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A DAC that crushes price vs. performance ratio

I felt strongly that I wanted to inform the Gon members about a new DAC that ranks with the very best on the market regarding performance, but costs around $2,000.00.  The Lab12 DAC1 SE was compared to three reference level DACS that retail for over $12.000.00 in my review for hometheaterreview.com and was at least on the same level sonicly, if not better.  This DAC from Greece is not just "good for the money" but competes with virtually anything on the market regardless of price!

For all the details about the Lab12 DAC1 SE performance and what other DACS it was compared to take a look at the review.  If you are shopping/looking for a new digital front end to drive your system, you owe it to yourself to check this DAC out, unless you like to spend tons of more $ without getting better performance.
teajay
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
To add to the foregoing comments, it’s worth noting that the DAC uses eight of the TDA1543 d/a converter chips (each of which can handle two channels), in "a complex parallel configuration." And eight chips are used even though the DAC only provides single-ended outputs, with just one output signal having to be generated for each of the two channels. Assuming good design, that will result in considerably better performance than if only one chip was used.

Regards,
-- Al
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roxy54
8,017 posts
 

Hi Al,

That’s what I had read, and I know that this configuration has been used in the past to some extent, (oppo I think) and that’s one of the things that got me excited about it. I’ll admit to being very enthusiastic about non-oversampling DACs in general. They just sound so much more natural than the other DACs I’ve owned and heard.

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charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
I agree with the comments in regard to the cost of the chips in the DAC under discussion. The cost of the chips isn’t a predictor of how the DAC will sound as a finished product. IMHO too much attention is placed on the chips to begin with. I’d summit that individually I/V conversion, analog output stage and quality of the power supply are at the very least as important. Collectively these three factors are I believe far more important in determining sound quality of a DAC.

I’m just a big believer in design, integration and implementation as being more impactful than isolating the contributions of the chosen chip set.
I honestly feel that power supply quality tends to be underappreciated in general when discussing audio components.
Charles 
aolmrd1241
1,042 posts
 
I agree with you charles1dad... also,having clean ac feeding your system is just as important as what brand of kit you are running...synergy is the order of the day for that great listening experience.
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
I agree with Charles' comment as well. I would add that the knowledge and experience that goes into the design of the printed circuit board itself can make a big difference in the performance of a DAC. How signals, power, and grounds are routed and distributed within the circuit board, and also how power is "decoupled" (i.e., filtered) immediately adjacent to all of the critical chips, are all hugely important in a DAC design.

Best regards,
-- Al 
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