There is no mystery, Melbguy1 was/is me! I changed my member name several weeks ago to Bodhi, but instead of updating my existing profile, Audiogon created a new profile. I understand the Web Developer is working on merging the two profiles, and by the sound of things it looks like that has been resolved. You have to love a conspiracy theory, lol!!
Reference DACS: An overall perspective
There has been many threads the last few months regarding the sonic signature of some of the highest regarded reference DACS (Dcs,Meitner,Ensemble,Audio Note,Zanden,Reimyo,Accustic Arts) here on the GON. I have been very fortunate to audtion many of these wonderful pieces in my home or friend's systems. I wanted to share, in a systematic way, my impressions/opinions with you GON members for a two reasons: 1)That my experiences might be helpful to fellow members interested in audtioning these DACS. 2)Starting an interesting discussion regarding the different "sonic flavors" of these reference digital front ends. I totally agree with the statement, "if you have not heard it you don't have an opinion". Therefore, I have no comments regarding DACS from Weiss,Goldmund,Audio Aero and Burmester because I have never had the pleasure of audtioning them. I would love to hear from members who have and share their experiences with us. My overall impression is that these DACS(Dcs,Meitner,Ensemble,Audio Note,Zanden,Reimyo,Accustic Arts) can be grouped into two molar categories regarding their overall sonic signature. By the way, all of them can throw a large/deep soundstage with excellent layering in the acoustic space with "air" around individual players on that stage. However, than they start to part company into two major categories. Category #1) These DACS "flavors" revolve around pristine clarity, fine sharp details,speed,very extended top/bottom frequencies,and great PRAT. These DACS never sound "etched" or "in your face" but are more "upfront" then "layed back" in their presentation. The DACS, to my ear's, that go into this bracket are Dcs,Ensemble,Meitner. My personnal favorite in this group is the Ensemble, which I owned for two years. These DACS remind me of the sonic signature of speakers such as Wilson,Thiel,Dynaudio, Focal/JM Labs. Category #2) These DACS "flavors" revolve around a "musical/organic" sense, natural timbres,and an easy flowing liquidity. Their "less forward" presentation my give the impression of less detail, but I think in this case its an illusion fostered by their more relaxed/organic manner. The DACS, to my ear's, that go into this bracket are Audio Note,Zanden,Reimyo,Accustic Arts. I did find that the tube DACS did not have the top/bottom frequency extenstion and PRAT of the SS DACS in this bracket. For me, the Accustic Arts DAC1-MK3 gave me the best of both categories, therefore it is now the resident DAC in my system. These DACS remind me of the sonic signature of speakers such as Magnepan,Von Schweikert,Sonus Faber. Well, it's all just my opinion regarding these digital pieces, but I hope this post was at least informative/somewhat interesting and would lend itself to other GON members sharing their impressions, not about what DAC is the "BEST" in the world, but your personnal taste and synergy with your system.
Showing 12 responses by bodhi
Jon, with the preamble there is no such thing as "best" as there is so much great sounding gear out there, in general Vitus gear sounds natural/organic, resolving and non-fatiguing. The first thing which strikes you is the timeless Danish industrial design and build quality which are second to none. The SCD-025 spinner is essentially a full Signature Series dac built around a heavily modified Philips Pro 2 LF transport. There was a major update to this player in Q1, 2015 incl: a new, upgradeable master clock, new I/V converter, new analogue modules etc and is basically a whole new beast. The upgrades were so successful Hans upgraded the Masterpiece Series transport and dac with the same filter UP components! Sound wise, my player only has about 35hrs on it so far, but is already sound very resolving and musical. I am amazed how much information this player can pull off an RBCD. No kidding, it makes RBCD's sound like SACD's! Dynamics and bass are excellent, no doubt helped by the 4 UI-core power supplies. The sound is very smooth and liquid. It has a real finesse with strings and percussion. I have owned a couple of good dacs before; a Vimak DS-1800 Mk2 and heavily modded/re-tubed Ayon CD-5s. The Vimak for its day was remarkably resolving and very composed (and thus similar in that way to the Vitus), though its quirkiness in operation was annoying. In comparison, the SCD-025 is simply better across the board & handles files up to Quad rate DSD via its DSD USB board. The Ayon was a very nice tube dac with matched NOS 6h30DR's & discreet HD op amps. Bass was excellent and about on par with my Vitus. There were also tube virtues of holography, sweetness and a touch of warmth. The Ayon uses excellent Mundorf Supreme Silver/Gold/Oil caps which improve sound stage depth as well as chokes & big polypropylene filtering caps (similar to Conrad Johnson). The Ayon in this modified form was also a very nice linestage which paired very well with my Boulder 1060. But you pays, you gets as they say. And the Vitus is simply in a different league. It is like comparing a Volkswagen Passat to a BMW 5 series. I know you asked how the Vitus sounds compared to dacs in the same league, though i'm reluctant to compare dacs which I haven't owned and used in my system. With that said, i've heard the Soulution 540 sacd player which sounds very smooth and resolving. That is a nice sacd player, though it did not sound as good as the (then previous spec) SCD-025 on RBCD. (The current spec player is about 50% better). I'd love to hear the 2-chassis Soulution 746 or 760 dac. Though we're getting into Rolls Royce territory. The Vitus so far is the best single box dac i've heard, though the new Soulution 541 player could be a compelling alternative if you listen to a lot of sacd's. Btw you have a nice system which is well sorted with excellent attention to detail. Good show! |
Just one minor correction to my earlier post as editing is disallowed in this thread. I confirmed with Hans Ole the DSD board in the SCD-025 does not handle quad DSD (DSD256), but DSD128. The difference (between DSD128 and DSD256) is apparently miniscule and not worth the money. Sorry about the confusion. You can find a full 2014 Vitus price list here in Euro dollars. The July 2015 price list hasn't been published as yet. Cheers. |
Wisnon, don't shoot the messenger. My understanding is that most dacs (including the SCD-025) down-convert the DSD signal to PCM, therefore logically there would be little advantage to handle DSD256 recordings which in any case have very few titles. To be honest, I think DSD is over-hyped. The secret to great sound is in the recording and mastering of the album and the skill of the Designer to create a musical sounding dac. Formats get thrown around like a panacea which they are not. Just ask Steve Hoffman or David Chesky. Anyway, I won't be rushing out to buy a Lampi dac. The SCD-025 is a killer dac & is here to stay! |
I have noted all your comments Agear, though again I don't believe formats usurp the mastering and recording process or for that matter the skill of the Designer of a dac. And one has to keep in mind the number of titles available on DSD is tiny in comparison to the available titles on RBCD. And you cannot touch or interact with the physical media. Just one question, when did you audition the SCD-025? There was a major update to this player in Q1, 2015 as I mentioned earlier incl: a new, upgradeable master clock, new I/V converter, new analogue modules etc and is basically a whole new beast. Hans Ole told me he was shocked by the level of improvement & said the player was "about 50% better" than the old version. You might want to check with your Dealer as the two players are not comparable ;). |
Wisnon, I was actually reflecting today that I should have been more generous in my praise of the Lampi dsd dacs as yes, I was aware Adam (Elberoth) who I respect owns a Big 7 Level 5. I could also be mistaken about the number of DSD titles out there. By all reports it is a very well built and great sounding dac. I feel I should just make a couple of important points here. Firstly the latest spec Vitus SCD-025 which I own is about 50% better than the previous spec player which Agear heard (which was already regarded by many as the best single box cd player in the world). It is true balanced, has very wide bandwidth, resolution & low noise, whilst sounding on the warm side and mellifluous. Vitus use very sophisticated (and expensive!) robotic machinery and manufacturing techniques which are second to none, including Boulder. They use their own all-discrete analogue modules drawn from the SL-102 preamp, an extremely accurate master clock and use zero negative feedback. During the development and testing phase of this player, the references used were the old spec SCD-025 and a Techdas AF1 with thales tonearm & Dynavector x1s cartridge connected to a Masterpiece Series phono stage. Not bad! Also keep in mind a system is more than a dac, no matter how good it sounds in and of itself. Just as how good or bad a recording sounds does not depend on the number of 'bits'. It is the sum of all its parts and the synergy they impart. I've built my system on that principle, with no weak links, and in fact plan on expanding my family of Vitus Signature Series components later this year which will take my rig to the next level. Another thing i've learnt is, you'll never convince a fan of tube dacs that a ss dac sounds as musical. I couldn't even convince a 'phile who owned a Chinese Vincent cd player that my Vitus dac might just sound better. The above comments are purely for balance. I can see both from looking at the exceptional build quality of the Lampi dacs & the GG's expensive parts bin that it is a serious dac. The balanced GG dac is $17kEUR, whilst the Vitus is $19kEUR, thus the pricing suggests these dacs are more peers than killer vs just very good. Finally, yes I would accept if you were playing purely DSD files, the Lampi would likely have the edge. Though amongst the hundreds of millions of digital recordings, including Indy recordings, only a tiny percentage are currently available on DSD. Though I accept if you avidly purchase from that small title list, you would end up with a considerable collection. And if you illegally rip SACD's via a PS3, you would likely expand that list further. But it's still a tiny percentage, and virtually unrepresented in Indy and world music. I'm taking note, but won't be rushing out any time soon to buy one. Just saying. |
08-02-15: AgearAgear, I will be posting my system thread soon as that will be a long session. But here is my equipment list fyi.. Front End: Vitus SCD-025, Oppo BPD-103AU Amplification: Vitus SIA-025 Speakers: Magico S5's Isolation: Taoc ASR series racks, Taoc SCB-RS50g, Stillpoints Ultra 6's + Bases/Mini's/LPI's AC Power: Furutech GTX-D(G), Gigawatt PC-3 SE Evo, Jorma Prime pc's (re-terminated with cryo'd Oyaide M1/F1s), Jorma Unity pc (re-terminated with Oyaide P-004/C-004s) Cables: Jorma Prime xlr's, Jorma Statement sc's, Siltech Classic Anniversary rca's + HDMI Tweaks: Acoustic Revive RR-777 + KR Mk2/RD-3/RIO-5II/RCI-3H, Akiko Universal tuning sticks/E-tuning Gold MkII |
08-03-15: AgearI am sure I would be blown away by what the Lampi can do in it's element. With Vitus, the synergy between their Sig Series amps & front end is remarkable. I heard the old SCD-010 paired with an SIA-025 integrated and a pair of Magico Q1's & was shocked by the incredibly pure, tube-like, analogue sound. That audition directly led me to sell off my old system & start building my current rig around my S5's. That's the great thing about high end audio, we're so spoiled for choice there really is no "best", only what's best for you and your particular tastes. |
08-04-15: AgearAgear, yes i'm from Melbourne, Australia in case any of the 'Sydney mafia' want to troll me. Bodhi is my member name on high end forums. If I recall, I only chose Melbguy1 because I originally joined the forum to sell some gear & my member name was a secondary thought. Just cleaning up isle 9.. |