New EMM Labs DAC 2 or Accustic Arts Ref Tube DAC

The idea of tube rolling a DAC sounds crazy to me. At those prices, couldn't designer get it right?

Dave

designers tend not to use rare NOS tubes unless they hv a reliable & continuous source for them. end-consumers on the other hand are free to scout & buy whatever suits their tastes (in other words, its not as simplistic as "designers getting it right").

Dazzdax, I am not technically that competent to tell you why but if you can write to info@accusticarts.de and I am sure one of its designers, Stefan Schunk (son of the founder) will answer you. Though he's German, he's quite well versed in answering in English unlike many German companies' rep. You can read their company history at

Accustic Arts History

For myself, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and you should try it out. ;-)

To DCStep
Many tube equipment when sold also do not provide you the best tubes, the reason being that it's quite hard to find the best tubes which are NOS, new old stock, which are no longer in production. They are limited in numbers, and the prices rise each year for many of these good tubes. And no tube audio equipment manufacturer will cost in their equipment or otherwise their equipment will fluctuate monthly with the price of these NOS tubes.
I guess you never used any tube audio equipment before. ;-)

As to why NOS tubes are still the best, google and find out yourself

Hi Hotbird
I have the emmLabs Dac 2 & the emmLabs TSD1 Transport (I am the New Zealand distributor for emmLabs) and it is the best DAC I have heard in my audio systems.
I have not compared to the AA DAC you mention sorry, but do we need valves in the the DAC stage, in my opinion no we do not after expeienceing both Valve DAC`s and the emmLabs DAC 2
Thanks
Jason.