How to proceed?
Removing my Aqua La Voce dac from my system has eliminated fatigue and reduced but not fully eliminated sibilance. Running my Jay’s CDT2MKIII into my Hegel H390’s onboard dac is definitely a more relaxed presentation but tonally leaner than I prefer. Some have suggested I swap out the Hegel, but first I’d like to try another dac.
What I’m unclear about is how to go about choosing another dac that will not duplicate the same drawbacks I’ve experienced with the Aqua. Are there details in the design or specs that can guide me in this regard? I'm unsure how to proceed.
Thanks for your comments. Clearly, there is far more to the subject of cables than I’ve realized. I’m surprised, to say the least, to learn of your preference for zero room treatments. How did you arrive at such an unorthodox perspective? Given the fact that I have so little flexibility in this regard, I’d be very curious to know if there are any rules of thumb I might be able to utilize in my space. |
Hey @stuartk well I choose to place my system in the main family room, where we spend most of our time. Next to the kitchen and sound can be heard in both rooms. I’m not into weird objects and appendages all over the place or anything hanging, personally. With quite a bit of home theater furniture and various book shelves and items on shelves, curtains in the back near sliders, we do the best we can. It does okay as-is. "Good Enough" I guess. Being a regular spot, It makes my listening space my favorite place, and where I/we wanna be. It’s forced me to optimize my system in the best ways I can. I listen more this way too, which is more of a priority. The separate Man Cave space is used for other hobby stuff, is the other answer. :) If you ever get a chance to see photos, take a look at the living rooms of some of the well known amp designers, and where they listen. Look around the room, you might tend to see multiple amps and multiple speakers. For some reason I don’t mind this type of added audio fixtures that can be swapped in/out sitting around. We all have our vices I guess. Enjoy yours! :) |
@stuartk ... well, you have to be happy with the amount of responses; that's encouraging, on some level. I have a dac that's close to 14 years old. It developed a timing error that resulted in overly-clinical, often sibilant presentation. Apparently, it was over-reading ... spending too much time reading parts of the digital chain. So high frequencies were over represented. While it still sounded great I'd often get headaches from Miles Davis' muted trumpet and the like. I called the manufacturer, which helped diagnose the problem ... I'd definitely get the Aqua folks involved in this caper. Those guys are brilliant! Good luck, my friend ... Happy New Year!! |
Thanks for your comments. If the sibilance had occurred at a point when I hadn't just replaced two components, I might well call Aqua but it seems highly unlikely to me that what I'm contending with currently is due to a fault in the dac. Yes; it's encouraging to receive responses, especially from guys who not only have the expertise but the patience and generosity to stick with me through the entire problem-solving process. |
We are an aqua dealer used to sell hegel as well
You can get Better sound by switching transports a server will outperform a spinning disc reader our 432evo servers sound amazing and willllget your hegel to sound more musical
Dave and Troy Audio intellect nj US IMPORTERS 432EVO MUSIC SERVERS AQUA DEALERS FORMER hegel dealers
|
