New Luxman DA-06 doesnt sound so great. Will it get better?


Hi, I recently received a Luxman DA-06 dac (new, gray market Japan import) and it the sound doesnt seem to have any life.  It sounds a bit dull, uninvolving, and just low fidelity.  The best way can explain it is that it sounds like when a phono cartridge has a bad impedance mismatch with a preamp or if the signal gain is too high and it is clipping .  The unit only has less than 15 hours on it.  I wanted to know if this is normal and it would clear itself up or I have received a bad unit.  I have tried it in 2 different systems and it sounds the same. I have tried both outputs, balanced and unbalanced.  I have read this dac requires 100s of hours break in time and I hope the sound improves.  Anyone has any experience with this and could share their thoughts?  I would greatly appreciate it.  
audioman2015

Showing 1 response by rippet

I recently purchased sacd player Luxman D-06.. Directly through On Higher Sound the USA distributor.. 9 grand..This is the DAC DA-06 with transport.. Sounded quite nice out of the box, but limited in what I know it will sound like after burn in period. Only about 40 hours on it and it sounding better by the hour. So don't listen to those who think burn in is a crock.. Any inexpensive cheaply made cables, interconnects, AC cables and especially 'in between' components like the regulator will DOWNGRADE any fine equipment to where you are hearing them instead of your costly stuff.. Like buying a $50 steak and slathering 10 cents worth of ketchup on it. Find out what voltage you are actually running and have it adjusted inside the unit by a trained engineer or authorized dealer if it's Asian or European voltage. Change the duplex you are plugged into, I recommend Furutech GTX-D $275).. This cleaned up my grid so well I tossed my conditioner and plugged straight into the wall. The Luxman DAC you have suggests a substantial outlay of $$ with the rest of your stuff. So if you haven't already, you should upgrade your interconnects (spend about 8/900.00), Your Speaker cables (spend about $3,000) and your AV/AC cable & plugs (spend about $3 to $500 apiece). I have Silnote's top 'o the line stuff and the difference upon connection was mind blowing. BUT GET RID OF THAT REGULATOR and fix the voltage correctly from the inside. Then you will be on the way to what you think you should be hearing with the DA-06 as I am with the D-06..
Hope this is helpful and makes sense.