2. digital
  3. 1327217166

Worlds best DAC

Went to CES this year to work on my transition to high Rez digital. I've heard many of the highly regarded players in my room or in others systems in the past. I'm actually very happy with my current cd based sound. As I listened to various DACS playing CD then high Rez, I was not bowled over. High rez was better, but only slightly so. The best (and most different) sound I heard happened to have one similarity. They were 2 non oversampling DACS with tube analog stages(Zanden and Ypsilon). These were without question the most natural sounding digital systems I heard at the show. They made CDsound miles ahead of high Rez. What gives?

PS: I understand the limitations of show auditions.
bflowers
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
the advantage of a tubed dac is the ability to alter the sound by changing the tube. sometimes one prefers more or less resolution, a warm sound, or other presentation. having a tube , especially in the gain stage has its benefits.
bflowers OP
80 posts
 
Arnie,

I was in the room with that dac while a friend was listening to something else by that distributor. I thought it was on static display. I wasn't aware that it was a contender. It looked nice as I recall. Do you know the price?
babybear's avatar
babybear
106 posts
 
It was in the Musical Artisans room with Magico Q3 speakers and they were using Luxman mono block amps (not sure of the model) with all Argento Flow Master Reference cabling. They are working on an amplifier and that was in the room on static display.

It is definitely a contender as some of the best digital playback around (easily the best that I have ever heard). Its hard to know the exact price as the C1 dac/preamp has multiple options that you can choose - for example the async USB board is an option, as is the Ethernet board. I spoke to the founder of the company, Florian Cossey, while I was there and they are also working on an analog input board that he felt would be available sometime around June of this year. I think the base price of the C1 dac/preamp is in the $30K range. When I listened to it in my room, it sounded best when the C1 unit was used as both a Dac and preamp (it has both RCA and XLR analog outputs). It is also built like a tank - the C1 unit itself weighed around 70 pounds.

Arnie
tom6897's avatar
tom6897
1,484 posts
 
Glad to see that the price has been kept low so that we may all enjoy it. Not!
lloydelee21
1,202 posts
 
Hi Arnie/Babybear,

Any updates on the CH Precision? I own the Zanden Signature DAC and am likely to keep it for some time to come having elected to pass on a trade-in option for Wadia S7, DCS Scarlatti and various ARC equipment. However, I came across the STahl-Tek Vekian and was intrigued/tempted.

I then read about CH Precision...first from you!. And then i saw this morning that a superb SOTA system (Rockport Arrakis 2 speakers, 2 sets of Gryphon Mephisto monos, 6 SOTA turntables, Transp Ref Opus MM2 cabling everywhere, dedicated room, etc, etc)...just got a CH Precision digital system so now I am seriously interested to know more...since i like the system this person has, having gotten to know Gryphon electronics, Transp Audio cabling and Rockport speakers. Thanks for any update!!!
More to discover