Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Hi Mitch2, currently I am running Aeris directly into the Rowland M925 monoblocks. In olden days, I ran the Rowland Criterion linestage between DAC and amps.

　

Which arrangement is "better"? The answer is... It depends... Immediately followed by... I might be persuaded to change my mind, because things are achangin'....

　

First of all, what I observed in the past....

　

* Aeris by itself yielded a subtle amount of greater resolution compared to having Criterion in the chain.

* With Aeris only, there seems to be deep silence from the speakers when music is not playing, vs a very low level of hash when Criterion was in the chain... To perceive the actual noise caused by Criterion, you had to place your ear 6 inches or less from a tweater.

* However, with Criterion in the chain, you would experience a subtly warmer presentation that admittedly is quite intoxicating.

　

Having gone back and forth for several months with the two configurations, I felt I prefered the presentation without Criterion.

　

Having said the above, Rowland has now started to ship the ultra-capacitor based Power Storage Unit (PSU)... Essentially this is an additional full chassis component that can be applied to replace both the external power supply of the Corus linestage (audio circuit identical to the now withdrawn Criterion) as well as the power supply of Aeris... Meaning that a single PSU can power Corus and Aeris simultaneously. Essentially PSU serves pure clean DC 24/7 for compatible line components and takes them completely off the AC grid. There are two banks of ultra-caps inside PSU... While one charges up from the AC line, the other one is offline from the grid, and serves DC to the devices downstream. When the bank of ultra-caps serving devices becomes depleted, the role is switched seamlessly, and the process is repeated... The answer is no, the flipping event is not audibly perceivable.

　

I have not heard PSU yet, but according to all reports I have heard this far the result of PSU on Corus and Aeris might be quite impressive in terms of subtlety, quiet delivery, image and stage, and resolution... I guess the main benefit is being completely off-grid, while not having the problem of reduced dynamic agility caused by the slower transient handling of batteries.

　

So, now I am thinking that a combination of Aeris + Corus + PSU might outperform Aeris alone... Probably even quieter than Aeris, and perhaps with the added grace of having Corus in the audio path.

　

Saluti, Guido

Hi Guido,
Your comments remind me of what I hear.... 

Aeris by itself yielded a subtle amount of greater resolution compared to having Criterion in the chain

reminds me of removing my preamp and using one of my passives, either a Goldpoint passive preamp or Endler attenuators direct to amp, and 

with Criterion in the chain, you would experience a subtly warmer presentation that admittedly is quite intoxicating

which is similar to what I hear through my preamp, which is a no gain, buffered unit with external choke power supply and Shallco discrete resistor volume control constructed using Audio Note tantalum resistors. The main difference from your situation is my preamp doesn't add noise.  

It seems most here end up preferring a preamp in their systems, including those who have used a volume control implemented by changing the reference voltage of the dacs, such as with the ODSE.  One reviewer, Steven Plaskin at AudioStream, slightly preferred having the Ayre KX-R preamp in his system to running the ODSE direct to his Ayre MX-R amps, even with the Final Drive buffers in-line. 

Not using the volume direct  to amps approach would make a jump to the Adagio less attractive, even though it is said to sound better than the Pavane because of the significantly increased reference voltage and doubling of the number of dacs.  I really need to find one to audition to find out for sure how much better it sounds and whether I could live with it direct to my amps.  For now, I will be happy to replace the mac mini I have been listening to for the past couple of weeks with my fully upgraded Antipodes DX, which arrives on Friday, with Roon and the option to use the newly added S/PDIF output instead of USB.  Kudos to Antipodes for supporting existing customers with upgrades and for staying at the forefront of server technology.

I have run a few DAC's in my system and have owned the OSDE/SE.  I use a turntable still, so I need a preamp, but I, like most, wanted to hear the differences.  I have never chosen driving directly.  I lose a bit of dynamics and the sound staging can lose a bit of coherency.  

I use an Ayre AX-5/Twenty and the pre on that thing is nearly as good as the KX-R/Twenty.  I like the preamp in my system still. If someone is chasing between a preamp or running directly, I think that the consensus is a pre will sound better, but if you take that extra 10k for a pre (just throwing out a number) and throw that at a better DAC like the OSDX and Final Drives, you will never even know the difference and you will have a much better sounding system than using say the ODSE/SE with that great pre.  

That way you can get a preamp later one and upgrade the sound even more.  

So many ways to go and so many great DAC's on the market right now.  We all hear differently and this thread really shows that.  Thanks for everyone's input.  It's been a wonderful guide for many of us and is appreciated.

Schiit Yggy. Unbelievable sound and value. Use with  Sonore microrendu for streaming. Nothing will beat this at any price.