Hello Benjamin. I hope things are well. My comparison includes two of your best DACs but as you point out, the Mystique Y Fe would be a much closer competitor to the LTA Aero since they are basically the same price. Of the six DACs currently in this comparison, only the Benchmark costs less. The SMc would be the next higher priced but attaching a number to it is hard since it is not a regular offering and I know they put a lot of extra effort into it. It would be at least 50% more than the Aero and your Y Fe. The Merason is $8,500 and your other two DACs probably originally listed/retailed for north of $10K with the (unobtainable) Z-chips and the NC chokes. You have shared before that you believe the Y Fe punches well above its weight and provides much of the benefits of your other DACs at a much lower price.
Six DAC Comparison
I am in the middle of comparing the sound of six different DACs in my system. I own them all (I know weird) but one of them is still within a trial/return timeframe.
Not to share specific comparisons today, but a couple of observations so far are that first, they all definitely sound different from each other. On one hand, they all sound pretty good and play what is fed to them without significant flaws but on the other hand there are definite sonic differences that make it easy to understand how a person might like the sound of some of them while not liking others.
Second, raises the observation that most of them must be doing something to shape the sound in the manner the designer intended since one of the DACs, a Benchmark DAC3 HGA, was described by John Atkinson of Stereophile as providing "state-of-the-art measured performance." In the review, JA closed the measurements section by writing, "All I can say is "Wow!" I have also owned the Tambaqui (not in my current comparison), which also measured well ("The Mola Mola Tambaqui offers state-of-the-digital-art measured performance." - JA). The Benchmark reminds me sonically of the Tambaqui, both of which are excellent sounding DACs.
My point is that if the Benchmark is providing "state-of-the-art measured performance," then one could reasonably presume that the other five DACs, which sound different from the Benchmark, do not share similar ’state-of-the-art" measurements and are doing something to subtly or not so subtly alter the sound. Whether a person likes what they hear is a different issue.
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It’s an intelligent design. Can you explain more about what you mean in the differences of how a pure C vs CLC power supply store energy? ”The capacitive power supplies used in most DACs don't store current the way a choke/capacitor power supply does resulting in the music being off time and tune and corrupting the harmonic structure. The more energy a note requires, such as a belting vocal or a booming bass note, the more off time and tune that note is from the rest of the music.”
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@ Mitch2 The Mystique EVO Pro (2018-2020) originally sold for $11,999 and with the Z chip upgrade it would have been $12,999. Originally we sold the Mystique X SE for $9,999 and the NC nano crystal core choke and Z chip upgrades are $2,500 making that DAC $12,499. But due to higher sales volumes our manufacturing costs have gone down so we lowered our prices. Our new Mystique X AM (2024) with amorphous core chokes is identical to our Mystique X SE (2021-2023) and sells for only $8,499. And our new Mystique X NC with nano crystal core chokes sells for only $9,999. |
@ gavin1977 CLC is an excellent power supply and also stores energy similar to an LC power supply but the LC is still slightly better. With an LC power supply the rectification multiplier from AC to DC is only .9 vs 1.414 with a capacitive or CLC power supply. That means the power transformer has to be 50% larger and heavier. Some would call this "electrical torque." The size of the choke can be significantly smaller in a CLC power supply to achieve the same inductive reactance which is also a cost, size, and weight saving. The crest factor in an LC power supply, meaning the peaks and valleys of the DC after rectification, is literally 50% that of a capacitive or CLC power supply. That means the capacitors have literally half as much work to do. The heat in an LC power supply is 50% of a capacitive or CLC power supply making them last significantly longer. And an LC power supply has the highest impedance to AC and lowest impedance to DC of any power supply typology making it the most tolerant of AC noise and providing the most effortless power to DC. Because a CLC power supply is considerably smaller, lighter weight, and less expensive to manufacture, they are significantly more popular than the LC. Of course because a capacitive power supplies are even smaller, lighter, and less expensive to manufacture, they are the most popular. The funny thing is that since nearly all high-end audio electronics use capacitive power supplies everyone is used to hearing the time and tune distortion so very few people notice it. You should see people's jaws drop at audio shows when I play them 1940's and 1950's recordings that were made with LC choke input power supplies in the recording studios. When played on one of our DACs the difference between them and modern recordings made with capacitive power supplies is unmistakable. Very few companies aside from those who manufacture the best-of-the-best of tube amps use LC or CLC power supplies. Recently a few companies, such as Schiit and Musical Fidelity, are making solid-state power amps with LC choke input power supplies (kudos!). The ridiculous thing is that the laws of physics are identical with micro amps and mega amps so it always makes me wonder why these same companies who apparently know the benefits of chokes in a power supply are not putting them in the preamps and DACs they manufacture. |
@fuzzbutt17 Thank you for the explanation of power supplies. I read your post a few time over and just want to clarify a few things and ask some question? LC power supplies are power supplies with large chokes? CLC power supplies are made of just capacitors. To determine if it is an LC power supply you just look for the large chokes? Some people talk about moving towards tube DAC's because of timing timbre harshness etc. In some of these DAC's they have the LC power supply which is correcting time timber etc. What do you think the tube is doing in these DAC's? Does the tube cover some of the bad stuff in the CLC power supply? |
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