Review: promitheus audio NOSDAC DA converter
Category: Digital
PROMITHEUS AUDIO NON-OVERSAMPLING DAC
First off, the quality of craftsmanship is superb. It's
beautiful to behold. The wood is perfectly put together and stained. It goes
very well with the stainless steel top and bottom,even
the washers for the screws are nicely designed. Very elegant yet zen in
style,
just my cup of tea. I opened it up and this DAC is
meticulously built. Every wire and component are well placed without
anything
looking sloppy. i've seen a lot of hand-wired jobs
that look like a rat's nest, but this thing is super clean, meticulous and
organized. Extremely elegant craftsmanship.
Then I plugged it in. WOW! Just out of the box it sounds better than any
other
DAC I've had in my system. I had become frustrated
with upsampling DACS. Although they get the sonics right, even the tone
etc.,
They all seem to push the performance
back.
They all sound like recorded music, as if the life and the soul of the music
was taken out. I had the New PS Audio Digilink III in my sytem for two weeks and it exhibited these qualities and yet it got great reviews. I'm surprised that these audio reviewers
don't notice this. The Promitheus audio NOSDAC sounds live, and it's not even broken in yet.
it's dead quiet. I have an extremely quiet system, the
noise floor is subterranean. If there was any noise from this DAC I would
notice it. And here's the clencher. I didn't know that it had been
shipped it so I do't even have a digital coax cable. I'm using a soft
annealed 99.9999% silver analog cable with Eichman
plugs. I can't wait until I get a proper cable and give it 100 hours to
burn
in the four tranformers. I'll update then
UPDATE
The DAC has been running in for over 3 weeks. I purchased a Mapleshades digital coax cable which is quite phenominal. The sound has opened up and there is more pronounced bass and warmth. This DAC is quite incredible, especially when you consider the price. I got the pure silver jacks ($45) and a silver wound input transformer ($20), which I feel are mandatory options, which pushes the price to about $400. This unit is a steal. The sound floor is very quiet. Very important to me. The tone is correct, as is the frequency balance. It sounds like the performance is in your room with good transients and decays (I'm sure the Mapleshade cables and Redgum Amplifier help in this regard) Gone is that digital hash of which I'm very sensitive to. This truly sounds more anlogue and I can listen to it for hours. One amazing thing that I noticed is that even though it sounds analogue, the detail and resolution are top notched. I really can't notice any loss of detail from before with my Music Hall CDD25.2, yet it brings the entire performance into focus without dissecting the sounds.
I'm very pleased with this purchase as this is an exceptional DAC.
The IMac with the Haggerman USB converter ($119) and kimberkable USB cable makes an excellent Source as a music server using WAV files. It also is a fantastic 20" TV with DVD player/burner, CD player/burner, access to the internet, 250 gbyts and Oh, by the way it's a very powerful computer. For $1200 where are you even going to find a CD player that sounds anywhere near this good!
Associated gear
Apple IMac with hagerman USB converter
Musical fidelity x-10v3 tube buffer
Redgum RGi35 integrated amplifier
Quad 21L speakers
Cables by Mapleshaes, guerilla udio and kimberkables
PS audio Solo outlet and conditiner
Similar products
PS Audio Digilink III
PROMITHEUS AUDIO NON-OVERSAMPLING DAC
First off, the quality of craftsmanship is superb. It's
beautiful to behold. The wood is perfectly put together and stained. It goes
very well with the stainless steel top and bottom,even
the washers for the screws are nicely designed. Very elegant yet zen in
style,
just my cup of tea. I opened it up and this DAC is
meticulously built. Every wire and component are well placed without
anything
looking sloppy. i've seen a lot of hand-wired jobs
that look like a rat's nest, but this thing is super clean, meticulous and
organized. Extremely elegant craftsmanship.
Then I plugged it in. WOW! Just out of the box it sounds better than any
other
DAC I've had in my system. I had become frustrated
with upsampling DACS. Although they get the sonics right, even the tone
etc.,
They all seem to push the performance
back.
They all sound like recorded music, as if the life and the soul of the music
was taken out. I had the New PS Audio Digilink III in my sytem for two weeks and it exhibited these qualities and yet it got great reviews. I'm surprised that these audio reviewers
don't notice this. The Promitheus audio NOSDAC sounds live, and it's not even broken in yet.
it's dead quiet. I have an extremely quiet system, the
noise floor is subterranean. If there was any noise from this DAC I would
notice it. And here's the clencher. I didn't know that it had been
shipped it so I do't even have a digital coax cable. I'm using a soft
annealed 99.9999% silver analog cable with Eichman
plugs. I can't wait until I get a proper cable and give it 100 hours to
burn
in the four tranformers. I'll update then
UPDATE
The DAC has been running in for over 3 weeks. I purchased a Mapleshades digital coax cable which is quite phenominal. The sound has opened up and there is more pronounced bass and warmth. This DAC is quite incredible, especially when you consider the price. I got the pure silver jacks ($45) and a silver wound input transformer ($20), which I feel are mandatory options, which pushes the price to about $400. This unit is a steal. The sound floor is very quiet. Very important to me. The tone is correct, as is the frequency balance. It sounds like the performance is in your room with good transients and decays (I'm sure the Mapleshade cables and Redgum Amplifier help in this regard) Gone is that digital hash of which I'm very sensitive to. This truly sounds more anlogue and I can listen to it for hours. One amazing thing that I noticed is that even though it sounds analogue, the detail and resolution are top notched. I really can't notice any loss of detail from before with my Music Hall CDD25.2, yet it brings the entire performance into focus without dissecting the sounds.
I'm very pleased with this purchase as this is an exceptional DAC.
The IMac with the Haggerman USB converter ($119) and kimberkable USB cable makes an excellent Source as a music server using WAV files. It also is a fantastic 20" TV with DVD player/burner, CD player/burner, access to the internet, 250 gbyts and Oh, by the way it's a very powerful computer. For $1200 where are you even going to find a CD player that sounds anywhere near this good!
Associated gear
Apple IMac with hagerman USB converter
Musical fidelity x-10v3 tube buffer
Redgum RGi35 integrated amplifier
Quad 21L speakers
Cables by Mapleshaes, guerilla udio and kimberkables
PS audio Solo outlet and conditiner
Similar products
PS Audio Digilink III
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