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New DAC issues

I have been on a steady system upgrade path over the last year and one of the last pieces to be updated is my DAC, a Schiit Gungnir Multibit. I have no complaints with it, but I am always in search of more and better. The majority of my upgrades have been a big success.

I recently purchased a new DAC that shall remain unnamed, I don't want to throw it and the builder under the bus, but it is about a 5x multiple in cost over the Gungnir. I have had the new DAC for four days now, and I have been playing it continuously. When I installed it, I simply unplugged the other DAC and substituted this one, so minimal change. Initial impressions were that it sounded pretty lean and the soundstage was not great, but I figured it would sound better after warming up. There has been some improvement, but it is not significant.

Playing music with the Gungnir in place, bass was plentiful without being overbearing, and very clean. With the new DAC, bass is almost an afterthought. The Gungnir presented a beautiful soundstage and my speakers disappeared. The new DAC presents a good center image, though smaller than the Gungnir, and the speakers are pretty apparent on most tracks. In general, the magic is gone from the music, there is detail in the mids and highs, but not a lot of life.

I expected a different sound of course, but I cannot imagine that this is the way a DAC at this level is supposed to sound. I think that the Gungnir is considered a warmer DAC, but the contrast in this case is extreme. I am wondering if there is either an issue with the unit or somehow a mismatch with my gear. It provides a 3V output vs the Gungnir's 4V, which may make it a little less lively, but 3V is not out of the ordinary.

The rest of my systems is Pass XP-12 -> Coda #8 -> KEF Reference 1. I am in between streamers right now and using my DigiOne/Pi with LPS over RCA SP/DIF. One could question the streamer, but it sounds great with the Gungnir. I had an Aurender N10, but I did not get along with the Conductor software and now have an Innuos Zenith on the way. Connections are all balanced with Wireworld Eclipse 8's, Acoustic Zen speaker cables and an Acoustic Zen digital cable. Power is dedicated and runs through a Furman Elite 20.

I listen mostly to jazz and lower levels and I have always had a full sound, however with the new DAC the system is no longer engaging. Thoughts? Can a DAC just be incredibly lean?

 

 

zlone
zlone OP
789 posts
 

@adasdad Good comments. I recently owned an Aurender N10 and purposely used the SPDIF outputs because the designers included a very good OCXO clock, it sounded great. However, I could not deal with the Conductor software, and they recently made it clear that the N10 would never be Roon ready. We will see how good the USB interface is when I plug in the Innuos coming this week. As for Burr Brown, I don't have any experience with them before this, my Gungnir is ASIC based(I think) R2R. All I know is that I have heard the Merason's in a couple settings and they are quite natural, which is my goal. I am not a freak about high resolution, I want the sound to be real and not wear on me. It will take some time, on the order of months, to decide if I like the unit or not. At some point I will pops the Gungnir back in and assess the contrast.

@audphile1 Unfortunately, Innuos Zenith only offers USB. I think you have to get to the Statement to get SPDIF of any flavor. Makes me a little nervous having no options, and some really nice SPDIF cables, but it is a well reviewed unit and I expect it will be decent.

@stuartk  I will provide my thoughts on the Reuss after some time. Unlike other components, I am not sure I am a good judge of DAC's, I just don't have broad experience in that space. When I get to the point of plugging the Gungnir back in to the system and hearing contrast, I will be able to put some thoughts together.

 

zlone OP
789 posts
 

Okay, big day yesterday! I said I was going to pop the lids on the preamp and the DAC and see if I could find anything amiss. I started with the Pass preamp and it took me about five seconds to discover the issue, a very incomplete solder joint, on Pin 1 of one of the balanced outputs. Like, you could not miss it when comparing it to others. I have only had the preamp for a month or so, and I suspect that the limited connection was holding on and functioning, probably at a reduced level, during that time. When introducing the new DAC, it is my guess that I jarred the solder connection loose and it was now functioning simply by pressing against the pin. Pulling and reseating cables must have improved this, hence the better sound I heard the other night.

Being handy enough with a soldering iron, I fixed the connection. Wow! Everything is back and big! It makes me feel better that I was not imagining this after all. I only had 60/40 solder available, I hope that will be sufficient for a rather critical connection, I am not sure what Pass uses. Makes me wonder if I should have them look the whole thing over.

Thanks for all the comments. This was not quite the journey I expected when adding a new DAC, but really glad I got it resolved. On to listening...

classic8
97 posts
 

@zlone Good detective work!

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
5,443 posts
 

@zlone good work! Goad to hear the preamp is back in business.

Innuous USB output should be decent. Not sure how Merason implements that portion of the DAC - you won’t know until you try

yyzsantabarbara
5,015 posts
 

@zlone I would have PASS look at it or send you the solder they use. When I was putting back together my totally messed up Thiel CS3.7 speaker the Thiel tech in Kentucky (forgot his name) sent me some solder they use on the Thiel speakers. That was so easy to use, and the tech told me they liked it the best over other solder. Maybe Pass has they own secret sauce for solder. Seems like an important part of the gear.

BTW - I did some more testing with my new Yggdrasil+ OG. I set it up in my office on top of the Yggdrasil+ Less Is More DAC. I wanted something that worked better than the LIM on a tube headphone amp.

The OG was giving me a bit of fatigue last week on the bright RAAL CA-1a headphones. I spent the past week playing the OG a lot on both my LRS+ speakers and the RAAL CA-1a headphones. Now after another week of playing the OG it sounds spectacular on both the LRS+ and the CA-1a. Now I need to decide if I keep the warmer LIM, which is also great in a different way on the LRS+. Not so great on the tube amp (too warm for me).

 

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