Today I had a visit from Peter and Karl of Vu Jade. The brought their DAC 100 which retails for $12K and is a two chassis tube DAC. They also offer a single chassis, delta-sigma DAC using 6SN7s and is one I am looking forward to hearing.
After a variety of issues, (poor contact on an SPDIF cable, failure of a pair of my RCAs and me forgetting to switch Ethernet cable to the 2Go/2Yu) we were finally ready to listen. Good news is the DAC had plenty of time to warm up.
At this price point, I expect minimal compromise and the Vu Jade delivered. There is still a little bit of a trade in terms of detail vs. soundstage and imaging but that tradeoff is not unreasonable or out of line with similarly priced DACs. It is close to as detailed as the Bricasti M1 SE if not as detailed. It's image is as large. Depth is excellent and the image is incredibly stable. Not quite as detailed and controlled as the Rockna or Weiss but this was not surprising.
What it delivers is PRaT. Punchy mid-bass and mids that shine like the sun. It is not bloated. It is not lean. Nor is it overly warm. I thoroughly enjoyed this playing In a Sentimental Mood as the saxophone was sweet and the piano sparkled. It made Anette Askvik's voice sounded incredible during Liberty. There was no sibilance in Sting's voice or during Liberty. It was incredibly quiet and delivered good detail in the opening of Duende and the ending sounded unified and extremely coherent.
However, it sounded big and slightly colored to me on strings. The intimacy of the Berg piece was lost slightly though there was no smearing or massing of strings. If I was a Classical junkie, I might look for slightly brighter speakers (Vivid Giyas, Avantgardes???) and/or a slightly brighter amp to pair with this DAC. The AVM is known for being neutral to warm.
This DAC is quite at home in its price and delivers a very analog sound.
Note: for this test we used an Audioquest Yosemite RCAs as we were getting static from the pair of AQ Water RCA cables I have used previously. The Vu Jade does not have a USB in so we used a Jorma SPDIF.
After a variety of issues, (poor contact on an SPDIF cable, failure of a pair of my RCAs and me forgetting to switch Ethernet cable to the 2Go/2Yu) we were finally ready to listen. Good news is the DAC had plenty of time to warm up.
At this price point, I expect minimal compromise and the Vu Jade delivered. There is still a little bit of a trade in terms of detail vs. soundstage and imaging but that tradeoff is not unreasonable or out of line with similarly priced DACs. It is close to as detailed as the Bricasti M1 SE if not as detailed. It's image is as large. Depth is excellent and the image is incredibly stable. Not quite as detailed and controlled as the Rockna or Weiss but this was not surprising.
What it delivers is PRaT. Punchy mid-bass and mids that shine like the sun. It is not bloated. It is not lean. Nor is it overly warm. I thoroughly enjoyed this playing In a Sentimental Mood as the saxophone was sweet and the piano sparkled. It made Anette Askvik's voice sounded incredible during Liberty. There was no sibilance in Sting's voice or during Liberty. It was incredibly quiet and delivered good detail in the opening of Duende and the ending sounded unified and extremely coherent.
However, it sounded big and slightly colored to me on strings. The intimacy of the Berg piece was lost slightly though there was no smearing or massing of strings. If I was a Classical junkie, I might look for slightly brighter speakers (Vivid Giyas, Avantgardes???) and/or a slightly brighter amp to pair with this DAC. The AVM is known for being neutral to warm.
This DAC is quite at home in its price and delivers a very analog sound.
Note: for this test we used an Audioquest Yosemite RCAs as we were getting static from the pair of AQ Water RCA cables I have used previously. The Vu Jade does not have a USB in so we used a Jorma SPDIF.