolled back to the ACM A5.2 integrated, Audioquest Cables, etc... In the context of this test, the Dream is stunningly good. There is sparkle in the piano in In a Sentimental Mood. The drum rolls show off incredible separation and the saxophone is coming about 6' to the left of the left speaker. In Be Still My Beating Heart, separation of all the instruments is amazing. There is no sibilance at all in Stings voice and when you hear beats drop, the noise floor is incredibly low. The absolute soundstage is larger than the Edelweiss. Very similar in scale to the Jadis JS1 MKV but more detailed. Might be a hair less dynamic. Edges are smoother and it is a cleaner, more analog sound. In Liberty, her voice is centered and stable. No sibilance and the effects come from where you would expect at this point having heard this song seemingly millions of times. Tonally similar to the Jadis, slightly more forward than the Edelweiss. Slightly less forward than the Rockna based on memory. In Duende, this is another high. What I thought was incredibly clean lacking digital artifacts in the opening hit a new high. The opening bass solo sounded more natural than on the Edelweiss or Jadis. I explicitly went back and listened to the first minute of this song on all three back to back to back to make sure I was not hallucinating. It really is smoother. The Berg piece is amazing. Scale is off for chamber but that is what I have come to expect from these more expansive sounding DACs. No massing of strings. No glare. It is smooth and sweet and glorious. What is amazing to me is that we have now risen to a level where I would expect all DACs to be stunningly good and we are still finding noteworthy audible differences that make system matching critically important. This is an incredibly smooth, analog sounding DAC yet there is a level of microdetail that is astonishing and usually accomplished via making the unit brighter. Parting with this MPD-8 when someone buys it is going to be a sad day. It is wonderful and I am going to enjoy it thoroughly while it is hear.
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@fsonicsmith I will check that DAC out. I am always interested in learning about new products. |
I think you mis-read my comment. Quite understandable re-reading my post :-) I was suggesting a trial of the SW1X DACIII Balanced Classic. SW1X is the brand name. Based in England but with two US distributors. The "Balanced" does not refer to circuit topology per se. As I understand it, the balanced portion of the design involves an extremely robust output section built much like a power amp. I have owned mine for about a year and half. I ought to know more about it and back when I ordered it and waited six months for it I was more familiar with the details of the design but since then I just listen to music with it. Mine gets signal from an Aurender W20 with a custom built S/PDIF from Analysis Plus built with their Silver Apex wire. Music played through it sounds very much like my vinyl playback utilizing a modded Garrard 301 with Classic HiFi brass bearing https://www.classichifi-shop.co.uk/ with the Dobbins platter and Reed 3P, and Lyra Etna Lamda. |
Next DAC on the agenda is the Playback MPD-8 Dream which should arrive next week. I have a used unit coming in and will spend a little time with it before we find it a forever home. PM me if you are interested in acquiring it. @jeffreyw the best match with AC is supposed to be Pink Faun. That DAC likes being fed from a server with a great clock. I might also look at Antipodes. What software do you plan to run? BTW...I will admit, I am not a huge fan of streamers. I very much prefer server and player as I feel it does a better job of dealing with a volatile internet and not introducing noise at the critical rendering stage. @chayro I agree and have been trying to compose a post that I think is succinct, informative an uncontroversial without blathering. @ddafoe I hear amazing things about Meitner/EMM products. I have not heard one in person yet. It is a brand I am exploring adding. @fsonicsmith I just found out that my local rep for Clarus cables is also the rep for Gryphon. Unfortunately that is a Brick and Mortar brand only and doesn't fit with my business model. Love the products though.
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I would add Ed Meitner to that list too :) I just picked up a MA3 DAC that uses his MDAC2 converters. I'm actively comparing it to my Mojo Audio DAC which couldn't be much different under the hood but so far I would say they sound more similar than different. What I really like about the Mojo's sound is pretty much present with the MA3. There are some differences and that is what I need to figure out to decide if the MA3 will replace my Mojo long term, but overall I have two DACs that sound really really good to my ears, and they don't share very much design or implementation details...
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Verdant, if you look at Michael Fremer's current "Associated Equipment" list, e.g. in his review of the Gryphon Commander Preamp, you will see he is using a SW1X LPUIII in his rotation of phono pre's. That company makes a model of DAC called the DACIII Balanced Classic. Getting your hands on one would be difficult. Too bad though. |
Also, as an aside, I fully agree with the above posts mentioning the importance of the power supply to the sound. In my Naim days, I remember adding the optional 5k power supply to my 5k CD player and it transformed the sound to a degree I could not believe. And it was only the power supply. Nothing else changed. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Modwright mods that are so highly regarded owe their sound in large part to that hefty outboard power supply he adds. OCD Mike’s video about the Playback dac shows a monsterous power supply in there, resembling that of a power amp. |
@verdantaudio - in light of your opinion about chips v ladder v fpga dacs, I think it you would be doing the audiophile community a favor if you posted a separate thread about your findings based on comparing a large number of dacs, some of which you sell (gasp) and some you don’t. The myth of the resistor ladder superiority to the chip has become so prevalent as to go unchallenged. How many threads have you seen “looking for a resistor ladder dac” because of the assumption that it sounds less digital? I think you would be doing people a favor in helping them buy based on sound as opposed to design. Thanks |
I have an AC Helene on order; I should have it by the end of June, I hope!! I will report on the sound quality after the break-in. The problem is that all my components are brand new and need to burn in (Luxman 590AXII and Kef Reference 1 Metas). I have not picked out a streamer yet, and my head is spinning; a lot of choices out there. Any insight would be great!! |
@sutts AC is a brand that will get added. I like Worldwide and have a good relationship with Robert so it is a brand I was naturally considering and will look at seriously as the year progresses. I would be shocked if I am not a dealer for AC at this time next year. @kren0006 I have asked this and my understanding is that there is no timeline for replacement of the Merlot. The priority was getting the MPD-6 to market as a replacement for the MPD-5. I also recently inquired about a Syrah and am not sure I can even get one of those. |
@verdantaudio- you should try and get some Aries Cerat product at some point. Build quality is insane. Even the Helene Dac had a fluidity that my previous Rockna and Tambaqui dacs couldn’t match. The Kassandra is a completely different level after that. I have local audio friends that have full AC systems and it is really amazing gear… |
+1 @verdantaudio- spot on and one of the best thought provoking posts on digital I have read on this forum… An Accuphase dealer I know said the new $25k Dac 1000 is incredible, and low and behold I believe the architecture is based around an ESS Sabre 9038 chipset- this adds further credence to your assertion. @Charles- thoughtful comments as always from a fellow Coincident speaker guy :-) |
So much truth written there. You and @chayro are spot on. too much obsession with chips vs R2R or what chipset is utilized. I do believe that the execution of the 1 Analog output stage layout and quality 2 I/V conversion 3 Power supply quality and robustness. In my opinion these 3 areas very likely influence the sound quality of a DAC more profoundly than chipset selection. Charles |
@jjss49 No question a well executed tube based output stage can be extraordinary. When reviews are available I try to avoid reading them till after I form my own opinion and see if I agree. The secondary element that I think helps in a BIG way is the outboard power supply. And I am not sure it has to be outboard but having an enhanced power supply makes a huge difference. Yesterday I did some testing with a few Chord devices and some external Sean Jacobs power supplies and the differences were noteworthy. @sutts I am really intrigued by Aries Cerat. I would love to get one in on demo for a stretch. @chayro I could not agree with you more. Chip vs. FPGA vs. R2R biases are driven by perceptions that have nothing to do with what they are capable of. If you compare the Playback (FPGA), Jadis (Chip) and Rockna (R2R), most assumptions are literally turned on their heads with these three devices. A belief that off the shelf chips are inferior is literal madness to me. You have a team of engineers working to produce a chip. R2R is driven by QC and what you spend on the resistor ladder (why MSB and Rockna are so good) vs FPGA where you probably have one guy designing the chip. Just fine when that person is Andreas Koch, Nicloae Jitaru or Rob Watts, but I would not have faith that any FPGA delta sigma will perform as well as any chip based delta sigma without knowing who the designer is. The real issue with off the shelf chips is the perception that "newer is always better" so when a new chip comes out, a DAC is perceived as inferior if it doesn't have that latest, greatest chip. R2R DACs and FPGA DACs are immune to this due to the lack of simple comparability. |
Your impressions of the Jadis confirm what I have believed for a long time, which is not to pre-judge a dac’s sound from the design. People are constantly saying they want a resistor ladder or an fpga and how “off the shelf” chips are inferior. The Jadis, as well as Audio Note and many others prove there is much more to a dac than whether it uses a chip or not. |
Based on this highly impressive listening experience with the Jadis JS1 MKV I'd love to hear it in comparison to the Aries Cerat Helene DAC. No doubt that one could not go wrong with either. Thanks for posting @verdantaudio . Charles |
The Jadis JS1 MKV is here and it is stunning. This is a two chassis unit with an external power supply. The external supply is slit into two parts, one for analog circuits and the other for digital circuits. The unit uses AK4497 DAC chip and uses 2 ECC82, 2 ECC88, 1 EL84 and 1 EF86 tube. The first thing you note is that this DAC is not tubey. It is not warm and gooey. This is a reference level unit that is quite competitive with the Rockna and Playback. It does not have a preamp stage, no streaming or rendering and no MQA support. DSD is native to 256 over USB. The detail is incredible. The tiniest a hair below the Wavedream Signature and Edelweiss, it did not show up in the five song test. As a matter of curiosity, I listened to a 24/192k version of Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and the micro detail in the plucking of the string bass in the opening is not quite as precise as it is in the Playback but short of that, it is stunning. On this same test the Jadis is slightly clearer than the Weiss. On In a Sentimental Mood, drum rolls are crisp and there is good separation. What is shocking is the soundstage. The image is as deep as the Playback. The instrument separation is as good and the image is rock solid in terms of stability. The width of the image is absolutely off the charts. It is every bit as big as the Rockna image. Without the Signature here I can tell if it is bigger. The soundstage on Be Still My Beating Heart is Massive. The image is deep and wide. The bells are clear. Sting's voice lacks sibilance. It is just enjoyable. On Liberty, effects are coming from where they should. The image is large. Here voice is not bright. It is in your face where it should be without any glare. On Duende, instruments are true. Separation between notes is flawless. There is no distortion in the opening bass notes. The image holds together as the song gets more complex and there is no localization at the speakers. There is no massing of strings on the Berg piece. It sounds big though and the intimacy of a quartet is lost a bit. This is unsurprising and very simply a compromise that one must make. Full orchestral pieces sound right. What doesn't come across in the above notes is that like the Playback, there is this sense of rightness and musicality that makes you forget that you are listening to a system and not just listening to music. This is a challenge while evaluating equipment and the temptation is to simply deviate from the test. I literally loaded four other songs while I was doing this because I wanted to hear them. The unit, despite being tube based, is slightly more bright/forward than the fully broken in Playback. Is this the best DAC I have ever had in my system....maybe. It is tight between the Rockna, Playback and Jadis. If you are looking for a no compromise unit, this should be on your list. |
I have not had a chance to compare The Edelweiss to the Dream DAC. The guys at Playback and the US distributor may be the only ones who have at this point. My US distributor said that he found the Edelweiss DAC alone (MPD-6) approached the sound quality of the MPS-8 using a streamX module. I do have a basically new (~500 hours on it) Dream DAC from a customer coming in on trade. I might be able to demo that unit here but that is TBD. I want to get the Weiss back but based on notes and my direct memory, the Playback is more detailed and slightly sweeter sounding. It is neutral to a hair warm while the Weiss is neutral to a hair cool. The Playback soundstage is wider, deeper and more stable but this really only shows up on songs like Be Still my Bestinng Heart and Liberty that are really massive sounding. |
@verdantaudio Thanks for the thoughts on all these wonderful DACs. The DAC journey is indeed very exciting for many of us as we get out to hunt the ones that meets our taste. There are so many manufacturers these days that its impossible to audition each of them and hence these threads become critical comparison points. I am looking forward to it. By any chance you have been able to compare between the PD Edelweiss (MPD6) to its bigger brother MPD8 ? I am also interested in knowing your thoughts between the Weiss vs PD in general ?
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The second is a comparable evaluation of the Playback Designs Edelweiss. First thing I did was go back and do a careful read of the notes on the Wavedream Signature which is my benchmark in terms of soundstage. Everything about this suggests that they are extremely comparable. Little tidbits like Saxophone is coming from ~8' to left of left speaker on In a Sentimental Mood. So much detail in Be Still My Beating Heart it is almost overwhelming in terms of scale and detail. Incredible air around cymbals, etc... What strikes me as different is there is a...sweetness to the midrange and treble that comes through with the Playback that I am not sure I have heard with another DAC. The top end is incredible. Detail is rivaled only by the Wavedream. But the midrange stands out and I am almost struggling to describe the presentation. I have yet to hear a moment of glare. The image is in my face, but in a good way. Never any sibilance. It may have something to do with the way the soundstage comes together. The central image is deep and stable, like a Chord Dave. The width of the image is huge, but having just listened to the Audiobyte, was about the size of the Audiobyte which means absolute scale is probably smaller than that of the Wavedream Signature. This should be comparable in terms of scale with the Bricasti M1 SE. As we talk about compromise, the Wavedream Signature lacks the absolute depth of stage of something like the Dave while delivering a much broader soundstage that is almost perfectly neutral yet incredibly detailed. Listening to Duende, I am hearing details that I have only heard on the Rockna and a stabitlity and accuracy I have only heard on the Rockna. There are moments in this song that a brash and in your face and may deliver a little glare with certain DACs. That is completely gone with this unit. This has incredible depth, incredible detail yet lacks the absolute scale of the Rockna. Tonally, it is not as perfectly neutral as the Rockna, but in a good way. It does feel a touch more musical. If your system is a touch sterile, this can add musicality but it can't overwhelm a system that is a little too cold. Looking forward, I am hoping to get back to testing some headphones and I may have a Jadis JS1 MKV in for demo here in the not too distant future.
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Two new entries. The first is an update on the Audiobyte HydraVox with the addition of the HUB. One of the very first units we tested was the Audiobyte. For many months people have been waiting on the addition of the HUB. This completes the stack from Audiobyte and I have to say that it is a noticeable improvement. The first thing I had to do was get the system back to where it was which included swapping in different speaker cables, USB cable and ICs. I have largely moved from AQ to Clarus Crimson for every day listening. I also fired up with Nucleus+ and powered down the Antipodes K50. To refresh my memory, I started off with the 5 tracks excluding the HUB through the Chord 2Go/2Yu and then through the HUB. I checked my notes and my opinion hasn't really changed of the Vox/Zap as it was originally setup. Quite neutral with a massive soundstage. It lacked absolute depth and wasn't as stable as some of its competitors. The HUB corrected this. Still not as deep as the TT2, but the central image became deeper and more stable. Particularly in In a Sentimental Mood in terms of instrument and I felt like voices might shift a bit without the Hub, Sting's voice was rock solid. No sibilance. Detail is wonderful. My Weiss is currently out on world tour. It is visiting four or five customers. I am looking forward to its returns as I feel like this complete stack is approaching what you get with the Weiss. It will be a very interesting side by side compare in a few weeks. I am not saying that the Hub moves this up a full price point and it is completely competitive in the $10K range. I need to do that testing before I can confirm but it is much closer than it was without the HUB. These are still scarce. There are a few production runs scheduled for the rest of the year with the next likely in July. It definitely seems like a worthwhile upgrade but will require a little patience still. |
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$4K entry - A DAC I have been waiting a year for finally arrived. The Canor DAC 2.10. When I signed on to be Canors’s distributor in the US, this DAC was promised as in development. They kept their promise with delivery was only delayed ~1 month for final tweaks. I arrived about two weeks ago. This is only the second tube DAC we have reviewed. The much higher end Vu Jade was reviewed back in the earlier stages of this thread. This is a Delta Sigma chip based DAC using and ESS Sabre chip. It supports MQA fully via the hardware. There are 9 filters including one to optimize MQA unfolding and a NOS filter. There is a re-clocker and an upscaler built in. It supports DSD up to 512K. It is fully balanced. What it lacks is a preamp stage. There is no volume control and no analog inputs. The output stage uses four 6922s. In all cases, testing was conducted with upsampling and re-clocking on. Upsampling made a small but obvious difference. In regard to re-clocking, via synchronous connections (SPDIF) I heard no difference. Via USB from the Chord streamer I heard a small but noticeable difference. I did test from my laptop direct and the re-clocking made a noticeable difference. Clocking quality matters. @antigrunge2 I agree. Performance wise, this DAC fits in the ~$5K DAC range. Although it is at the low end of the price range at $4K, it’s performance is comfortably in line with the Wavelight, HydraVox, TT2 and M3. The absence of a preamp and utilization of off-the-shelf DAC Chips explains the high level of performance at a more modest price. The DAC shipped with 48 hours of burn-in on it and I immediately pushed it to get an extra 150 hours. The unit takes a good 30-40 minutes to completely warm up. It sounds a hair flat until it is completely warm like most tube units. This is the warmest DAC in the price range that we tested. I did a direct compare to the Wavelight to be certain. The Wavelight is a hair more forward. Unlike the Wavelight, the output is a bit more balanced without the slight emphasis on bass that we get with that unit. Different filters offer different sound profiles but even the MQA and NOS filters leave this DAC a hair warmer than the Wavelight. The sound is exactly what you would expect from a tube DAC and a DAC leveraging and ESS Chip. The soundstage is wide and deep. Detail and separation are brilliant. My initial test used RCAs but since the unit is fully balanced, I did hunt down a pair of XLRs (all of my AQ and Clarus cables are on loan). This had a noticeable impact on the noise floor and the DAC was slightly quieter with XLRs than with RCAs. Regarding our test songs, In a Sentimental Mood sounded big and engaging. There is sparkle at the top end of the piano but less than it’s SS competitors. Separation in the drum roll is brilliant and wonderful air around the cymbals. Be still my beating heart sounded huge as expected. Sounstage extends well beyond the outside of the speakers and completely immersed me. No sibilance in Sting’s voice and no glare. Liberty is spectacular. Blacks are Black. Bass is not overly boomy. Effects are where they should be. Anette Askvik’s voice is in your face the way it should be with no glare. Instrument separation at the beginning of Duende is superb rivaling the Audiobyte or Chord in terms of clarity. Instrument separation in Berg was superb with no glare from the strings though the intimacy of the chamber is lost given the scale of the soundstage. The net result is that if someone is looking for a detailed DAC with good soundstage on the warmer side of the audio spectrum and they don’t need a preamp stage, this DAC should be a serious contender. In my system and to my taste, this is a hair warm. A final test outside of the scope of this was to swap in the less warm Hegel H590 (vs AVM A5.2) and I found the tonal balance more to my liking with a touch more sparkle. |
That being said, Bryston hardware (amps and preamps) will not be a bottleneck in your system. It is VERY good electronics. I have not heard their DAC personally but I know it is supposed to be very good. Key is system matching. I would demo speakers you are interested in in home or on Bryston gear if you can. If not, work with someone who know the brands really well. |
