2. digital
  3. 160424-115562

Thinking about getting a R2R DAC

Dear community,

I currently have a chord qutest DAC. I like it a lot, very full sound, accurate detailed and exciting.  However, whenever I go back to vinyl (with a well-recorded nice pressing) I find the sound so much more satisfying.  There is a warmth, yes, but there is a presence, a 'there-ness' that I just don't get with the digital.  I'm wondering if an R2R DAC would get me closer to that?  my budget would be around the same as the qutest.  I was looking at the MHDT Orchid or the Border Patrol.  Don't get me wrong, I really like the Qutest.  I am thinking of putting it in the upstairs system to pair with the Node2i I have up there.  Any thoughts?  Will analog always just be a different animal than digital?

Currently in the main system I have a Sonore uRendu feeding the Qutest which is going to a LTA MZ2 going to a Pass XA 30.5

thanks!
adam8179

Showing 2 responses by redwoodaudio

redwoodaudio
415 posts
 
Well, OP, I just went from chord qutest to holo audio may (r2r). It’s a non oversampling dac, although it does oversample too if you want that. Wow, what an upgrade! Slightly less crisp, but warm, smooth, natural, wonderful deep rich soundstage. There's more "air" in the music now, as herb reichert talked about in stereophile. The 2 DACs are not equally priced, so it’s not entirely fair, but I am thrilled with the change. The r2r part is key, but power supply, clocking, and quality of output stage all contribute. Go NOS r2r and don’t look back.
redwoodaudio
415 posts
 
It just so happens that stereophile has recently highly recommended two r2r DACs, the denadrips terminator and the holo audio may. If you read herb reichert column a few months ago on the may dac, he acknowledged that stereophile had not done r2r technology justice.  Delta sigma is definitely not the only reference game in town anymore.

Why do we have to be so tribalistic about DACs, though? Seriously, lots of good products out there, and yours is almost certainly not the "best" in the world. So you bought a dac that somebody else doesn't like... Just ignore them.
More to discover