Just when I thought digital could not match analog


I recently had an experience that forced me to re-think a long held belief about audio sources. The experience was a recent comparison between the new dB Audio Labs Tranquility USB DAC (fed by a Mac Mini computer) to my reference analog rig (VPI Super Scoutmaster). In the past, every time I compared digital to analog, it was clearly evident which was which. The analog always sounded much more real, fluid and involving. No matter what strengths the digital had, it was never even in the same ballpark as analog. I have even found that inexpensive analog rigs have these particular advantages over digital. This has now changed. The dB Audio labs DAC is in the same ballpark as analog! In fact, it was difficult to tell the Tranquility DAC from the Super Scoutmaster. It felt like comparing two analog rigs, and my analog rig is no slouch costing approximately $7K. After more listening, I found that the analog is slightly more fluid and the digital is slightly more dynamic. Which do I prefer, hard call… But, this is the first time I have EVER found a digital source that is even comparable to analog! I will be adding a Tranquility DAC to my system and finally be able to enjoy digital as much as analog.
sdfish
In fairness, the OP has been a member since at least '08 since he has feedback dating back that far. Could still be a sales pitch, but it's not as clear as if he had just signed up this month.
Last night I had the opportunity to hear and compare the Tranquility DAC to a highly accoladed CD player, the AMR. This was in a $100k plus system. The Tranquility and the AMR were also compared to master tapes on a special $6k reel to reel deck as our ultimate reference. Of course, the reel to reel was everything they say it is and even more. The Tranquility had very good sustain and decay and was analog like and it was similar to the reel to reel in terms of fluidity, voicing and detail, but it was obvious which was better, the reel to reel but not by a huge margin. We used Nils Lofgren as one of our music references and his acoustic guitar was clearly defined on the Tranquility where on the AMR, it was fatter sounding and less defined. The Tranquility did have more fluidity in the midrange than the AMR too. Lastly, the noise floor was a lot lower and on the Tranquility. All this being being said I'm ordering one after the holidays.