Six DAC Comparison
I am in the middle of comparing the sound of six different DACs in my system. I own them all (I know weird) but one of them is still within a trial/return timeframe.
Not to share specific comparisons today, but a couple of observations so far are that first, they all definitely sound different from each other. On one hand, they all sound pretty good and play what is fed to them without significant flaws but on the other hand there are definite sonic differences that make it easy to understand how a person might like the sound of some of them while not liking others.
Second, raises the observation that most of them must be doing something to shape the sound in the manner the designer intended since one of the DACs, a Benchmark DAC3 HGA, was described by John Atkinson of Stereophile as providing "state-of-the-art measured performance." In the review, JA closed the measurements section by writing, "All I can say is "Wow!" I have also owned the Tambaqui (not in my current comparison), which also measured well ("The Mola Mola Tambaqui offers state-of-the-digital-art measured performance." - JA). The Benchmark reminds me sonically of the Tambaqui, both of which are excellent sounding DACs.
My point is that if the Benchmark is providing "state-of-the-art measured performance," then one could reasonably presume that the other five DACs, which sound different from the Benchmark, do not share similar ’state-of-the-art" measurements and are doing something to subtly or not so subtly alter the sound. Whether a person likes what they hear is a different issue.
It’s an intelligent design. Can you explain more about what you mean in the differences of how a pure C vs CLC power supply store energy? ”The capacitive power supplies used in most DACs don't store current the way a choke/capacitor power supply does resulting in the music being off time and tune and corrupting the harmonic structure. The more energy a note requires, such as a belting vocal or a booming bass note, the more off time and tune that note is from the rest of the music.”
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@ Mitch2 The Mystique EVO Pro (2018-2020) originally sold for $11,999 and with the Z chip upgrade it would have been $12,999. Originally we sold the Mystique X SE for $9,999 and the NC nano crystal core choke and Z chip upgrades are $2,500 making that DAC $12,499. But due to higher sales volumes our manufacturing costs have gone down so we lowered our prices. Our new Mystique X AM (2024) with amorphous core chokes is identical to our Mystique X SE (2021-2023) and sells for only $8,499. And our new Mystique X NC with nano crystal core chokes sells for only $9,999. |
@ gavin1977 CLC is an excellent power supply and also stores energy similar to an LC power supply but the LC is still slightly better. With an LC power supply the rectification multiplier from AC to DC is only .9 vs 1.414 with a capacitive or CLC power supply. That means the power transformer has to be 50% larger and heavier. Some would call this "electrical torque." The size of the choke can be significantly smaller in a CLC power supply to achieve the same inductive reactance which is also a cost, size, and weight saving. The crest factor in an LC power supply, meaning the peaks and valleys of the DC after rectification, is literally 50% that of a capacitive or CLC power supply. That means the capacitors have literally half as much work to do. The heat in an LC power supply is 50% of a capacitive or CLC power supply making them last significantly longer. And an LC power supply has the highest impedance to AC and lowest impedance to DC of any power supply typology making it the most tolerant of AC noise and providing the most effortless power to DC. Because a CLC power supply is considerably smaller, lighter weight, and less expensive to manufacture, they are significantly more popular than the LC. Of course because a capacitive power supplies are even smaller, lighter, and less expensive to manufacture, they are the most popular. The funny thing is that since nearly all high-end audio electronics use capacitive power supplies everyone is used to hearing the time and tune distortion so very few people notice it. You should see people's jaws drop at audio shows when I play them 1940's and 1950's recordings that were made with LC choke input power supplies in the recording studios. When played on one of our DACs the difference between them and modern recordings made with capacitive power supplies is unmistakable. Very few companies aside from those who manufacture the best-of-the-best of tube amps use LC or CLC power supplies. Recently a few companies, such as Schiit and Musical Fidelity, are making solid-state power amps with LC choke input power supplies (kudos!). The ridiculous thing is that the laws of physics are identical with micro amps and mega amps so it always makes me wonder why these same companies who apparently know the benefits of chokes in a power supply are not putting them in the preamps and DACs they manufacture. |
@fuzzbutt17 Thank you for the explanation of power supplies. I read your post a few time over and just want to clarify a few things and ask some question? LC power supplies are power supplies with large chokes? CLC power supplies are made of just capacitors. To determine if it is an LC power supply you just look for the large chokes? Some people talk about moving towards tube DAC's because of timing timbre harshness etc. In some of these DAC's they have the LC power supply which is correcting time timber etc. What do you think the tube is doing in these DAC's? Does the tube cover some of the bad stuff in the CLC power supply? |
Moving along with the DAC comparisons, I have provided a (rather long) summary of my digital audio background below. Background My background in digital audio started with CD players by Dennon, Theta, Pioneer, and others, and then later the top players from Lector, Ayre, and Muse. The next step was to use a CD transport into a separate DAC (Assemblage 3.1) and then later a modified Mac mini serving digital files to a DAC. I remember the Assemblage 3.1 (along with their D2D-1 converter) sounding relatively musical and looking back, there seemed to be a lot of attention to the power supply as well as using a Burr-Brown DF1704 24/96 digital filter and a pair of the Burr-Brown PCM 1704 24/96 DAC chips per channel. One of my Lector players used a BB PCM63 DAC chip and I remember how musical that player sounded, as well as perceiving a more detailed but somehow less organically musical sound after “upgrading” to their newer model that used the PCM1704 chip. Next, I moved to a couple of mid-priced DACs such as Ayre’s QB-9 DSD but still found the sound somewhat “digital” compared to my Lector and Muse CD players. After reading Srajan Ebaen’s 6moons review of the Metrum Acoustics NOS R2R mini Octave DAC, I purchased the Metrum Octave, then their Hex, and then moved up to their flagship Pavane and later Adagio. I enjoyed those Metrum Acoustics DACs, and particularly the Pavane, and perceived R2R DACs as having a more realistic and less electronic sounding presentation compared to others, like the Ayre, but I wanted something with a bit more meat on the bone, or maybe a bit richer tonality. Benjamin Zwickel, proprietor/designer at Mojo Audio, had tricked out my Mac mini as a music server so, after reading a very positive review by Jeremy Kipnis at Enjoy the Music about Mojo Audio’s Mystique v3, with its five choke input power supplies and AD1862N DAC chips, I decided to give it a try. Kipnis said this about the v3,
My time with the Mojo Audio Mystique v3 convinced me that I could indeed be satisfied with the sound I was hearing from my digital source. However, Benjamin does not sit still so to keep up I moved up the Mojo Audio line to the Mystique B4B21 and then the (previous) flagship Mystique EVO Pro, which IMO is the pinnacle of the design that began with the v3. A short time later, Mojo Audio came out with a similar but somewhat new design, predicated at least in part by their need to change the casework on their DACs. They christened the new DAC the Mystique X (for extruded case). After reading another round of positive reviews for that newest Mojo Audio DAC, I purchased a Mystique X SE. In short, I still preferred the sound of the EVO Pro over the X SE, and so I sold my X SE. After discussing this with Benjamin, I learned about limited edition Z-chips that Benjamin was putting into some of his DACs as a premium offering (AD1862N-Z chips were originally used in higher end Dennon CD players), and so I opened up the EVO Pro and sure enough, I found Z-chips. I have been happy to sit tight with the Mystique EVO Pro and enjoy the music. However, I sometimes like to try new stuff so I took an opportunity to purchase a Mola Mola Tambaqui, which I owned for a couple of months over the holidays. Even compared to the Tambaqui, I still liked the natural sound of the Mojo Audio EVO Pro DAC better, so I sold the Tambaqui. More recent opportunities resulted in my accumulation of the DACs I am currently comparing:
Sorry for such a long-winded background write-up but hopefully it provides context regarding my digital source and DAC journey up to this point. |
