It has been over 4 years since I have ventured back into the
DAC arena, a cautious adventure being that I was never satisfied with the sound
quality of the Lampizator Level 4, Berkeley Alpha and an Eastern Electric
DAC. All of them had their strong suits
in one area or another but they were not at the level of my modified Modwright
Sony 5400ES or Marantz SA8005 Tube CD Player.
I had been following the DAC threads for some time and was
optimistic and hopeful that technology had improved or at least the deign
implementation, so I private messaged a few knowledgeable members to get an
idea on what they have heard and seen at shows and in their systems. After several
suggestions and myself doing some reading and research on the different
technologies, I decided that the Border Patrol with SPDIF would be my first
entry back into the digital age.
The moment this DAC was installed into my system, I began to
understand from my listening experiences that R2R was the DAC chip that
provided an unmistakable level of musicality and toe-tapping emersion into the
music. Now, I knew the direction that was set before me to find my reference
DAC with R2R DAC Chips, Non-Over-sampling or filtering. I began to notice a
trend in different approaches in the implementation/design of technologies and
have heard through-out the Audiophile Community that Audio Note was the
“Standard” in producing “Analogue Sounding” Digital to Analogue Conversion. The
BP DAC solidified this in my mind, whose roots are also from Great Britain.
After discovering the similarities of these DACs, I decided
to contact an Audiophile friend in Great Britain to determine if there were any
DACS in the spot-light that was knocking on the doors or even beating the
legendary Audio Note sound quality? He steered me to a small company that is
taking Europe by storm and after a week of reading their philosophy and design
implementation, I decided to contact the Founder, Managing Director & Chief
Audio Engineer on which DAC would suit my system and yield the best sonics
without spending an absorbent amount of money…
After making contact with Dr. Slawa, Roschkow, I took his
recommendation on the SW1X Audio Design Dac II STD ($3,200) and I am in agreement with
his Philosophy on design, implementation and many aspects I have never heard of
but his knowledge is quite impressive to say the least and has been very
responsive to all of my questions. Here are some aspects of my DAC listed from:
http://sw1xad.co.uk/product/sw1x-dac-2/:
SW1X Audio Design™ DAC II Features:
-Specially selected and harmonically matched component &
material quality based on performance level 2 standard:
- AN Kaisei, Philips BC, Siemens capacitors, Allen Bradley
resistors, complementary silver and copper wiring technique everywhere
- NOS (Non-oversampling –zero digital domain filtering)
design
- Based on 2 x PCM56 K – the most refined and highest
resolving sounding 16 bit DAC chips ever produced (yes, even cleaner and more
refined than most 24/32bit Delta Sigma chips) directly connected to CS8414
S/PDIF receiver
- Active I/V conversion via a special transistor (with less
than 10 Ohm input impedance) with the shortest signal path directly connected
to the tube grid
- Single ended, anode follower, zero feedback, 6N6P/ECC88
double triode valve output stage
- Output stage signal decoupling capacitor options a) Bosch
PIO or b) Audio Note Copper Foil Mylar
in Oil capacitor
- 6X5GT double diode valve rectified CLC (choke filtered) HV
power supply
2 separate mains transformers for the DAC and the valve
output stage circuits
Custom Germanium transistor based shunt voltage regulated
power supplies around PCM56K circuit
Supports 24Bit/96kHz digital coaxial S/PDIF signal input
110/115/230/240V AC mains transformers
As a reference, I have been listening to my new CDs that I
got as a gift for the past 4 months which includes The Touré’-Raichel
Collective (The Tel Aviv Session), Audio Note Ambassador, Vincent Be’langer CD
titled Pure Cello, Three Wishes For a Rose, Ma Xinhua (Cello), Feng, Dan
(Piano) and The Spirit of Gambo, The Galaxy Recordings (Direct Cut Super Audio
CD) which I am a big fan of string type instruments and in fact is what I
primarily listen to and have a good grasp on any changes that could be
discerned by implementing new equipment within my system.
My DAC II STD (13.5” W x 16” D x 5 ½” H) safely arrived from
Great Britain, unit was packed very well and received in pristine condition.
Digital inputs include AES/EBU and SPDIF and the Output RCA has 2 sets of RCAs
which I imagine one set are Silver or Rhodium-Plated Copper and the other
Copper, so you will have a choice in fine tuning the sound you prefer and not
to mention the possibilities of tube rolling to ones’ desires… I also believe
USB inputs are also available upon request.
I delayed my initial impressions after install since I was
waiting to accomplish our daily nightly routines with the kids before settling
down in front of my system, knowing that it is going to take hundreds of hours
before the capacitors starts to form and settle in and another 50+ hours to
hear the tubes at their best; 96 total hours on DAC II. I cued up the first
track on The Tel Aviv Session, Acoustic Guitar followed by Pure Cello was blown
AWAY! I was hearing things that were never hinted at on my previous playback
and quite frankly, didn’t hear this wearing Audiophile head-phones. I was
struck by the uncanny realism of musicians occupying a physical space within my
listening environment, I am talking about spooky and very a satisfying
experience. Details WAY in the background comes through in spades and
imaging/sound-staging is Off-the-Charts! I am hearing the air between the bow
and the Cello as it begins to swell and every note played from top to bottom is
distinctly transparent, fingers between the fret of the Acoustic Guitar that
captures re-verb, spatial cues, ambiance, tonality, speed, timbre, PRAT and the
illusion of the very presence of these instruments occupying a
three-dimensional space along with the musician.
This DAC has it all and Percussion Instruments as well as
voices has the same attributes of sounding Life-Like, Natural, Organic or whatever
term you use to describe, you have the feeling of being transported to the
recording venue…
You really begin to get a special appreciation for recorded
music when you hear how a DAC like this SW1X Audio Design DAC II STD unravels
the essence of the recording without altering the signal with up-sampling/over-sampling
or applying filters. Implementing the DAC II STD into my system has been a
revelation! I personally have never heard an Audio Note DAC and can only rely
on those who have and the reviewer who has compared the DAC II side-by-side to
the AN 2.1X and beat it, in fact, the DAC II held its own to the Uber expensive
AN 4.1X and that says a lot about Dr. Slawa, Roschkow knowledge of circuit
design, component matching and implementation, because the end result is all
about the music…
www.hifi-advice.com/blog/review/digital-reviews/spdif-dac-reviews/sw1x-dac-ii-special/
Being that I was going to receive a Reference DAC, I wanted
a cable that would not restrict but compliment the performance of the DAC II
STD and decided to go with SW1X Audio Design Aero 10 which utilizes 100 %
Silver in its SPDIF Cables; most claim 100 % Silver in their advertising but to
discover it is silver-plated or the ground or return conductor is copper or
plated and in my estimation is not 100%. My supposedly 100 % Silver SPDIF
Oyaide DR 510 knocked off a more expensive and customized Silver Cable in the
areas of sound-staging, imaging, detail retrieval and just a better sounding
cable across the board and retails for $350+.
I was always under the impression that silver cables were
bright, forward and analytical in their presentation but boy was I wrong. The
Aero 10 is the best sounding Silver Cable I have ever heard and is in another
stratosphere over the Oyaide. A very noticeable increase in spatial
information, reverb, ambiance and detail retrieval is quite startling and at
the same time sounds smooth, transparent, very organic and natural and this
cable is not even close to being fully burned-in. From my cabling burn-in
experience using a Audiodharma Cable cooker, it is at the 72-hour mark after
removing the cable from the cooker when cable hits their sweet spot and I am
needing another 48 hours to reach that point but will note more changes as the
cable settles. Three days has passed since installing the Aero 10 and it is
sounding beautiful, images are rock-solid and locked in place with a wide and
deep sound-stage.
SW1X Audio Design has something special with their design
and I believe that this is one of those DACS that will stay in your system for
many years and the thought of chasing the latest chip will be quickly resolved
upon powering up your SW1X DAC. This DAC and AERO 10 SPDIF Cable are “Highly
Recommended”.
System Components:
Acoustic Zen Crescendo’s Loudspeakers
Don Sach’s DS2 6SN7 Tube Pre-Amplifier
Don Sach’s Kootenay 120 KT88 65 Watts Tube Amplifier
PS Audio Perfect Wave Transport
ModWright Marantz SA 8005 Tube CD Player (Current &
Previous)
SW1X Audio Design DAC STD II
Equi-Core 1200 Balanced Power Plant
Cabling:
CH Acoustic X20 Power Cord
CH Acoustics X20 Anniversary Edition Interconnect
Teo Audio Ultra’s Liquid Metal Interconnect
Oyaide Black Mamba V2 Power Cords
Oyaide Tunami V2 Power Cord
Oyaide DR 510 Silver Digital SPDIF
Oyaide Tunami Nigor V2 Speaker Cables
Audio Design Aero 10 100 % Silver SPDIF
Gutwire Perfect Ground Cable
Audio Magic Blue Dot Premier Ground Disrupter
