Looking at the big picture here, we're talking about chasing down the last 2 or 5% in sound quality?
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.
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@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. |
Thank you for your thorough and comprehensive evaluations on those Dacs; I’m sure it will be a big help for those looking at those price points. Wig Merason Dac1 MKII/ Pro Ject RS2T CD Transport user 😊 Top 3 digital cables that I have heard and some nearly $2K but the ones listed below are at $500 and below: 1. DIY Furutech das 4.1 with Furutech AES/EBU NCF 2. Grover Huffman Pharaoh Copper 3. Grover Huffman Pharaoh + Silver |
@wig -Thanks for the cable list. I have never tried Grover Huffman cables of any type but I know many like them and believe they offer a good performance to price ratio. I have not gone too far down the road of digital cables but I have tried a few USB cables including Curious, Triode Wire Labs, Totaldac, and Network Acoustics Muon. Of those, the Totaldac seems more organic sounding while the NA Muon seems more incisive and detailed sounding but without any shrillness or fatiguing qualities. I am using TWL's AES/EBU cable and that seems to work/sound fine. Sonore wants me to try their USB cable but I have made more traction upgrading components rather than cables so I sort of stay middle of the road wrt digital cable choices. @cdc - I wouldn't say "last 2 or 5% in sound quality" as I believe these DACs have a larger sonic impact than that, and much more than the difference in servers. I have had several pretty good servers and none of them made a discernable sonic difference, although I did hear a big improvement in moving to the Sonore Signature Rendu SE streamer. That discussion gets messy because when you say "server" many believe you are talking about a server/streamer combination. The thing about DACs is they do sound quite different from each other and while one may not generally be significantly "better" than another, they definitely sound significantly different from each other. Most people seem to have a type of sound they like, and will choose a DAC that matches that type of sound and avoid DACs that provide a different type of sound. @bgross - There seems to be a small jam pile of DACs at around $4K. I had not heard of the Canor from Slovakia, which uses dual ESS Sabre chips and four tubes, but it has received several very positive reviews for how it sounds. Maybe somebody else with access should do a comparison of all the $4K DACs on the market. |
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