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
 
@lordcloud

However, I do not believe, and have seen no evidence to suggest, that measurements dictate sound

Uhh, how about most every single double blind study that has been conducted in regards to psychoacoustics? Show me one double-blind study where the listeners did not pick the best measuring device as the most preferred. 
 
I’ll ask again, give just 1 reason why the measurements don’t tell the whole story. What could possibly be related to the sound output of a DAC that cant be measured or deviates from what psycho-acousticians believe is ideal.
lordcloud
155 posts
 
Preferring a better measuring device, is in no way the same as saying that you know what a device will sound like based on the measurements. Preferring a device doesn't mean it is transparent. Most people prefer more colored audio components, in my experience.
mzkmxcv
777 posts
 
@lordcloud  
 
That’s not what Floyd Toole and Sean Olive has found. Toole said people picked the more ideal speaker every single time, no exceptions. 
 
Now, bass preference between trained and untrained individuals is like a 10dB difference, it’s still keeping with non-jagged responses, low directivity, etc.
mboldda1's avatar
mboldda1
575 posts
 
remember the great power/spec wars with 280/300 watts and 0.0003 specs?
they all sounded like crap, the only specs you need are power,input/output impedance, and YOUR EARS !
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,906 posts
 
That’s not what Floyd Toole and Sean Olive has found. Toole said people picked the more ideal speaker every single time, no exceptions.
So in one test that you cite, everyone picked the same speaker, which produces the most distortion of any audio component, by a large margin.
That same speaker which was designed to sound a certain way and most likely, pleasing to most, despite what it's hooked up to. 

That's a far cry from what you stated in the previous post about practically everyone picking the best measured device. 

All the best,
Nonoise

More to discover