EMM Labs DAC6 vs. latest version dCS

IMHO, Romy *IS* right about the Bidat. For those of you who have not listened to a BiDat with the complete, latest modifications by John Wright, you are truly missing out on a product which is - on most types of music, significantly better than any one box CD player I've listened to. Where the BiDat seems a little "weak in the knees" is in how it portrays large scale, classical pieces. Otherwise, the BiDat sound is very life-like and has a completeness to it which is truly remarkable. Digital artifact seems to disappear with this unit and is replaced with something that seems so very natural.

Tireguy - Romy knows his stuff. I wouldn't consider his input as trolling -- necessarily. It seems to me he is rather eccentric and even a genius perhaps, when it comes to audio.

That said, I think its safe to assume the DAC6 is potentially better than the BiDat -- I don't know, I haven't listened to a DAC6. However - if you do searches on Audioasylum, for BiDat, you will ultimately find a post Romy made where he says (in so many words) his BiDat rivals his SME20.

*I* can confirm that the BiDat does in fact come scary close to the SME20 when playing similarly mastered material if paired with a good transport and the RIGHT CABLES. This is something that cannot be said for most any one box CD player and/or transport/dac combo.

Yes, I would expect that the new DAC6 might be an exception.. Ed certainly has come along way with his latest creation but I would be willing to bet that a properly modified BiDat (which can be found for < 1/10 the price of a DAC6) would sure put a smile on the faces of people who cannot afford a $10,000 CD/SACD machine.

Bwhite- Romy has interfered with more then a few threads and essentially ruins them- I didn't want to see that happen again. Regardless of his knowledge of audio he approaches subjects the wrong way and I must admit I am sick and tired of it. You can not have a discussion of certain brands with out him poking his head in and adding foolish comments that have no bearing on the subject at hand. He will say this and that stinks but I call him and ask what would he recommend, and I get nothing. He does not contribute here he just takes.

Sorry to hijack the thread but I recently heard a re-tooled by John Wright BiDat using a hotrodded 333ES as a transport compared to a Channel Islands DAC with upgraded power supply. A caveat being that the BiDat was very fresh with less than 20 hours on it and IMHO it was more different than better than the CI DAC. Both DACs had a detailed and to my ears a musical (hackneyed to death) presentation and I might be persuaded to give the Museatex a slight edge in data retreival but the little CI DAC was not embarassed in any way running up against the much more expensive BiDat. Possibly a better transport and digital cable may have widened the gap somewhat but I can only report on what I heard.

As far as comparing the Meitner stuff I heard it at the show in Montreal this past March in a Halcro/Eggelston/Valhalla system and was less than impressed. I understand that the Meitner/Tenor/Kharma room was substantially better but unfortunately I didn't get much of an opportunity to hear it...

Rdg & Tireguy, The BiDat does take a while to settle down after the modifications. At one point with my BiDat, after 30 hours (I think), I told John Wright I was VERY unhappy with it...and inquired whether or not I could return it. IT sounded broken. In my experience "break-in" is over rated and for components I've owned, 80-90% of the true/final sonic signature is present out of the box. The BiDat however changes dramatically. I find it difficult to put a percentage on how significant the change is between a fresh BiDat and a fully broken in one. It's that dramatic.

One thing about the BiDat that differs from top one box players is that there is simply NO "hocus pocus" to the sound, meaning it doesn't have an outwardly, nifty way of candy coating music to make one immediately think its better. Its difficult to pin-point exactly what the BiDat does in order to accomplish the seemingly impossible. Put a BiDat side by side with an analog source and it is extremely close. Try that analog/digital comparison with ANY other one box player and you'll sell your digital.

Tireguy - you have a VERY good point, thanks for bringing that up. Romy has been known to railroad more than a few good threads. I've managed to find something similar to humor in his posts - so they don't bother me too much. And.. If I look hard enough, I usually find something useful. It seems that Romy is not too keen on making recommendations because he doesn't like to take responsibility for people's finances - and/or reactions to various components which may differ from his.

this is a good thread that should be continued if possible. I have been communicating with Bryan (Bwhite) off-line re: the Melior/Meitner stuff, as I will be the first one to be testing a special 'signature' version of the Melior 'Data II' (John Wright's modded Melior Datatream dac). The Data II is already superb, however he has some Black Gates coming in, and a larger power transformer that we will be adding to my already modded unit. I will try to remember to post results. The Data II is VERY similar to the Bidat in performance, and I second everything Bwhite has said. It competed VERY well with my ref setup- Spectral 3000SL transport/Audio Note 3.1x balalnced dac. More to come...