By the way, source is Deezer 16-Bit / 44.1 kHz ("CD quality") via the Sonos system. I also listened to some lossy, lower bit-rate music via Pandora.
TEST: Older R2R Tube DAC vs Newer Delta-Sigma Solid-State DAC
After reading a lot lately about the resurgence of R2R multi-bit DACs, and other strong opinions about one DAC vs another, I decided to do a little experiment, and do a direct AB comparison between two DACs:
1) Wyred4Sound DAC1LE (with Femto clock and other upgrades): Purchased new 3-4 years ago. MSRP was around $1,300. Uses ESS Sabre 9018 delta-sigma 1-bit DAC chip. Solid state output.
2) Lector Digicode 2.24 (recently serviced and replaced tubes with new Gold Lions). Purchased used (came out around 2002). MSRP was >$5k. Uses 4 Burr Brown PCM1704 multi-bit R2R DAC chips in fully balanced configuration Tubed output.
Both DACs were connected to a Sonos Connect unit feeding a BAT VK-5i preamp, and VK-55SE amp. I warmed up system for an hour or two, then with each song I played, switched between the two. I adjusted the volume to match levels.
Result? Very, very close. The older Lector unit sounded like it had just a tad more 'air' and a bit more soundstage depth, but I had to listen very closely, and the difference wasn't always that apparent. There were no other obvious differences that I could detect.
What does this mean? Well, I don't purport to have golden ears, and have not had my hearing checked, but I have had some 'training' (I was a recording engineer for a while, and was an amateur musician for many years). I do believe that there are some *very small* differences that I just can't discern very easily, and have to listen quite closely to discern the ones I *think* I can hear! I do believe that quite a bit of the differences we hear are because we *want* to hear them (not criticizing for this BTW; just my belief). I was surprised however given the differences in age, topology, architecture, etc. between the two DACs, that I couldn't hear a bigger difference.
By the way, I do understand that some don't believe in the idea of direct AB testing.
What do you guys think?
1) Wyred4Sound DAC1LE (with Femto clock and other upgrades): Purchased new 3-4 years ago. MSRP was around $1,300. Uses ESS Sabre 9018 delta-sigma 1-bit DAC chip. Solid state output.
2) Lector Digicode 2.24 (recently serviced and replaced tubes with new Gold Lions). Purchased used (came out around 2002). MSRP was >$5k. Uses 4 Burr Brown PCM1704 multi-bit R2R DAC chips in fully balanced configuration Tubed output.
Both DACs were connected to a Sonos Connect unit feeding a BAT VK-5i preamp, and VK-55SE amp. I warmed up system for an hour or two, then with each song I played, switched between the two. I adjusted the volume to match levels.
Result? Very, very close. The older Lector unit sounded like it had just a tad more 'air' and a bit more soundstage depth, but I had to listen very closely, and the difference wasn't always that apparent. There were no other obvious differences that I could detect.
What does this mean? Well, I don't purport to have golden ears, and have not had my hearing checked, but I have had some 'training' (I was a recording engineer for a while, and was an amateur musician for many years). I do believe that there are some *very small* differences that I just can't discern very easily, and have to listen quite closely to discern the ones I *think* I can hear! I do believe that quite a bit of the differences we hear are because we *want* to hear them (not criticizing for this BTW; just my belief). I was surprised however given the differences in age, topology, architecture, etc. between the two DACs, that I couldn't hear a bigger difference.
By the way, I do understand that some don't believe in the idea of direct AB testing.
What do you guys think?
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