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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.
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verdantaudio's avatar
verdantaudio OP
1,469 posts
 
rsf507 - whenever you change speakers, there is always a chance that you will need to make other alterations to your system.  Speakers can sound so wildly different.  I can't imagine using the same gear to drive Vivid's and Vandersteen's. 

When you make one change, others may follow. 
verdantaudio's avatar
verdantaudio OP
1,469 posts
 
tvad - bass is an area that saw a big uptick in resolution.  The M1 SE had much better separation on the very rapid bass notes during Duende. Like I said, it falls short of the much more expensive Rockna which sounded crystal clear, but better than the M3.   

Like the move from Chord TT2 to Dave or Wavelight to Wavedream, the M1 is a clear and noticeable step forward from what is a very good place to start with the M3.  
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jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,610 posts
 
good stuff, scott, thanks again for your efforts to document and report your findings

as always, among well respected gear in higher price brackets from top makers, nothing will be downright poor ... the key is understanding the differences in presentation/sound quality so one can match components well in system building... this is where your results can help so many who dearly want to know

i have a great many dacs here, priced high and low, and for sheer pristine clarity, lack of coloration or electronic artifacts and timbral beauty, the chord scaler/tt2 duo is really exceptional, and unbeaten

other dacs, like the audio note 4.1 may sound more ’beautiful’, but you can tell it is from a carefully added sympathetic coloration, at the expense of ’hearing into the music’ that the upper chord gear enables one to do
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