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Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Hi All.

Putting together a reference level system.
My Source is predominantly standard 16/44 played from a MacMini using iTunes and Amarra. Some of my music is purchased from iTunes and the rest is ripped from standard CD's.
For my tastes in music, my high def catalogues are still limited; so Redbook 16/44 will be my primary source for quite some time.

I'm not spending DCS or MSB money. But $15-20k retail is not out of the question.

Upsampling vs non-upsampling?
USB input vs SPDIF?

All opinions welcome.

And I know I need to hear them, but getting these ultra $$$ DAC's into your house for an audition ain't easy.

Looking for musical, emotional, engaging, accurate , with great dimension. Not looking for analytical and sterile.
mattnshilp
wisnon
700 posts
 

They are the only ones doing it THEIR way and it is very good, but not everyone's favourite. It is MUCH better than the much hyped Hugo which to me was  not great at all.


DAVE is a much more elaborate implementation of the same Tech than Hugo was...but there are many ways to skin a cat and many roads lead to Rome. The trick is to find which part of ROME you want to hang out in! LoL

Ag insider logo xs@2x
ksattic
9 posts
 
@bar81 that's why I believe my ears. :) I had a chance to meet Rob Watts when he was in California two years ago and he went over his DAC technology.
wisnon
700 posts
 

One small point that makes me know taste matters. Rob does not think DSD can sound good, much less spectacular.

I can assure everyone that the "Chipless" DSD engine in my GG DAC (99% of the time) can make a believer out of the biggest anti-DSD  campaigners out there.  (There is always that 1% that will deny reality. LoL)

I love great music in whatever format and rule out none a priori.

wardl
28 posts
 
There is a review of the DAVE by JA in the June Stereophile.  It's also on the cover.  Very positive and he does some interesting comparisons to other DACs using different technologies with shorter filter circuitry.  Give it a read and check out the measurements.  He also talks about shortcomings like no MQA decoding.  I like his reviews.  One of the things he says which I totally agree with is that the end result of the DAVE changes quite a bit depending on the other components in the chain.  Having owned one I can see where folks would come to different conclusions just based on the differing components.  It is a great DAC for the price, not much doubt about that in my mind.  But I would never say it's the best.  Even Rob Watts has said he has improved substantially on redbook when the DAVE is used with the new Chord CD transport and upscaler, Blu 2.  Waiting on mine to get here!  There are a lot of good (if not out of this world) DACs in the 8-15K range.  DAVE is one of them I would say.
dragon_vibe
430 posts
 
The GG is a tube stage DAC.

The Merlot is SS

The Playback Design Merlot is a Chipless 1 BIT DSD dac. Andreas Koch uses a different method to in sampling rate before its passed over to the analog stages of the DAC. You might want to read into his paper work.

This DAC balances very well for its price tag against the BIG boys price tags DACs.

Many companies use FPGA and the same applies to playback design. Its the algorithm written for FPGA that matters more in the end. You can constantly update the Dacs Sounds by software instead of hardware.

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