Theta DS Pro Gen V - can you tell me about it?

I have a Va. The V and Va are classics which still hold their own today. I understand the V may be slightly behind the Va. Although it is a 20 bit which doesn't
upsample, it is extremely dynamic, has great bass and midgrange clarity. The highs are extended and extremely clean. Excellent detail, imaging and soundstaging capabilities. The only flaw that I hear is a relatively slightly aggressive quality in the upper midrange spectrum. You should be able to compensate for this by selecting compatible cables and/or with equipment matching, but if your system is laid back sonically, you may not hear this quality at all. It is definitely an alternative to the megabuck flavor-of-the-month dacs which do little, if anything, better than this one. You definitely can build a class A system around a Theta Gen Va. But don't take my word for it. Why not ask the dealer to stick it in his best system on the floor? If the price is right, by all means, pick it up!

I have just sold my Gen Va. While waiting for my EMM combo to arrive, I picked up an used Muse Model 2 DAC for 300$ ... roughly 1/5th of what I got for my Theta. To my surprise, Muse is MUCH more musical, has graeater midrange fluidity and more body. Soundstage depth is greater too. Shure, bass doesn't have Theta's slam, resolution is slightly reduced, but overall, I prefer cheaper Muse. It also has a better jitter rejection than Theta, which makes a transort selection not so cruitial (which is the case with Gen Va).

I have a Gen III and am considering upgrading to a Gen Va,as my Gen III suffers from a hyped-up sounding upper midrange. However, what I am gathering from Rayhall's comments is that the Gen Va does not obliterate this characteristinc altogether.

I am also considering modding the Gen III with High-Quality caps to smooth out the sound. I want to make the best re-use of the Theta's power supplies. I want to retain the dynamics, but end up with a mellower tonal balance.
Any suggestions?

Bob

how can I upgrade my theta digital DS Pro Generation V dac or ho can upgraded for me.

Hi Budda888.
The Theta DS Pro Gen V has got some real promise for RedBook Cd replay. it uses a PCM1702 R2R ladder multibit dac and it has HDCD as well from memory.

If you get it cheap enough and know someone that could mod the analogue I/V and output stage to todays current thinking, it could be very very good for Redbook Cd, better than todays Delta Sigma based dacs, for Redbook, even expensive ones.

If you have a good tech show him this thread on great feedback free I/V and output stage, should only take 1 or 2 hours to mod. parts are around $20 for 3 x stack per channel of AD844's

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/227677-using-ad844-i-v.html

Cheers George

I still have a Theta DS Pro Gen Va. I used a Muse model nine S as transport with an AES cable. The Muse by itself was nearly comparable. With a good transport it is hard to beat for redbook. YMMV
The Gen Va will decode wav 24/96 (at 20 bits , which is not unusual). It will not decode 24/96 MLP. I don't think it has HDCD. It uses a propriatry filter, perhaps equivalent to a MP filter today. It has a great audio stage. I used it with a M2Tech hiFACE to drive files from my pc USB TO A bnc cable to the theta input where i replaced the rca jack with a bnc.
The sound with this low jitter feed was very good. I think the audio section is so good,it would not pay to mod it.