2. digital
  3. 138060-3787

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
mzkmxcv
777 posts
 
@teajay

You finding the Benchmark sterile is a compliment to its transparency. If you want to add colorations, that’s your preference (just like how there are countless reviews raving of its performance, that’s why I don’t trust reviews with measurements as back up), I am merely stating that if you want to hear how the song is mastered, no hiding any blemishes or “improving” the songs by adding coloration, the Benchmark is an excellent product.

As for gear measuring good but sounding like “crap”, since you don’t prefer accurate reproduction, I wouldn’t suggest giving product endorsement unless you state that coloration is your preference. Since you recommend this product as a steal of a price, if someone favoring accurate reproduction bought it, I would imagine they may be disappointed.
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,928 posts
 
Sterility does not equate to transparency. Tone, timbre, sound staging, fullness and realism can most definitely point to transparency if that is in the original recording. 

The lack of those qualities can take a natural and pleasing production of a real event and render it lifeless, or sterile, as teajay pointed out. 

All the best,
Nonoise
mzkmxcv
777 posts
 
@nonoise

Tone: Frequency response.

Timbre: Distortion.

Soundstage: Channel matching and channel separation.

Fullness: Frequency response.

Realism: Nonsense description.

The DACs I mentioned all do those well, behind human audibility.

MQA you can see, using terms like sterile or lifesless causes confusion, it’s best to actually talk about what the product is doing good or doing bad, rather than make up description words that actually don’t directly describe, like calling a Samsung TV’s picture as feminine and a Sony TV as masculine.
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,928 posts
 
tim·bre/ˈtambər/noun
  1. the character or quality of a musical sound or voice as distinct from its pitch and intensity."trumpet mutes with different timbres"synonyms:tone, sound, sound quality, voice, voice quality, color, tone color, tonality, resonance"the timbre of the reeds"
tone/tōn/noun
  1. 1. a musical or vocal sound with reference to its pitch, quality, and strength."the piano tone appears monochrome or lacking in warmth"synonyms:timbre, sound, sound quality, voice, voice quality, color, tonality"the tone of the tuba"
I could go one but It will sound like I'm talking to some silly AI program which cannot hear but "knows" measurements.

All the best,
Nonoise

mzkmxcv
777 posts
 
@nonoise  
 
If you read more about it, timbre is just about distortion, it’s why a guitar and a piano playing the same frequency key sounds different. 
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