New Rega DAC

I'm waiting too!

I saw the new 9K Rega Isis CD player. That's going to be a tough sell for a company known for decent entry-level digital and a lot of competition from companies with long track records at high-end digital.

It's out.

Yep, Got them in stock now. I have posted a comparison between the Rega DAC, the Cambridge Audio DacMagic, and the Music Hall 25.3 DAC on my blog:
http://www.uptownaudio.com/blog.htm

If the new Isis is as special as people say it is, they've probably redefined the value proposition for a high-end CD player. Of course, there will always be audiophiles into trophy audio and brand names who will not consider the Rega.

I've had one for about a week now. Best way to describe the sound is that it sounds like a very good turntable. A touch warm and smooth, but not artificially so. Everything my Apollo did, the DAC more than one-ups.

And it's solidly built. I'd say it's on par with my Bryston B60 in this regard.

I just got my REGA DAC. It is a great DAC. I have the apollo player and the dac in my opinion is waay better. I also compared it to Bel Canto Dac1 I like the REGA DAC bettter. I got one of the earlier model and I am so glad I purchased one well worth the money at $1000.

Mlmusic - Probably a dumb question, but what do you run through the Rega DAC to beat the apollo? Don't you run your CD player through the DAC? Again, sorry if my question sounds dumb.

Lang76-

I assume MImusic has his Apollo running through the REGA Dac using toslink/digital coax. He is using the Apollo as the transport and the Dac as the Dac.

As a Rega dealer I agree with all that has been said above. It is one heck of good Dac for $995!

Thanks to all, good advise.

Lang 76 -

I also had an Apollo, and the DAC is far better. I didn't have them at the same time, but I lived with the Apollo for about 4 years, and got rid of it about 3 months ago.

I run an Apple TV gen 1 into the DAC. The ATV reportedly has a good amount of jitter, but the Rega DAC uses proprietary re-clocking.

Goldprintaudio - I have an Apollo. If I were to use the Rega DAC as a DAC, and the Apollo as transport, what improvements could I be expecting?

Interesting posts!

Patrick

@kbarkamian - I like what I'm hearing. I'm wondering if I could use the Rega DAC with the Apple Airport Express (running from my MAC) for good sound? What do you think?

Lang76 -

I'd imagine it would sound great. I don't have an AE, so I can't say for sure. All I can say is that my ATV1 and Rega DAC sound far better than my Apollo did.

I have the first one my dealer got. We opened the box and compared it to a few things and used it with a couple of transports and inputs without any warm up/break in to make sure everything was working and get a rough idea what it sounds like. We didn't try USB.

We couldn't hear any differences between transports and inputs. It was cold, so it sounded not as full and rich as it does now, but it definitely competed with what was at the shop. I have to swing by that shop within the next few days for something else, and I'll try to hear their's compared to the others for my own sake. Their DAC should be fully run in by now, so comparisons will be fair. I'll report what I hear. The other DACs at the time were the Naim DAC, Naim UnitiQute (as a DAC and as a whole unit), and Arcam rDAC.

Kbarkamian - Ok, thanks. So you have the ATV1 with the 160G that actually stores the music files? I think this is probably the better route vs. airport express or ATV 2. Those 2 stream everything from the MAC while you're listing, I think? I think I'm going to follow your setup vs. buying a new CD player now. Thanks!!

I haven't heard the ATV 2, so don't base your opinions on what I said. One or two people said the ATV 2 sounds better, while others have said the ATV 1 is better. Not that I've counted them, but more have said the ATV 1 sounds better, if that helps. Same as everything else in this hobby, I'm afraid.

I can only report what I hear - My ATV1 sounds better with music stored to it's hard drive than when it's streamed. Not a huge night and day difference, but definitely better.

I've stuck with the ATV 1 because of the hard drive. I don't want to have to turn the computer on just to listen to music, and I don't want to deal with streaming issues like dropouts and interference. Everyone's priorities are different.

The ATV 1 is still on Amazon for $150. The ATV 2 is available for $99 at Apple stores. Maybe buy both and compare at home? Make sure you can get a full refund though.

What I can definitively tell you is that my ATV 1 and Rega DAC sound fantastic in my room. If you like the Apollo, I'd bet a lot of money that you'd love the Rega DAC.

I run in our demo Rega DAC for a week or so before doing some comparisons with the Apollo and Saturn.. using either the Saturn or Apollo as a transport. The DAC with Apollo transport is clearly better than the Apollo and also the Saturn (better tone, bigger sound-stage, handles complex music passages better). My listening also showed that the Saturn is a better sounding transport than the Apollo... not a big difference, but most significant difference I hear was that the Saturn/DAC combo had more grunt/weight in the bottom end than the Apollo/DAC combo. I used stock power cords on all items and a $100 Cardas co-ax digital cable to connect to the DAC. So far, I'm really impressed with how the DAC sounds.

Kbarkaimian - Thanks for your input. My buddy just bought the ATV 2 and is going to sell me his ATV 1 for really cheap. I to like the idea of having a mini hardrive vs. streaming.

I'm taking the plunge too - have a Rega on the way for delivery tomorrow. It's going in a dedicated headphone rig with a Mac Mini music server and Woo Audio WA2 SET OTL headphone amp with Sennheiser HD600's.

It is replacing an Apogee Duet. Still have fond memories of my Rega Planet CDP

Picked up the Apple TV 1 last night, headed to my Rega dealer today for the DAC. Will report back soon!

I'm curious about this ATV + DAC combo. I have a ATV 2 and planning to purchase either Benchmark DAC or Rega DAC which are carried from my closeby dealer.
Please report your findings on sound quality.

Lang 76 -

When you synch all your music to the ATV, use the ethernet connection over the wireless. Far faster. Not that it's fast by any means, but once the stuff is on there, you're all set.

Rbc -

The whole thread is about our findings on the Rega DAC, and mine are about the ATV 1 and Rega DAC. Regardless of our findings, go hear it for yourself. No one's ears and preferences are the same.

So I'm up and running. The Rega DAC sounds amazing. Everything (TV, DVD, Apple TV, CD) sounds warm and detailed. This is a great sounding DAC.

Music through Apple TV sounds really good, but I still think CD sounds much better (through the DAC).

All in all, I would highly recommend the Rega to anyone looking to buy a DAC.

Anyone know how to get a higher sample rate out of the ATV 1? I notice that everything plays at the lowest sample rate on the Rega DAC. Would a higher sample rate improve the sound? Thanks.

I believe 48k is the limit on an ATV.

Got it, thanks Johsti.

Has anyone compared the Rega DAC to the Benchmark or W4S DACs around the same price?

I should give an update to be clear about the ATV 1 sound through the DAC Vs. CDP through the DAC. I re-ripped all my CD's as Apple Lossless then re-synced to ATV. Now the Apple TV sounds as good or better than the CDP. This is a great setup!

I'm loving mine too. Rega just knows how to get the music right. People can say what they want about the ATV, but I've got nothing but praise for it's ease of use and great sound using it's digital output. Can't see why people waste their time with the Wadia iTransport.

I just purchased this DAC. So far I'm just using it hooked up to my hefty Cayin Cd player, and man it sounds awesome right out of the box. The bass is pretty amazing. I wanted to eventually use it hooked up to my macbook, but have absolutely no experience with the computer as an audio medium, except for itunes and ipods. I understand the mac has a toslink but I don't even know where it is on my computer or what it looks like. What would be a good mini-toslink converter, and what would be a good toslink cable?

Check out the silflex glass mini optical. It is reasonably priced and seems to be well reviewed.

The toslink output is shared with the headphone output, from what I've read. insert the mini toslink end into the headphone jack, and you should be good to go.

I haven't used a mini toslink, so no opinions from me. I use a full sized glass toslink cable - Sonicwave - that I bought on Amazon for about $25 shipped. Excellent cable IMO.

Great DAC BTW. I'm loving mine. As good as the Apollo is, and it's certianly deserving of all the great press it got, the DAC is far better for the same price.

Thanks Joshti. Will do. I also plan to check out some of the USB/SPDIF conversion cables. In the meantime, I'm doing some research on these 5 filter settings, and rediscovering my extensive CD collection, which has been gathering dust since I was bitten by the vinyl bug a few years back.

Interesting that filter #5, the minimum phase apodising filter (for CD playback) seems to be the same type of filter used by the famous Meridian CD player. For more plain english info. see http://hifiduino.blogspot.com/2009/05/wm8741-digital-filters.html (Filter #4 in that paper is actually filter #5 in the Rega DAC).

Does anyone have an issue with the RCA jacks on the Rega Dac in terms of grip? Everything looks to be solid build quality on the Rega DAC but the RCA jacks look to be flimsy and of inferior quality. They don't look like they belong on DAC made by Rega IMO. If I didn't know it was Rega I would have thought it was a much cheaper DAC. Does Rega offer an option to improve those RCA jacks?

Rega DAC rear.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24647118@N05/5755971884/

Thanks

What's the issue as far as grip? Are your interconnect cables coming loose easily, or are the RCA jacks wobbly?

I don't have any issues with mine. I didn't throughly inspect them, but had no reason to. If it helps, I used Audioquest King Cobras, which seemed a bit loose on everything (no more loose on the Rega), and now use Kimber Heros with locking RCAs.

Hi Kbarkamian

I haven't purchased the new Rega DAC yet. I was going to try and find a dealer so I can audition it. I was just starting to do some preliminary research and saw the pics of the rear of the Rega DAC. When I compared it to the Wyred 4 Sound DAC-1 or even the Grant Fidelity DAC-09 or DAC-11 it looked like the Rega's RCA jacks were of inferior quality. The output jacks of my much older stock McCormack DAC-1 looked more solid which then lead to my previous post. I was just curious about the RCA jacks.

Good to know you aren't having issues with SQ of the Rega DAC and that those RCA jacks are holding up. I was planning to use Outlaw Audio PCA ICs with it which have a locking feature but are a bit bulky. I was also thinking of using MAC Velvet ICs which aren't so bulky and grip really well.

The RCAs are standard RCAs as far as I know. Nothing special about them, and nothing inferior either. They look like any other RCA jack I've seen on gear.

Not to open a can of worms, but I doubt the high grade RCA jacks do anything more than look pretty anyway.