sometimes price isn't proportional to the quality.
if it does not sound great out of the box, then it is perhaps how it sounds and will sound after few hundreds or thousands of hours or days.
New DAC issues
I have been on a steady system upgrade path over the last year and one of the last pieces to be updated is my DAC, a Schiit Gungnir Multibit. I have no complaints with it, but I am always in search of more and better. The majority of my upgrades have been a big success.
I recently purchased a new DAC that shall remain unnamed, I don't want to throw it and the builder under the bus, but it is about a 5x multiple in cost over the Gungnir. I have had the new DAC for four days now, and I have been playing it continuously. When I installed it, I simply unplugged the other DAC and substituted this one, so minimal change. Initial impressions were that it sounded pretty lean and the soundstage was not great, but I figured it would sound better after warming up. There has been some improvement, but it is not significant.
Playing music with the Gungnir in place, bass was plentiful without being overbearing, and very clean. With the new DAC, bass is almost an afterthought. The Gungnir presented a beautiful soundstage and my speakers disappeared. The new DAC presents a good center image, though smaller than the Gungnir, and the speakers are pretty apparent on most tracks. In general, the magic is gone from the music, there is detail in the mids and highs, but not a lot of life.
I expected a different sound of course, but I cannot imagine that this is the way a DAC at this level is supposed to sound. I think that the Gungnir is considered a warmer DAC, but the contrast in this case is extreme. I am wondering if there is either an issue with the unit or somehow a mismatch with my gear. It provides a 3V output vs the Gungnir's 4V, which may make it a little less lively, but 3V is not out of the ordinary.
The rest of my systems is Pass XP-12 -> Coda #8 -> KEF Reference 1. I am in between streamers right now and using my DigiOne/Pi with LPS over RCA SP/DIF. One could question the streamer, but it sounds great with the Gungnir. I had an Aurender N10, but I did not get along with the Conductor software and now have an Innuos Zenith on the way. Connections are all balanced with Wireworld Eclipse 8's, Acoustic Zen speaker cables and an Acoustic Zen digital cable. Power is dedicated and runs through a Furman Elite 20.
I listen mostly to jazz and lower levels and I have always had a full sound, however with the new DAC the system is no longer engaging. Thoughts? Can a DAC just be incredibly lean?
- ...
- 55 posts total
I'm with Czarivey on this. With most component changes I've made, the difference, if any, has been very pronounced, right out of the box. Usually Wife will comment, one way or the other. Happened with my Innous Zenith Mk 3, Yggdrasil LIM, and upgrading my Khorns with all new Volti guts. Even swapping in Hexfred rectifiers to my amp made quite a noticeable improvement. Likely, with the components mentioned, there was continued improvement with time and temperature, but the majority of the increase in SQ was apparent to me "right out of the box". Components that did not offer immediate improvement, or improvement that I was struggling to hear, went back. Couple of DAC's went back, minus restocking fees, which are fair, in my opinion.
|
@zlone was the same streaming device used with both the old and the new dacs. |
Thanks for the responses. I will be giving the unit some more time as I am familiar with longer break in times as my Coda amp took a full week to sound decent. I will also be switching to the Innuos Zenith next week, and USB as opposed to SP/DIF, so perhaps there will be some change using the DAC's onboard clock. I have heard other DAC's in this line and I did speak with a couple dealers, however I did not specifically audition it. I had not planned on replacing my DAC just yet, but it was very high on my list when I came across it as a demo unit for an attractive price and decided after a few days to pick it up. To be fair it does produce some very nice sound, but overall it just is not doing it for me, especially in the lower registers. Probably just not the DAC that I had hoped it was, and I will have to continue my search. |
- 55 posts total