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DAC Shootout Starts This Weekend

Okay...in another thread I promised to do a side-by-side evaluation of the Audiobyte HydraVox/Zap vs the Rockna Wavelight. Due to the astonishing incompetence of DHL this has been delayed. At the moment, I have a plethora of DACs here and am going to do a broader comparison.

I am going to do a compare of the Rockna Wavelight, Rockna Wavedream Signature, Audiobyte HydraVox/Zap, Chord Hugo 2, Chord Hugo TT2, Bricasti M3, Bricasti M1 Special Edition, Weiss 501 and the internal DAC card for an AVM A 5.2 Integrated amp as a baseline.

For sake of consistency, I am going to use that same AVM integrated amp driving Vivid Kaya 45s. I may branch out and do some listening on other speakers (Verdant Nightshade of Blackthorn and/or Wilson Benesch Vertexes) but want to use the Vivids for every compare as they are the fullest range speakers I have here. For sake of consistency I will use a Chord 2Go/2Yu connected via an Audioquest Diamond USB as a renderer. The only exception is the Hugo 2 which has a 2Go directly attached to it. I will use a Roon Nucleus+ as a server in all cases.

My plan is to use the same five songs on every DAC; In a Sentimental Mood from Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, Be Still My Beating Heart from Sting, Liberty from Anette Askvik, Duende from Bozzio Levin Stevens and Part 1 of Mozart String Quartet No 14 in G Major from the Alban Berg Quartet. The intent is to touch on different music types without going crazy.

I will take extensive notes on each listening session and write up a POV on the strengths of each unit. I am going to start this this Friday/Saturday and will be writing things up over the next month or so. If you have thoughts, comments or requests, I will be happy to try and accommodate. The one thing I am not going to do is make the list of songs longer as that has an exponential impact on this and make everything much harder. If and when other DACs come in on trade I may add to the list through time.
128x128verdantaudio
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 

verdantaudio OP
I have a few transports here. I can order a CD or two with decent tracks on it. Good suggestion since lots of folks are CD users.

Hate to put another fly in the ointment but!

If you do A/B using CD and streaming, be aware early CD’s are usually not compressed (sound much better), where later of the same cd (re-issues/re-masters) are compressed, and are what you usually get when streaming.

Just look at this one and only album they came together to make, and you’ll see, and why I campaign for all streaming/download companies/sites to give the provenance of what they sell you.
And why I stay with CD until they do. (green is good uncompressed)

https://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list/year?artist=Traveling+Wilburys

Remember, dynamic range gives the music breathing space. (without quite, you have no loud, = compression)

Cheers George




rossb
183 posts
 
I don’t really understand why there is this perception that FPGA = Good, while dac chips such as ESS, AKM, Burr Brown etc = Bad.

Most FPGA designs are from one man operations with one idea and a limited budget, while the chips are generally designed by expert teams with larger budgets. Of course, either can be good or bad, depending on the implementation. Some of the most highly regarded high end DACs available use the current ESS or AKM chips, for example. Personally, I prefer the Lumin X1 and Mytek Manhattan II with their ESS chips to the Chord Dave I owned, despite its FGPA. In other words, don’t pre-judge the DAC merely because it uses a particular architecture. It is the implementation that is more important.

And you should definitely involve your wife. If she hates the M Scaler, it sounds like she has good taste and better hearing than most reviewers out there.




tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,775 posts
 
first, cool thread and respectful back and forth, how wonderful…

yes, implementations matters greatly; power supply (s), Faraday cage ( not as needed for R ladder ), filter implementation ( often in the FPGA ), chips, and the all mighty analog section.

Jim White of Aesthetix gets it but i would love to hear the results of this..

fun

Jim 
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three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
@verdantaudio

How can we be assured that your listening skills are up to snuff? ;-)

Honestly I look very much to hearing your impressions....sounds like a fun undertaking and appreciate the future share and the time it takes to assemble your thoughts.
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