Small form factor, budget DACs?

So, for those curious, I received my modded Dac-Ah and broke it in. All I have to say is, people aren't kidding when they talk this thing up. This is a genuinely musical, dynamic piece. It has a sweet, smooth midrange which does vocals exceptionally well; the imaging is "3-d" in a way I've only heard on higher-end pieces.

It's funny, I made a similar note when listening that Bombaywalla did while listening to his Nixon DAC - bad CD's sound *bad*. I've got two theories about this - I wonder if either these CD's have digital noise that's actually in the master, or these DACs are particularly jitter-prone.

Obviously I can't compare it to the unmodded version of the DAC, but I can definitely say that these things are the genuine article. It's the most impressed I've been with a piece of budget digital gear since the original Rega Planet.

I’ve got to chime in here. I’ve owned an Audio Mirror for a number of months and have experienced what everyone is talking about regarding NOS DAC’s. I couldn’t be happier with mine.

One of my biggest frustrations is this crazy hobby is a bad sounding CD. I’ve got tons of them that until recently, only listening to them in the office or car.

I just made a huge switch changing over from a Marantz SA14 SACD player which was mostly used as a redbook transport with the Audio Mirror to a digital music server which is PC based.

I ripped all my CD’s to AIFF files in iTunes and used a product by Roku to bridge the signal from my PC to the Audio Mirror DAC.

End result is improved sound on all CD’s but a major improvement on poor engineered CD’s. Yeap, I can listen to them all now. I think it’s all about error correction. A CD transport can only do so much. Near perfect CD error correction for today PC is a simple process for them.

>> 04-02-06: Hudsonhawk
>> It's funny, I made a similar note when listening that
>> Bombaywalla did while listening to his Nixon DAC - bad
>> CD's sound *bad*. I've got two theories about this - I
>> wonder if either these CD's have digital noise that's
>> actually in the master, or these DACs are particularly
>> jitter-prone.
good to read that someone else also experienced the same on badly recorded/pressed CDs! when I was writing my response post to Undertow, exactly the same thought crossed my mind. These non oversampling DACs use a Crystal Semi 8412 or 8414 I.C. that uses a PLL to extract & lock onto the CDP clock. This is much different than most other hi-end systems that lock the CDP to the DAC clock, which is a more stable/less jitter clock. If these badly recorded CDs must have lots of noise in them, it *could* push the PLL to edges of its lock range, which could have the same effect as high jitter.

>> 04-02-06: Islandflyfisher
>> I think it’s all about error correction. A CD transport
>> can only do so much. Near perfect CD error correction
>> for today PC is a simple process for them.
sorry to burst your bubble, dude, but it's not all about error correction!
In another A'gon thread we've have been thru this - even the most economical CDPs & DVD players have good enough laser pick-ups systems to read the CD w/ near-100% accuracy. The error correction you are talking about are CRC & Reed-Solomon type error correction codes used to correct bits as they are read off the CD. Error correction is generally not used elsewhere in the CD/DVD player.

What is probably happening in your case (w/ the PC server) is that you are lending credence to Hudsonhawk's theory of these non OS DACs being jitter prone. It is well-known fact that ripping a CD to one's hard-drive before burning it to CD-R or playing it back on one's stereo is a good method to reduce jitter - the hard-drive dumps the data to a FIFO & the sound-card reads it using a much more stable clock.

Good for you Hudsonhawk! Glad to see the NON OS DAC working out for you.

Good listening!

Bombaywalla,
I also did some thinking about your comparison of the SN DAC and the Wadia. I'm thinking that some of the differences you were hearing had a lot to do with the output impedance of the Wadia (51 ohms) verses the SN DAC ( guessing maybe 3000 ohms). The input of your Preamp is 50K ohms I think?

The Wadia should sound more dynamic and linear..I'm guessing. The differences you described between the units. I also noticed when using or not using a buffer between my DAC and integrated. The buffer which I believe your player has built in, gives more presence and makes the musical lines easier to follow.

This is why in IMHO..unless you have a cd player or DAC with analog outputs of the Wadia's caliber or a Preamp with a high input impedance ..say 100K ohms. A buffer is mandatory to get the most out of the DAC or CD players analog outputs.

I also believe this is one of the reasons many love PC audio. Some of the sound cards used have an output impedance of 50 Ohms.