2. digital
  3. 168893-95151

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
axeis1
276 posts
 
Good job so far Scott. I was wondering and maybe I missed it but did you try the different filters on the TT2? 
verdantaudio's avatar
verdantaudio OP
1,469 posts
 
@axeis1  I don't think I mentioned that I did test the filters.  Chord is the brand I am most familiar with so I tested them quickly in this setup but found I liked it best with the filters off.  This is not a particularly bright setup and I find the TT2 filters add a touch of warmth in high frequencies, that is it.  They are more subtle than say NOS vs linear on the Wavelight.  

I rarely use the Chord filters with either system as both have tubes or my headphones that I use most commonly (Thinksound On1 and Focal Celestee).  On the rare occasion that I have a demo of another headphone, that may change.  I would have the filter on warmest with say Focal Utopias.  Probably off for Stellias.  You get the idea.  Headphones have been hard to keep in stock and I can't open a pair for demo.  
4afsanakhan
134 posts
 
Great idea Verdantaudio. Will follow this enthusiastically.

Antigrunge2, I have to agree. I’ve heard great R2R DACs, and know the sound of the Magicwire DAC in the Devialet Expert Pro, which is based around a Texas Instruments PCM1792 (Delta Sigma topology). I believe that its not so much about the DAC chip in and of itself, but the execution of the supporting architecture and the chip together. Having heard several high-end DACs including R2R and FPGA based DACs, I can confidently state that the Devialet Magic Wire DAC is in the same class. 
mr_m
1,900 posts
 
Is there a preference for R2R Dacs or Delta Sigma and their variants? Or as stated, does it depend on execution of the Dac?
antigrunge2
1,331 posts
 
At the risk of being repetitive: it is much more the implementation of the individual design than the basic architecture (R2R, FPGA, Delta Sigma)that differentiates dacs: i.e. quality of clocking and power supplies( foremost), quality of the noise rejection on digital inputs, design of attenuator (if used as a preamp), presence of op-amps or capacitors in the signal path, direct coupling of output stages and on and on. I very much question the ability to differentiate between the different chip sets, be they TI/Burr Brown, AKM, ESS Sabre et al. in an optimised setting on sound quality. Assuming optimal clock accuracy it is really the differences in the analogue domain that determine dac sound quality.
More to discover