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Reference DACS: An overall perspective

There has been many threads the last few months regarding the sonic signature of some of the highest regarded reference DACS (Dcs,Meitner,Ensemble,Audio Note,Zanden,Reimyo,Accustic Arts) here on the GON. I have been very fortunate to audtion many of these wonderful pieces in my home or friend's systems. I wanted to share, in a systematic way, my impressions/opinions with you GON members for a two reasons: 1)That my experiences might be helpful to fellow members interested in audtioning these DACS. 2)Starting an interesting discussion regarding the different "sonic flavors" of these reference digital front ends. I totally agree with the statement, "if you have not heard it you don't have an opinion". Therefore, I have no comments regarding DACS from Weiss,Goldmund,Audio Aero and Burmester because I have never had the pleasure of audtioning them. I would love to hear from members who have and share their experiences with us. My overall impression is that these DACS(Dcs,Meitner,Ensemble,Audio Note,Zanden,Reimyo,Accustic Arts) can be grouped into two molar categories regarding their overall sonic signature. By the way, all of them can throw a large/deep soundstage with excellent layering in the acoustic space with "air" around individual players on that stage. However, than they start to part company into two major categories. Category #1) These DACS "flavors" revolve around pristine clarity, fine sharp details,speed,very extended top/bottom frequencies,and great PRAT. These DACS never sound "etched" or "in your face" but are more "upfront" then "layed back" in their presentation. The DACS, to my ear's, that go into this bracket are Dcs,Ensemble,Meitner. My personnal favorite in this group is the Ensemble, which I owned for two years. These DACS remind me of the sonic signature of speakers such as Wilson,Thiel,Dynaudio, Focal/JM Labs. Category #2) These DACS "flavors" revolve around a "musical/organic" sense, natural timbres,and an easy flowing liquidity. Their "less forward" presentation my give the impression of less detail, but I think in this case its an illusion fostered by their more relaxed/organic manner. The DACS, to my ear's, that go into this bracket are Audio Note,Zanden,Reimyo,Accustic Arts. I did find that the tube DACS did not have the top/bottom frequency extenstion and PRAT of the SS DACS in this bracket. For me, the Accustic Arts DAC1-MK3 gave me the best of both categories, therefore it is now the resident DAC in my system. These DACS remind me of the sonic signature of speakers such as Magnepan,Von Schweikert,Sonus Faber. Well, it's all just my opinion regarding these digital pieces, but I hope this post was at least informative/somewhat interesting and would lend itself to other GON members sharing their impressions, not about what DAC is the "BEST" in the world, but your personnal taste and synergy with your system.
teajay
mikesinger
572 posts
 
branimir, i would have to sadly agree with you on the future of sacd/dvd-a...'

it would appear the lower resolution /convience format has won again with the advent of compressed formats.. the plus is, it would appear digital recording has improved because of it..

hopefully, the music companies will jump on board and sell ultra high res downloadable for a higher price ( the higher the resolution - the higher the price).

btw, great thread !!!!!!
jazzdude
332 posts
 
Branimir - Did you purchase the Weiss or were you just auditioning it? How long did you let it burn in before critical listening? Were you using the high or low output setting?

I had the Weiss Medea in my system for a week. It took 3 days of continuous use before the sound opened up to any degree. Someone who just powered it on and listened may be disappointed. I've never seen anyone else comment on this and I wonder how many other people have come away dissappointed from an audition because of a lack of burn-in on whatever gear they were auditioning.
branimir
236 posts
 
Jazzdude-I have Weiss Medea/Jason for almost 6 months now. They took more than a week of constant play to open up fully.
I am using high output setting but, sound of high/low setting depend more on preamp gain... In some systems low setting is better. The best sound is with Double XLR( AES/EBU ) connection between Medea and Jason, word lenght at 24bit and upsampling at 88.2kHz( I do not why but, 176.4kHz upsampling is not allways the best, it depend from cd to cd ). Also I tried Medea with other cd transports and IMO you can have 80% of its potential without Jason. I use Medeas balanced analogue outputs because to me they sound better. As I said before this combo is something like #1.5 flavor, half way between #1 and #2. I bought them for my future big system and they are here to stay. Esoteric combo( D-01/P-01/G-0s ) is also excellent but, very expensive. I would love to own it some day( together with Weiss!)... Weiss combo is within 1-2% of Esoteric combo and system synergy is here more important issue. BTW, Weiss combo simply 'crushed and burned' Esoteric DV50s in RBCD playback, it is that good.
I hope you enjoy your Weiss Hydra single / dual wire AES/EBU Interface, dejittering unit.
sgr's avatar
sgr
689 posts
 
I was wondering where Levinson digital would fit in with all these. I own a 31.5 and 360s which are the best that I've ever experienced and am curious where they might fit in. I confess to not heard any of the latest contenders as there are no dealers in the are for Weiss, EMM,Lamm, Audio Mecca or any others mentioned. Also where does the highly regarded Meridian special edtion fit in(I don't know the model) when these systems are ranked? I'm just curious, and wondering how I might best improve my system.
teajay OP
1,655 posts
 
Sgr, I used to have a ML31.5,360s,and DCS purcell in my system for about four and a half years. I was extremely satisfied, especially when I added the Purcell and upsampled to 24/96, through the ML360s DAC. However, in my opinion, because digital gear is a relatively new technology and therefore might change faster then other older more established technology, I began my attempt to do home auditions of the most highly regarded reference DACS as I could possibly do to scratch my curiosity itch. That lead to posting this thread to share my experiences and ideas of how to group the different DACS sonic characteristics into the two different groups. I would say, with my gear, that your ML digital front end would be closer to the type #1 sonics and you would find that some of the newer DACS would offer more detail, air around players, a somewhat bigger sound stage. I found these improvements along with one more very important factor, sorry this is stated somewhat subjectively, that my ML gear sounded somewhat "dry/flatter/not as musical" as the more current DACS. My experience was that by adding the DCS Purcell to my ML gear brought it closer to this musicality/liquidity I'm trying to describe. So, I would suggest you might audition a DCS Purcell upsampler, your 360s will process 24/96, and see if you like the difference before you go to trying some of the newer DACS. Your wonderful ML31.5 is just a great transport, so even if you would choose a new DAC, in my opinion, there would be no reason to replace it with anything that is current. A final note/suggestion would be to try the new Stealth Sextet digital reference cable, I posted a review you nmight take a look at, that is just terrific and also could help your ML gear blossom much more. The DCS Purcell you could pick up used for around $1200.00/$1800.00, the Stealth Sextet retails for $2400.00, and you would have to use a pair!, if you audition the DCS Purcell, but I think you might be shocked/thrilled with the results of your experiment. It's alot of coin, around $5500.00, but I know you can audition the Stealth cables for 30 days, with a full refund minus shipping, along with hopefully trying the DCS Purcell before you purchase it. Let me know what you think and I hope this was helpful.
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