Third day of breaking in the DAC-2. Impressed with many aspects so far. Not being very analytical. Just getting used to it. superficial aspects: it's an giant SUV compared to my little Lite DAC-AH; i like the dimmable display; the controls are thoughtful and intuitive; power switch up front - yes!
Comparatively (to my Lite DAC-AH): big defined bass; better sound stage; very detailed highs and timbre that i hadn't experienced before; nice lows and it's detailed timbre (like right now I'm listening to Brett Sparks of the Handsome Family sing in his low voice followed by marimbas in a White Stripes track); the female vocals haven't been as velvety as I like (which could partially be attributed to the Telefunkens that I just put back into my pre). i have some CBS/Hytron and RCA Cleartops to try out. Waiting for the break in to open it up more. It should kick my old DACs butt. not gonna A-B for a few more days.
i'm hoping the break in will give me better mids and even more imaging.
got my fingers crossed. i kind of went out on a limb pre-ordering. it's the first brand new home audio component I've bought since the 80s.
i've been using the Toslink and USB out of my MacMini. using a trial version of Pure Music on occasion. the USB output causes a delay in the audio transmission that's unacceptable for playing movies/tv from the computer. but the Toslink sync is about the same at my old DAC (maybe 3 frames behind the video). i created a keyboard short cut AppleScript for switching the audio output between USB to Toslink. but when Pure Music is running the switch has some kinks. i don't have much hi res music to test. just the Raising Sand album and a couple Jonathan Richman records I digitized from my mediocre turntable set-up. oh, and the 24/44 Beatles in Stereo. i guess I'll be able to A-B those.
i'm not planning on using it as a pre-amp, but will definitely be testing it that way at some point.
ambivalent about the fact that I'll be rolling all my cables and tubes around to get the system tuned.
