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  3. 192150-126

Enough is Enough

I've been looking at changing my DAC. I was considering Lampizator, Playback Designs, and Ideon. Recently a dealer basically told me(with the exception of my subwoofer and music server) my system sucks. He went on to say, I should sell my amps, preamp, DAC, speakers, and start all over! I've owned several different speakers, amplifiers, and DACs. I've attended shows and several different dealers show rooms. In fact, I directly compared one of the amplifiers the dealer recommended to a Rowland 625 S2 amplifier and preferred the 625 S2. I didn't build my system in a vacuum. I determined what I wanted to spend, listened and purchase what I preferred. I've been in sales and submit it would have been better to recommend a DAC that would improve my system. So now I say, maybe enough is enough; because no matter what I have some dealer will tell me it's crap and I have to start over. 

ricred1
hgeifman
2,242 posts
 

@carlsbad2,

Audiogon reports “the credit card is not stored with Audiogon. If you add a Credit card it is stored with PayPal. Audiogon had to make this requirement to prevent bots and spammers from sending messages in the forum’s”.

boxcarman
427 posts
 

I was a retail owner for many years, now retired.  We offered personal service and hired [and fired] many salespeople over the years.  Some of them, you could tell would thrive at this and others were pretty obvious that this was not their calling.  Sounds like you got one of those.

ortodox
91 posts
 

 ricred1  Forget dealers suggestions , trust your ears. I have Ideon audio DAC now and it is the best dac i ever had . They know how to kill USB hum.

hgeifman
2,242 posts
 

 

@ricred1,

I also suggest you forget your retailer and trust your ears.

I like my Bricasti M21 DAC very much because it sounds great. The DAC has a 24-bit delta sigma DAC, a 20-bit ladder DAC and true 1 bit DSD for DSD content. It includes an Ethernet connection so the M21 is recognized as a DNLA device and becomes a powerful media renderer. Maybe add it to your audition list.

ricred1 OP
2,048 posts
 

Thanks to everyone that took the time to be part of my thread. I just wanted to share my experience with other's in this crazy hobby. 

Thanks to the nice comments about my system!

We all have our own journey. Individually we decided how much we want to spend on a component and the sound we prefer.

Some have commented that I don't need a new DAC, but I'll tell the story of how I got to this point. I do have a good dealer(3ma Audio) and I try to purchase from them when possible. For over a year I listened to several speakers in my price range. I never heard speakers within my price range that made me want to sell my speakers. 3ma Audio recommended subwoofers and they brought them to my house. My wife thinks adding the REL No. 32 subwoofers was a great decision. I did the same thing with my amplifier and preamp. I sold my old amplifier and purchased Jeff Rowland 735 mono-amps. My next focus was on my source(music server and DAC). I was grateful to be able to get a home audition of the Antipodes Oladra music server. I don't want to exaggerate, but the Oladra simply took my system to the next level. Many said the DAC had more impact than the music server, so I got a home auditions of the Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC, DCS Bartok(non-APEX), and DCS Rossini APEX. The Tambaqui was very similar to the Dave. In my system the Bartok lacked detail. The Rossini did everything better than any DAC that I've ever heard in my system. The soundstage was bigger, better spacing, and more detail. Unfortunately, in my system the overall tonality was too forward/bright. My experience with the Rossini made me want to pursue changing from my Chord Dave. I would love to find a DAC that does everything the DCS Rossini APEX does, that isn't as forward/bright. 

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