2. digital
  3. 191150-21

Six DAC Comparison

I am in the middle of comparing the sound of six different DACs in my system. I own them all (I know weird) but one of them is still within a trial/return timeframe.

Not to share specific comparisons today, but a couple of observations so far are that first, they all definitely sound different from each other. On one hand, they all sound pretty good and play what is fed to them without significant flaws but on the other hand there are definite sonic differences that make it easy to understand how a person might like the sound of some of them while not liking others.

Second, raises the observation that most of them must be doing something to shape the sound in the manner the designer intended since one of the DACs, a Benchmark DAC3 HGA, was described by John Atkinson of Stereophile as providing "state-of-the-art measured performance." In the review, JA closed the measurements section by writing, "All I can say is "Wow!" I have also owned the Tambaqui (not in my current comparison), which also measured well ("The Mola Mola Tambaqui offers state-of-the-digital-art measured performance." - JA). The Benchmark reminds me sonically of the Tambaqui, both of which are excellent sounding DACs.

My point is that if the Benchmark is providing "state-of-the-art measured performance," then one could reasonably presume that the other five DACs, which sound different from the Benchmark, do not share similar ’state-of-the-art" measurements and are doing something to subtly or not so subtly alter the sound. Whether a person likes what they hear is a different issue.

mitch2
mitch2 OP
4,075 posts
 

@soix - Not planning a big reveal at the end, but maybe a couple of comparison comments. I will mostly let the write-ups stand on their own.

Regarding the Merason and LTA Aero, they are both DACs but otherwise somewhat apples and oranges. The Aero’s strengths are about drive and leading edge excitement while the Merason seems to be more about dense tone and fluidity. They both do a good job of playing music, and neither leaves anything out, but I would envision buyers would have quite different sonic priorities which would result in their selecting only one of those two DACs, but not both. Sonically, my preferences fall sort of in between the two but closer to the Merason than to the Aero.

Unless Benjamin is able to send me a Mystique Y DAC, I have only one Mojo Audio DAC write-up to go (after the SMc DAC-2) but I can add that IMO, the two (more expensive) Mojo Audio DACs that I have here now pretty much do what the Aero does but in a somewhat more refined and engaging manner.  The Merason is a bit different from the others and does the dense tone and fluidity thing a tiny bit better than the Mojo Audio DACs, while the Mojo Audio DACs engage with respect to organic/natural sound (and perhaps dynamic excitement) on a level the Merason will not quite match. Again, this may very well be a case of R-2R vs. D-S (hybrid), or simply horses for courses.

soix
9,730 posts
 

So, if I’m reading you right it seems that the Mojo has bits of both the LTA and Merason that you like without going too far and then weaves them into a more cohesive and engaging presentation for your tastes.  Sound about right?

mitch2 OP
4,075 posts
 

Sort of. The Mojo DACs and Aero are all R-2R DACs while the Merason is a hybrid Delta-Sigma, so there are fundamental differences in the conversion that are not surprisingly audible, IMO.

The differences in the sound between the Mojos and Aero may be more related to power supply differences and output stage implementation. Yes, I do like the sound of the 3x more expensive Mojos better than the Aero - no shame there.

cdc
1,826 posts
 

Looking at the big picture here, we're talking about chasing down the last 2 or 5% in sound quality?

bgross's avatar
bgross
406 posts
 

@mitch2 boy, you are super thorough with your reporting. Thank you for spending so much time on this. In my instance, I listened to a couple of the listed DACs when upgrading from my Line Magnetic and I didn't really feel there was a significant enough upgrade (especially for what some of these cost) to the LMs presentation until I demoed the Canor 2.10. I mentioned before that I have rare exotic tubes in the LM, which is really great, and also recently purchased Amperex Gold Pin 6922s to go in the Canor's output stage and although I haven't had a lot of time to listen to the new tubes and or run through all its filters, I am more than happy with this Canor component. Just rounded all the bases for me and at $4K is a pretty solid value. Just my experience. 

More to discover