OP - understood, apologies if I came off as harsh. I believe in full disclosure and that those with a professional interest can and should comment but should always disclose their industry interests. On your question, best I’ve owned is the Nagra Tube Dac. It’s a case study in implementation - you can get newer digital but it’s hard to find better implemented power supplies / analog output stage...that stuff does not get old. It does deserve a proper preamp and good server / transport.
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@woots thanks funny thing you said about the Netherlands. The Infigo Dac designer Hans Looman is from the Netherlands. I will try to get my ear on a Nagra as a reference point. I’ve heard good stuff about them. |
@metaldetektor no problem my man. It’s cool I understand that. I love the hobby first. I stumbled into working with Infigo. He blew my last Dac out the water after a. Home audition. I like people that push the limits to what’s possible. I also like people in our hobby that push stuff to get better. So I understand your points. But I’m an audiophile first. Either way the proof is in the ears and eventually you gotta show and tell through performance. I’m going to do a second system probably using a 2-3k Vienna acoustics or sonus faber speaker using my old kr audio va900 integrated and a Dac. |
Wadax Reference 105 MSB Select II 100 Ideon Absolute 98 Lampi Horizon 97 Lampi Pacific 90
Dave (Farad 3 linear power supply and Mscaler (fed by linear supply) 90 Ideon Ion 89 Wells Audio Cipher Dac II 88
After spending one week with Dave modified with Farad 3 power supply, I upgrade its score from 87 to 90.
I had listened to Infigo Dac during Pacific Audiofest 2022 and 2023.
It is hard to give score due to not optimal show condition.
But it sounds smooth and creamy to me.
If I give tentative score to Infigo Dac it would be around 93.
During recent visit to Mike Lavigne's home, I confirm that Wadax is still shoulder above other Dacs but not within reach of most folks due to high price.
Thomas |
@calvinj They explain it far better than my fumbling. In this price zone the differences are subtle and like I keep on about, it's the gear and room that matter the most. |
