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Curious about older "world class" D/A converters

Good day, all.

Recently, I’ve become a little obsessed with the idea of purchasing/employing an older DAC. The few that’ve been swirling in my mind are the Mark Levinson 360s, dCS Elgar and Spectral SDR-2000/Pro. Here’s what I have in place now (and I’ve been through many systems over the years):

- MacBook Pro / SSD / AIFF’s, over the air
- ModWright Transporter (Emission Labs 5U4G / 50’s Sylvania 6SN7’s)
- Duelund DCA20GA
- Line Magnetic 218ia (Shuguang 845B’s, Gold Lion KT-77’s and 12AX7’s)
- Kimber 4PR
- Omega Super 7XRS

I listen to all types of music (99.9% of my digital library is Redbook), favoring acoustic anything - as much as possible, I attempt to get the effect that the instruments are in the room. As is, everything is dialed in pretty darn nicely, but I feel as though I could use just a bit more focus - if I could have a sharpness dial... Anyhow, you get what I mean. And just so you know, I chose the Transporter over a Berkeley Alpha 2 (had both in the system for 8 months or so, with the former feeding the latter via AES). In the end, I feel there’s just something organic about the Transporter. The Alpha certainly did everything right, but the Transporter just seemed more "natural" (for lack of a more elaborate description). I will say, though, that in some cases, depending on the material - if I’m being completely honest with myself - I wasn’t able to tell them apart and actually got them mixed up in my own exhaustive comparisons.

So, all that said (and sorry for the long-windedness) would any of the three I mention above be worth a shot? I will admit that I’m smitten with the engineering, design and build quality of these pieces without even having an idea of what they might sound like.

Thanks for your time,
Mark (ballywho, since 2003)
ballywho
ballywho OP
134 posts
 
Well, friends, I ended up going with an EMM Labs DAC6e SE.  Not quite as old as the ones I initially mentioned, but certainly a world class product.  I don't do SACD - and I won't need all six channels - but apparently the thing does Redbook quite well (the SE upgrade supposedly adding more to the equation with RB than SACD, and quite dramatically so). I'll report back on my impressions once it's been in place for a bit.  

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions!

Warm regards,
Mark
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Curious about older "world class" D/A converters
 For doing D/A conversion of PCM 16/44 to 24/96 (RedBook cd), I and many others believe the older dacs that used properly implemented Multibit d/a converters chip are the best way of doing pcm conversion.
Those Mutibit dac/chips have ceased being made because of the very high cost of manufacturing these chips.
Good older examples of properly implemented ones are the Linn CD12, Mark Levinson No.39, Naim CD555 ect ect.
Todays Multibit ones are as above but done with discrete components because of no chip manufactures making ready made ones anymore, EG: Total dac, MSB flagship models ect ect.

Cheers George   
jond's avatar
jond
5,852 posts
 
Mark congrats and enjoy your new DAC and please do let us know your impressions! And happy listening!
ballywho OP
134 posts
 
Good day, all.

I received the DAC6e SE (in absolutely perfect condition, with all the original packaging - someone really took care of this unit), got everything set up, with the word clock in it being master, and...loads of crackling, primarily in the right channel.  The thing locks to the signal, reporting no errors at all.  If I make the Transporter (running the very latest LMS 7.9.1) master, the crackling vanishes.  What a buzz kill.  This defeats the purpose of having this thing in the first place; that is, placing the clock 1.5 meters away (my AES cable's length) and then however much the boards, etc. add, will introduce jitter, not remove it...which again, defeats it's purpose and negates it's use.

I've left a voice message for EMM Labs (their online support query page has a problem on it that puts me in a loop of being unable to submit anything), so we'll see what they come back with.

If any of you have any suggestions at all, please let me know.  Again, everything is set up correctly.  All I can figure is that this is a firmware thing...but 7.9.1 would/should have the latest.  Maybe I need a much earlier one?  Who knows.

Thanks for your time,
Mark
ballywho OP
134 posts
 
Just read this on the Slim Devices forum:

"Also try lower the brightness level of the display. My Transporter feeding to my Emm Labs DCC2SE produces the pops/clicks if the display brightness is above level 2 on wireless and wired. The phenomenon is less pronounced on wired but definitely out of control on wireless. This only occurs if I set the Transporter as slave and the DAC as master using clock input/output."

I kinda had to laugh as I tried this; of course it didn't make any difference (if it had, the DAC6 would have some serious shielding issues - ha).
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