Different R2R DACs

to @ghasley and other interested readers of this thread

We are talking minor differences to major differences but these differences are the discovery that most dacs these days commit sins of omission rather than 20 years ago when a dac would exhibit sins of commission. In short almost any of the dacs I had and sold on I could have lived happily ever after with....some do some things better but none are bad, just different.

i believe these are the most important words in his post... we need to not lose perspective, among well reputed and well established dacs into mid and high 4 figures, none are bad and the differences, even on a resolving system, are not huge, all are able to deliver wonderful, very analog listening experiences

just a word to the wise on getting too caught up in dac architectures as a proxy for what a unit sounds like - it is 100% a fool's game

there are r2r dacs that are forward, there are delta sigma dacs that are absolutely pure and musical sounding, there are dacs using both/either methods that sound dull and lifeless

there are so many elements to the design of a lovely sounding dac BEYOND the actual d/a conversion tech within... sooo many

i have 4 wonderful dacs currently, they all present music absolutely beautifully, if somewhat differently - chord m-scaler/hugo tt2 (fpga/solid state), weiss 501 (delta sigma/solid state), audio note kit 4.1 (r2r/tube), mojo mystique v3 (r2r/solid state) --- each handily outperform others with d/s, r2r, fpga engines that i have owned and moved on from

i repeat - you CANNOT and should not conclude what a dac will sound like by just the technology employed for the d/a conversion...

@david_ten  i hope you get your send button unstuck!  😁

as for @worldwidewholesales - i just want to see the list of the 100 dacs a/b'd and also understand their process for doing this  😉

@worldwidewholesales 

We have actually A/B tested almost 100 different DAC's. 

Would love to see the list of the DACs that you did A/B testing as you mentioned.  Thanks

op

my 2 cents as follows

- harbeth c7 es3 is a warm toned speaker, with a full mid bass, you have done well to use solid state electronics, though i think purifi modules’ sound tend to ’flatten out’ the sound some, and given this, i would go with dac choices that have clarity and drive (but with smoothness as well), a slightly forward quality, rather than the overtly richer more euphonic sounding dac choices

- as such i would err in the direction of the dena terminator or better holo models, rather than aqua voce, mhdt, lampi’s, audio mirror, which definitely add more tubey warmth at some expense of prat, air, overt detail

- others that i suggest you might also try, are chord dacs (hugo tt2 for instance), soekris 1541/2541, or benjamin zwickels mojo dac - each with great clarity and smoothness but without the robotic, extruded quality of sound that comes with lesser, cheaper dacs that have upfront treble

- as you move up in cost in the dac game, i find that ’you get your cake and eat it too’... meaning, you get space, air, effortless detail, but with no trace of digital grain or mechanical quality to the sound - and you can choose a slightly leaner/cleaner solid state type or presentation, or one with a touch of tubey richness and smoothness, but still with excellent pace, drive and timing