Which DACs are known to be sweet/rich/relaxed?
Problem
System is nicely transparant and detailed, but tends to get bright and harsh with certain (rock) recordings and at higher volume levels.
Objective
Nudge the system towards a sweeter, richer, more relaxed presentation.
Proposed solution / first step
Upgrade to a (tube based) DAC, budget $25-40k.
Current chain
On my radar
Lampizator Pacific (or Golden Gate 2 since I heard it's more "tube-like")
Aries Cerat Kassandra 2 Ref or Sig
— What other DACs should I consider?
— Do you think upgrading to another (tube based) DAC will achieve that sweeter, richer, more relaxed presentation?
@dlcockrum Thanks for your input. A few posts ago I elaborated on how I dragged my system from the living room to my 13ft x 20ft bedroom. This room is very well padded and it's RT60 is only a third of my living room. This made ALL the difference. All problems were gone. So, my echo-y living room is the culprit. I shouldn't be looking at new gear, but try to bring down the RT60 in my living room. Which is what I'm doing now :) |
@robert1976 My apologies for missing that key post. Obviously my skimming skills are lacking. Glad that you found a solution. Enjoy! |
All systems depended, on who can tell anyone how something will sound in their system. Room (huge) and then what gear used and their mix and matched, power cords used (huge), Good quality well made DAC from companies that built from the ground up and not using OEM part to build it, this also makes for better long term use problem free. Lastly, a bad recording is what it is is, no matter the format it sucks,...Smile! |
@robert1976 Rob, I think you’re on the right track - addressing room acoustics is extremely important and without getting that done you’ll be chasing ghosts by swapping your components. I just started paying more attention to it as well and it is already paying off. Also, once your room is more or less tuned consider experimenting with network switches and filters. Depends on how sensitive the Tambaqui is to the quality of the incoming Ethernet signal, you may further improve the sound of your system as you run your Ethernet cable directly into the Tambaqui. I know it’s somewhat a controversial subject and I’m potentially opening a can of worms here by bringing it up, but it can help further improve the presentation and let your digital components do what they need to do much easier without having to deal with the electrical noise, RFI, EMI, etc. You may be surprised by the improvements. Again, depends on how your digital components deal with noise and how noisy your router is. |
I have the Scala Utopia, which, offers somewhat similar challenges as the Stella Utopia (albeit on a smaller scale). It sounds harsh and revealing with some equipment. After a lot of experimentation, I’ve settled onto this for musicality: 1. A basic $5k R2R DAC (Holo May) 2. (Very important) a musical, euphonic preamp (I’ve had McIntosh tube preamps before but nothing beats my current Hegel P30. Feels like I am using tubes but with none of that noise / distortion at higher volumes) 3. (Very important) ‘warm cables’. I moved from silver-based power cables to copper based ones (AQ Hurricane) 4. Hegel H30 amp to match my preamp Very musical, with ‘meat on the bones’ type presentation. |
