Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Ouch

Look here everyone, Lets give credit where credit is due. Glory, what DAC retails fr $3K that is even close to the engineering inside the Comet plus its very Analog presentation ? You are comparing it to a $10K DAC for Petes sake.Which by the way has plastic feet.. They are Apples and oranges. I know its nice to realize you are living in the Stratos, but to laugh at the Comet is not fair nor a comparison whatsoever. Methinks Ive got a $6500 DAC that is absolutely as good as and possibly better than Rockna to my ears in my room with whatever electromagnetic pull is at this GPS coordinate plus all my mental hangups about how audio "should" be or sound..aaaand OCD.. When Jeff first asked me about how I liked the comet I was like... mmmmmehh.. then said something about my $15K balanced differential 45 triode DAC and the 3 others, but after opening his piece up to inspect, I honestly called him Yoda. Exogal are freaking design Jedis. I have never once in my life seen a piece of gear so brilliantly laid out and put together. Its nothing short of a genius product. You called it a beginner DAC.. I think you nailed it. Its about the smartest market position I could think of with all us tweaky fogies going to pasture. We use "my dads stereo" not the cool, hip product for the times. These guys nailed it square in the kisser. Brilliant, I applaud the Comet and Ion. So I bought them.. Because they are so cool. and portable, and light, and clean..etc.. They are there to loan and or backup. I was going to buy them even if they were never used. Just to remind myself how to think when I design gear. So take a chill pill brother on whacking the company of guys that as far as I am concerned, started high end digital... didnt you ever hear some of those insane WADIA DAC’s ? dude...its one of the founding fathers.. Respect. Honestly If I were to go through the build with you and show you how and why things were dome a certain way... youd get it.. I called him yoda because as usual I was busting balls right off the cuff about certain elements.. one was the plexiglass bottom. Plexi holds static energy. not so good for DAC’s.. So as I was giving him a hard time I faintly remembered metal sphere feet, but my lips kept bumping.. then I said to him, dude, if you freaking set those metal marbles through the plexi into the ground plane, (which by the way is the ENTIRE bottom of the unit), I’m just calling you Yoda.. sure enough.. grounded .. OK, I surrender... I am your student oh Obi Wan.Teach me the ways of an audio CEO. So the Comet is the bomb little beginner DAC that will open this market to the people just starting the hobby... the fresh blood... While we all put on our Beaker glasses and I make some Beaker Wire and try to hear the difference between 68 degrees in my room and 68.3. Laugh at my ass man.. I’m the OCD purist freakster bozo.. These guys are the real deal. True smart businessmen taking our ridiculous hobby serious thank God.. So anywho... I’m off to plug in a magical voodo slab and listen for the leading edge of a music piece and try to determine if it was as defined as before, or did I hear it ever so slightly relax and move rearward. Then I’m going to contemplate if thats something that will keep me in my chair or if I’m going to get fatigued which would just be such a bummer.. but wait, perhaps I could open up the box and poke around in there and stick some stuff here and there...hmmmm lets see what material ???... I know ! Rare earth elements!! Yes ! Thats it ! I know from science class some of them react and shit, so let me go Google research that until the sun comes up and my eyes are bloodshot and Ive ordered hundreds of dollars of stuff from God knows where....LOL, laugh at me bro, laugh at me.. Not these guys..


The front panel display still blows though.. ;-)

First, I have read may of your posts, glory, as they frequently pertain to products of interest to me. Your opinions of products/manufacturers are strictly binary (1 or 0) and your posts are unfailingly condescending to others. Not just a bad day here and there as happens to us all, but always.

Second, I own the Exogal Comet Plus. I have found it to be a product that requires time to appreciate and was tipped on that by the friend that recommended it to me prior to my purchase.

I have also found it to be perhaps the most sensitive component I have owned to cabling. Different power cords, USB cables, and even upstream Ethernet cables (in that order) will swing it significantly in a favorable or unfavorable sonic direction. Its sonic character becomes that of the accompanying cord/cable to an comparatively large extent. This, to me, indicates its intrinsic neutrality/transparency/revealing nature, but it is what it is regardless of labeling. I regret that Exogal chose to discourage buyers from experimenting with cords/cables in the product manual and suggest that Jeff reconsider that position.

My usual favorite line of power cords, the "tunable" Synergistic Research active type, drives it from semi-warm to ice cold depending on the model. The usually overly-bass-ripe Tesla T3 UHC power cord is the best I have yet tried with the Comet as it adds low-frequency heft to its sound, which I feel to be the primary challenge in getting the Comet to really sing.

The very fast and ruthlessly revealing WW Platinum Starlight 7 USB cable between my Aurender and the Comet was unlistenable (however that USB cable was magic with the Modwright Elyse). Substitute the Shunyata Venom USB and the sound is somewhat dull, as it was with the other DACs in the comparison. Then, a Curious USB and the porridge from the Comet is nearly just right.

After then comparing three upstream Ethernet cables between my router/modem and my Aurender using the Comet, the excellent SOtM dCBL-CAT7 ethernet cable with its built-in noise reduction network and NASA-level connectors, I found to be not organic enough for the Comet, the SR Ethernet Active UEF SE about the same, but the gray UEF tuning bullet vs the overblown-sounding silver one was very good at adding some needed warmth, yet the Purist Ethernet cable is the best combination of the bunch in this chain in my opinion. Organic, musical, detailed, balanced, beautiful. VERY good cable period, that Purist, and the least expensive (and complex) of the three.

I still, to this point, find that the Comet slightly lacks "Meat on the Bone" harmonic texture and can sound lean compared to robustly rich (in a good way) DACs I have compared it to. However, it showed such promise as a potential keeper from nearly the very beginning in resolution, detail retrieval, PRAT, listener involvement, and tweakability that I will recommend it to those that cannot buy a $$$ "plug and play" DAC and enjoy/are willing to work with it regarding ancillaries.

Dave

Hi Matt, 
long time reader, first time poster (I think... actually maybe I have posted in this thread once already?).
So glad to hear you love the Wells Audio Innamorata. They truly are good aren't they? I own the Innamorata Signature. It's twice the price but talk about special. So clean and so musical with absolutely no transistor artifacts to speak of,  yet with all the tube like harmonics one would ask for... I too am surprised the Innamorata amps are not considered more. Just another excellent audio company that not a lot of people are aware of, I guess.
I hope you enjoy it for a long time.
Jason