Who has has a totaldac DAC?

As per the Stereophile review the formula here is a mk1 the mk2 upgrade made the formula cleaner while still retaining the dacs warm full bodied sound 

 

dave and troy

audio Intellect NJ

Aqua Dealer

@jc51373  You are right Totaldac sounds more analogue, the Aqua Formula is more forward with huge clarity but i find it paires well with a tube amp.

I now use a Jadis class A amp so it is well balanced with the Aqua Formula.

@thieliste 

 

I had the Total DAC and the Aqua in here and the Totaldac was faaaaar more my preference so I question this person. Not that Aqua isn't good, but they are completely different flavors. 

Going to Edgars (2nd post) again in a couple of weeks to hear the new version Total Dac 1 he just got, he said is even better. It has less gain he said and believes it’s because now there’s no output buffer and comes off the R2R banks instead??
Cheers George

Have been living with the d1-tube for about 5 years and couldn't be happier. I haven't spent time comparing it with other DACs at this price point, but for what it's worth it's hard to imagine anything besting it and I can't imagine wishing to upgrade to an alternative. Their more recent development of amplifiers and speakers also look promising.

@vin99 Funny to see you post that thread. I just read it in entirety earlier today...

When I purchased my last dac I demoed a number of different brands/topologies. One of those was the Matrix x-sabre pro that is near the top of ASR's measurement rankings. Unfortunately I really didn't like it and ended up choosing the audio mirror r2r. I will note that I also didn't like the lampizator amber 3 (very energetic, but too hot and bright) or the PS audio directstream dac (sounded kind of unnaturally mixed up to me, maybe there are some strange phase issues I'm sensitive to). I did not volume match and was sighted, but ran a blind session for a friend and he also chose the AM. The experience made me question the reliance on measurements. In some ways ASR was right (I didn't like the poorly measuring Directstream), but in other ways they were wrong (I didn't like the wonderfully measuring Matrix and my friend's blind impressions matched my own).

That said, some of the issues identified with the tested Totaldac were very alarming.

@cal3713  Well it will be very difficult for me to purchase something other than Totaldac just because not other brands have the engagement,soul and density of Totaldac IMO and i have heard MSB Select ll, DCS Vivaldi, Lampizator Pacific and EmmLab DV2.The only other DAC i liked very much is the Nagra HD DAC which is not within my price range anyway.
I will probably purchase Totaldac d1-direct and after some years upgrade to d1-Twelve mk2.Cheers

Would love to hear their top of the line attack.

I heard the older Spring L2 for a week or two and was was very taken by it, especially when I switched to NOS mode. Think I did quite a spiel on it back some on Audiogon.

Cheers George

And @georgehifi I've also been reading about the new Holo May dual mono dac. Would love to hear their top of the line attack.

I'm following along @thieliste 

Hope some more users pitch in. Please do let me know how it goes if you take the plunge. I love my dac (audio Mirror T3-SE), but am considering moving into the next price level over the next year or two. Am only considering R2Rs and have also been looking at the Mojo Audio units...

Interesting thanks.

This is an interesting read with an A/B half way down the page between the Holo Spring at $2.5k vs the Aqua Formula at $17k

https://www.stereophile.com/content/aqua-acoustic-quality-aqua-formula-xhd-da-processor-read-more

Cheers George

I spoke to a guys who has compared Totaldac d1-Twelve mk2 + d1-streamer vs Aqua Formula xHD + Aqua LinQ and he told me the Aqua combo is much better in his opinion.I shocked considering the Totaldac combo is almost double the price of the Aqua combo.I'm a big fan of Totaldac and was considering the D1-direct + d-1 streamer.Never heard the Aqua combo yet.Anyone heard the Aqua combo ?

As you can see the measured noise on the graph in the above link I posted, is incredibly low well below -150db, the only two noise peaks are at 100hz and 200hz which are mains related, and is apparently eliminated with the even better optional up-rated power supply which Edgar got after the review went to press.

  http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews2/totaldac5/5.jpg

Cheers George   

paul79,

Nice! Thanks for the invite, I might take you up on it sometime.

Depends on what you consider driving distance,   :)   but I am in NE Oklahoma with a full Totaldac Twelve and Server. 4 chassis. It constantly blows my mind. It really freaks me out.

Happy to entertain for a weekend.

tommylion
 Who has has a totaldac DAC?

I’ve heard this reviewer’s system (Edgar Kramer), RedBook cd’s being converted by the top TotalDac with separate power supply, into a Lightspeed Attenuator into Gryphon Antillion Evo poweramp driving Wilson Alexia MkII’s. I can tell you it was a very profound moving experience.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews2/totaldac5/1.html

Cheers George

I've heard one very briefly at a show. Too quick to say anything more than that the room sounded very good. I recall it as a fluent sound. They were demoing the amps and didn't say which Totaldac they were using, they had a whole rack. They used Swedish Marten Design speakers.

If you are shopping in that price range they are worth hearing.