Yamamoto YDA 01 DAC

Charles,
it is indeed ironic especially since I'm comparing it to a DAC that is said to be on the cold/bright side of neutral... Until now I thought that a DAC is an unlikely source for a system mismatch.

Well, per UPS my Metrum Octave should arrive today. If so I`ll post out of the box impressions and then followup after appropriate burn-in.

Charles1dad,

I have listened to 4 DACs in the last month or so. My favorite one, by far, is an older one a friend gave to me. He helped design it for a company and was given some of them which he modified to his own tastes (got rid of all electrolitics, used some "special" caps, beefed up power supply, etc). It doesn't have all the fancy # of the newer ones, it just sounds better. What is surprising it the low level detail. It's not just that it's better, I hear things that don't even exist in the others.

When I was researching, I read that Gordon Rankin (Wavelength) thinks that the manipulation of the stream up then down loses some low level detail. All I know is what I hear and that is: this older "simpler" DAC, with it's mods, sounds better than the newer ones I tried. I'm happy now and have no interest in trying way more expensive ones.

I will be interested in what you find with the Metrum. I like your system. It should reveal a lot.

Hi Onemug,
Your DAC sounds like quite a find. Is it NOS, multibit,R/2R or Delta Sigma based?
I love simple circuits coupled with strong power supplies.

UPS tracking now says my DAC will come tomorrow( good thing I`m a patient man).

Charles1dad,
My DAC is NOS. Not sure what it's based on. Power supply is strong and analog as opposed to a switching type.

You are a patient man. Love to read about your impressions of it, even out of the box. Hope it's a winner.