SW1X dacs


hi, 
I’m wondering who is familiar with SW1X dacs?  Seems to be limited info, some of it very over the top positive.  The various models range from approximately 3000$ to $25,000?  Has anybody heard or own one? Seems like a smaller UK company with limited US sales.
Thanks for any perspective on this. Ted
caglioti
I had a SW1X DAC III + upgrades. Wasn’t impressed with it. I let it break in for 5 days straight. It was very muted and lifeless sounding to me. It sounded NOTHING like good analog.
I’ve also owned the Directstream DAC...also lacking in magic and very digital sounding.

The DAC that most sounded like a vinyl rig running a koetsu black (my preferred cartridge) was the Deja Vu Audio Aldo Dac. This dac was using a Sonos Connect as the Tidal source with a $700 digital coax cable.
The sound blew my mind. It was Psychedelic.


The performance of the SW1X DAC III Balanced will depend on what it is being fed. The designer, Slawa Roschkow, does not consider streaming a suitable source for any serious listening as it is rife with timing errors. Feed it a proper SPDIF signal from a CD Player or server and you will realize its inherent greatness. However, the only fair comparison is with other DACs.

Analog is another thing altogether. With an analog source there is no digital conversion either A to D or D to A where there will always be some loss.With analog it is simply necessary to get the signal that the cartridge generates to the preamp without screwing it up, and there lies the rub. What happens when a phono stage gets truly out of the way and delivers a really robust signal? If analog is your thing, the SW1X LPU III Balanced phono stage will knock socks off permanently.
So what's the deal with the usb input? Can't I just run USB cable from my computer and plug it directly into SW1X? If that's the case 'm not sure I've heard of such a thing at this day and age....
This brand is unabashedly inspired by Audio Note.  I have not heard any of their gear so I have no idea of how successful they are at emulating that sound.  
Audi Note IS quite good at getting the smooth and relaxed sound of analogue without sounding muffled or lifeless.  While being quite expensive, the Aldo DAC is competitive with the very best Audio Note DAC’s at a much lower price; I heard it in direct comparison to a DAC 5 and preferred it in most respects (except top end extension).