2. digital
  3. 1398132150

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
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Next to the Total Dac, this was another jaw dropping moment that really impressed when converting pcm Redbook either 16/44 or 24/96.

http://www.aquahifi.com/la_scala.html

Cheers George
jay23
210 posts
 
@georgehifi 
Funny you mentioned these two, we had exactly this shoot out for a whole day on a reviewers system at his place in the beautiful Blue Mtns on his Wilson Alexia MkII, Gryphon Antillion Evo Signature my passive pre. We also went direct, with the same results.
The Total dac was far better than the Bricasti in every area, even the owner of the Bricasti SE conceded, and is going to sell it to go to R2R.

Don’t get me wrong the Bricasti was lovely and sweet and smooth, but not exciting when compared, it had no jump factor like the Total, that snapped your head back in disbelief with some of the dynamics, and yet it still stayed sweet and smooth when needed.
You could hear deeper into the music because of this expanse from quiet to loud. And it gave all this to you not from the speaker but all around it with an image and depth that washed over you instead of directed from the each of the drivers of the speakers, as if the speakers weren't there in the room.

Cheers George
We had 5 techs, 3 non techs at our meeting and were all insistent on perfect level matching.
All levels were matched overhaul not by spl by ear or meter but by the voltage down to the mV fed into the speakers at differing sine waves with a tech cd to get the levels absolutely identical to the mV
And the Total Dac 7 with larger optional off board power supply, was by far the better, with PCM Redbook replay.

Cheers George

Did you really only use a passive preamp or direct to DAC for this DAC comparison?

This would give the Total DAC a big advantage, as its output is 6.4 Vrms max, compared to the Briscasti's 2 Vrms.
oblgny's avatar
oblgny
848 posts
 
I just replaced what could best be described as a “vintage”  Musical Fidelity A3.5 CD player with an Oppo 85 after reading many, many positive opinions on Oppo in general.  I had previously perceived Oppo as “ mass market “ stuff, and while this is a universal disc player with outstanding reviews on its blue ray capabilities, it was lauded for its cd audio. 

And deservedly so.  The Oppo made virtually all of my redbook discs remarkably better in every respect.  The only discs it didn’t improve sonically were those that were badly recorded - which no player can manage.  Unfair though my comparison may be - the MF A3.5 is significantly older - the Oppo absolutely was an immediate improvement.  

And for $500 used.  One of the best dollar/value additions to my stuff in recent times.  Woohoo.  

Modwright KWI-200 Integrated
Marantz TT-15 Turntable
Sony HapZ1ES
Maggie 1.7i and Vandersteen 3A Signature
(Still trying to decide between these - tough!)

gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
headphonedreams - I am also in the side that thinks that all common architectures (R2R, DS, FPGA) can work when implemented with care....

Hi everyone. I’m pretty good at using google. That said, may I ask the opinions of the folks on this thread for a very brief (sentence or two) explanation as to the advantages and/or disadvantages of "FPGA" in comparison to the other two architectures. Thank you.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 

I'd have to think the DAC design (DS or R2R) may not be the dominate factor in achieving what you describe. Big factor though, certainly. I would think the room, the speakers and the recording itself would be more prevalent.

Sound quality in an audio system is of course a "system" thing involving every single part.  I feel that both the source and the speakers are the dominating factors.  In the case of my two different DAC technologies, I compared them head-to-head in the same system at the same time.  The D/S won hands-down.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio


More to discover