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Review: Accustic Arts DAC1-MK4 DA converter

Category: Digital

I had auditioned many very good sounding DACS, this history can be reviewed on my thread, Reference DACS: An overall perspective, before finally settling on the Accustic Arts DAC1-MK3 for the last year in my system.

I then became aware recently that the designers of Accustic Arts had been working on for the last year a totally new DAC that would be the first to use an upsampling rate of 66/1536! Accustic Arts is a German company and you can see the craftsmanship in the build quality of the MK4. My MK3 was very much a reference piece for me, it's performance was terrific across the board, as I shared when I posted a review here on the GON last year. However, I was quite curious/excited to find out what this totally new design would offer in comparsion to its older sibling in the Accustic Arts stable.

I prefer not to spend alot of time sharing details regarding the technical aspects of the piece I'm reviewing because you can go to the manufacturer's
website and gather those aspects on your own. As I stated above, the quality of the German engineering can easily be seen in the visual beauty of the MK4.

On to the most important part of any review, what was the sonic performance of the piece being auditioned. So here it is.

1) The MK4 developed the largest soundstage I have ever heard in my system. It also offered wonderful natural layering on this "stage" with air around each individual player. Not a "HIFI" perspective, but a very three dimensional portrayal of the players in real space.

2) Timbres are very important to me because I mostly listen to acoustic Jazz. The MK4 offered more lifelike timbres then the MK3, which was pretty damn good at this in its own right.

3) The top end offered more "air" and even greater details that allowed my MG-20's ribbon tweeter's to really sing.

4) Microdynamics and decay trails were more easily heard because of the total transparency/clarity that the MK4 has to offer.

5) The MK4 has a much improved sense of slam/macrodynamics over the MK3.

In my system this extraordinary DAC offered many of the virtues of details/clarity/dynamics that I have heard in other great digital front ends, like Meitner,Ensemble,Esoteric, with the musicality/organic/natural "flavor" of the non-upsampling references such as Audio Note and Zanden. It's the best synthesis I have heard with my own ear's so far. I'm not saying this is the best DAC in the entire world of reference digital front ends, but deserves to be put on that praiseworthy list now. It's a great piece and I hope that other Gon members will have a chance to audition it as more become available in the near future here in the states.

Associated gear
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teajay
mdhoover
695 posts
 
Teajay,

Any comments I make need to be taken in the context of the fact that the unit I own, as great as it is, is not even the company's flagship. That would be the 218. The 217 Mark II D DAC with 218-like software and isolation transformer upgrades sounds quite spectacular when inserted into signal chain between the player (Onkyo Integra DPC 8.5) and the preamp. It seems to do just about everything right, including dynamics, soundstaging, timbre, detail and smoothness. It truly improves all of these things, including both detail AND smoothness, when compared to the player alone. The sound is qualitatively different, and considerably better, with the Dodson.

Pardales has owned the 217 and the 218 and has said that the 218 does all of those same things, just "more" of it. It must be a fabulous unit. I've never read anything bad about either unit. I personally think that Ralph Dodson is a genius.
hassel
248 posts
 
Teajay,
you are not by any chance a dealer, or the US-distributor for Accustic Arts, are you? Because Martin Schunk of Accustic Arts mailed me today that they have not yet started official distribution, and that so far "we without exception only distributed DAC 1 Mk4s for trade shows". Not even German dealers have the Mk4-version yet...
teajay OP
1,690 posts
 
Hassel, no I'm not a dealer/distributor for Accustic Arts, just a lucky audiophile who got to audition one of the few MK4's in the US.

I believe the US importer/distributor for Accustic Arts, Artistic Audio, will be showing the MK4 at the Stereophile show this up coming weekend on the west coast.
teajay OP
1,690 posts
 
Today, was a busy and fun one in that two very knowlegdable audiophile friends, one old and one new, came over to spend time listening to music and giving their opinions regarding the sonics of my system.

My old friend was very experienced with the sound of the Accustic Arts DAC-1 MK3 in my system and the new friend's reference in DACS is the the full stack DCS gear.

Both, were very impressed with the the performance of the new Accustic Arts DAC-1 MK4 in my system. They listened at different times, but both used descriptions such as, great detail but musical at the same time, the best dynamics I have heard, and finally , just sounds more like real music.

As I stated in the review on the MK4 their is no BEST, but many wonderful pieces of gear to enjoy based on personnal taste and system synergy, but I do believe that the MK4 is one of the better sounding DACS around today and is offered at a much lower price then other world reference DACS.
ballhog
38 posts
 
I have to agree with the others, your review was excellent and a joy to read. I am awaiting my 1st mk4 and will be mating it with Einstein's Light In The Dark stereo amp , Einstein's The Tube preamp ,and Acapellas LaCampanellas. I am lucky enough to be the exclusive dealer in Arizona for these exceptional products and having not had the opportunity to hear the dac mk4 yet, your review was even more interesting to me. Hope to see another of your reviews soon.
Sincerely Dan Curtis
Curtis Hi-Fi
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