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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
mattnshilp OP
917 posts
 
Geoffkait- great post. I needed to read it a few times.  Lol. 

Some definitions :

constrained layer damping - flexing of viscoelastic (VE) material between two layers of a stiff material will generate a shear force on the VE material. The force will stretch the VE material, and the stretching converts the kinetic (acoustic) energy to thermal (heat) energy.

mass on spring damping - loosely, a mass on sprig system implies any system where a mass loads a compressible material, converting kinetic energy into potential energy. 
toetapaudio
474 posts
 
@mattnshilp and @geoffkait , I appreciate your comments on a very interesting subject, keep it rolling. I’m going to be trying out some of the footers you mentioned and others. I will come back with my findings.

As regards speaker isolation, have a look at Sven Boenicke interesting swing base design. The rear of the speaker hangs from steel threads and the front is supported on a ceramic sphere sitting in non ferrous metal cups, might be brass or gunmetal.

With regard to Shun Mook, the design looks very interesting. I have read some comments that Dalby here in the U.K., have used ebony in an even more effective way. I don’t know anything about this brand, they seem rather elusive, if indeed they still exist.


ctsooner's avatar
ctsooner
2,480 posts
 
I will cut up a few pieces of ebony and try then by themselves under my DAC/Server and integrated to see what they do.  I know Cardas uses Myrtle for theirs, which is tough to find.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Here’s the thing. The Shun Mook Mpingo disc is probably not what you think it is. It’s actually two different woods, Gabon ebony and Mpingo wood, a variety of rosewood as I recall. Also, inside the cutout, if you remove the small disc of wood embedded in the disc, lo and behold - a crystal! WTH!

The Mpingo disc is very resonant and is very sensitive to direction, top to bottom but also azimuth. Thus the real Mpingo disc is rather tricky to fabricate, tricky to knock off and tricky to use. Used incorrectly it can easily hurt the sound.
neoshah
33 posts
 
@mattnshilp i agree with your HRS vs Symposium comparison.I've also heard them many times & but on diff setups, unless you don't try & hear it side by side one never gets an idea, also sort the preference. 
Hats off to all the efforts you are putting in & also sharing your observations quite frankly.
Hope you could have also tried the leading edge rack.
@geoffkait i agree with what you say about the shun mook. Needs some tweaking. But i guess will add a bit of flavour which may or may not work , as usually flavours are.

All the best.
Cheers
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