Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Thanks Audio_Troy. Your opinion and experience are welcome. Please curb the sales pitch part of the posts though. All are welcome, but no one wants to hear a dealer advertise here. I put a HUGE good word in for you guys and it’s well deserved. Let your customers speak for you; and I did. :)

Dragonvibe- Awesome to have you here!!!! You bring experience with DAC’s I have either heard but not in my room, or not heard yet. Thank you for that. I have had MSB in my room, not for me. I have heard DCS and PD in other rooms but not mine. I have not heard the Golden Gate in my room but it has sounded great elsewhere.

I have practically no experience with Playback Designs other then a show room. The Golden Gates I have heard sounded musical and engaging but where all tube bases systems and had so much flavor it was hard to tell where the seasoning was added. DCS are unique in my mind as it’s the only digital that needs to be selected first and then a system built around it. If you do DCS that way, you can create an amazing system; I’ve heard them. But you can’t put DCS into an existing system and expect to get the most out of it. DCS will ALWAYS sound lifeless and analytical if added into a system last....

I have arranged for a TotalDAC 12 audition this summer. I look forward to it!

Please keep contributing everyone!!!

The Playback Design to my opinion for DSD has not be toppled by the GG DAC in my listening room. I find the Playback design more transparent and quieter back grounds. The GG just seemed noisy. Both are very Musical DACs but for me the Merlot Dac just did everthing better and still remained natural sounding. For the GG Dac I assume the tubes are working hard to mask the Digital flaws within the unit.

Having a MP-1 and Atma Sphere OTL amps the system is very transparent already. When using the GG dac i could hear noise even after constantly changing over to different tubes.

I think the Playback Design Merlot Dac should be on your list to try out if you do find the time for it. After all Andreas Koch is hired by many top Audio companies to design their Digital products. Even EMM Labs use Andreas.

dragon_vibe - Really appreciate sharing your comments and experience! When mentioning your preference for the PD Merlot you've specified for DSD. How do you find it to perform with PCM files? I've seen the same thing mentioned elsewhere regarding PD DACs and would appreciate getting your further thoughts in that regard. TIA!

Bill-k took my words. Wanted to ask exactly the same.

At DSD I think Playback Designs are the Masters.

PCM They are on par with the very best R2R Dacs. I have heard better dacs at PCM then the merlot but these DACS are 3-5 times the price.

I’m comparing Analog MSB to Playback on PCM my self.

The Merlot was a little more transparent. You can hear the air from the singers mouth breathing during the music. however on the same file being played back on MSB you cant barely hear it you need to focus really well to capture it during playback. The MSB Platinum Dac was on par with transparency to the Merlot and at $40K Plus you would expect nothing less. But one Dac had more soul and density and space compared to the other.

The plucking of the strings are easily felt and heard on the Merlot, this just adds more to the dimensionality of the stage. The Analog would not portray this very well.

The PCM is more engaging on the Merlot, The MSB is a tad smoother/rounder similar to tubes and a little too laid back. It feels slower on the MSB then it does on the Merlot. The MSB Analog must be using a filter file to smoothen the sound but its mimicking a tube and not doing it very well.

Mind you the MSB Analog is twice the price to the Merlot.
Platinum is 4 times the price.

In terms of naturalism i think the Merlot is on par with very top R2R leagues.

It all comes to personal taste. I like a well balanced system. Not into Sugar Coated sound and sweetened milk. It has to sound real/natural, convincing and emotional.

Sure Dacs with Tubes and DHT sound emotionally involving but its using artificial sugar to your coffee.

I done with slow syrupy sound, But I like what tubes bring to the table. This is why my System consist of OTL and Field Coil Horn Speakers. The Transparency is unbelievable. Every nusance within the file will show up and presented in a smoother, easy to listen fatige free sound. The Dynamics is frightening when listening to hard core classical music :-) few times iv had the jump factor. Above all I want to cry and only some systems can acheve this.

You can put up the volume with the Merlot and the soundstage blooms larger it does not shout at you. Their is a sense of ease and relaxation. Its not being forced down your throat. I find it very emotional and addictive.

I cant help thinking how the system would sound if I Up sample everything at the server to DSD and send it straight to the Merlot DAC. I have yet to experiment on this during my free time. I cant do this on the Playback Design Syrah Server.

That is the basic way I can explain this. With out jumping into audiofool jargons.

I don’t understand this Audio Industry. I have read online reviews and fell into buyers remorse on certain products. I genuinely feel Playback Design Dacs are underrated.


Check this out: Copied from AK Design website:

The story of AKDesign
AKDesign was founded in 2003 by Andreas Koch and in 2013 Bert Gerlach joined the company after having worked together with Andreas since 2007.
The founder Andreas Koch, draws on more than 30 years of industry experience with renowned companies such as Studer, Dolby, Sony, Playback Designs and others. Bert Gerlach lead the engineering development at an optical flow measurement company and with his keen interest built remarkable audio products for home and professional use. As a team, Andreas and Bert complement each other perfectly and together they can tackle any aspect in electronic audio design and production.

References

AKDesign has now provided services to renowned audio companies such as Playback Designs, Nagra, Constellation Audio, DAISy, EMM Labs, Sony among others. It has a state-of-the-art SMT manufacturing line with a BGA rework station and provides manufacturing services to companies not only in the audio industry, but also in airospace and health industries with stringest quality requirements.
The key personnel possesses long standing experience from the beginning of the digital audio era and has provided many award winning designs.