Thanks for your comments. Says a lot given your great system. Good to hear.
I think the real important comment was you stopped listening to vinyl. That is when I realized digital was finally here for real.
Cayin D30 DAC outperforms Weiss, Playback, CH and MSB
Recently I was looking to upgrade my DAC ( Weiss 501mk2). While I was all happy about 501, I asked my local Weiss dealer to lend me their new flagship Helios for a home audition. I could hear the improvement but not justify the doubled price tag in my opinion. Then I was asked by another dealer to try the flagship of SoulNote D3 which is 4 times the price of my 501. Since then I tested in my premise MSB Reference , Esoteric K01-X , Playback Design, CH… all 2 to 5 times the price of my 501. They all sounded better one way or the other but nothing “wow” …
A friend recommended me to give a try to Cayin D30th (or Cayin Soul D30) , which is a Chinese manufacturer making mostly head fi amps / DAC. I was very hesitant with lots of doubts at first but once I put it side by side to compare with ALL the others, the Cayin D30 blew them away within the first 30 seconds!
1: Dynamics : all the drums , piano keys strikes are significantly better at any volume level. Microdynamics are much wider
2: 3 dimensional : by comparison ALL the other DACs produce layers of depth but not in a 3 dimensional imaging like the Cayin. The whole soundstage are much more defined
I played mostly on vinyl but since I had the Cayin I notice I had not play my turntable for over a month! It’s very engaging , musical (analog sound?) I didn’t experience with any of the others DACs
I feel the Cayin D30 owes some proper exposure : it has two completely independent sets of Chip Set ESS 9039 Pro (up to DSD512) for the “modern CDs or files” and a Phillips 1307+1547 (1-bit) for the “Classic red book CDs 44.1hz)I found myself most enjoyed with the classic mode with the CDs I bought in the 90s.
it’s much more balanced, smooth and natural with these “vintage” CDs than most of the remastered/ upsampled reissues. Makes me query does all these MQA ,K2, SACD, DD512 format produce better sounding or just “different” sounding?
Another discovery : the analog portion of this DAC : the separate Power Supply weighs 50i lbs ! I tend to suspect the quality / materials used in the power supply yields a bigger impact on the final SQ, than any of the “modern” digital technologies (MQA / upsmapling rate / connectors and OCXO clock! )
I believed in big name brands but in the last 4 weeks this not so famous DAC just beats every DAC and my ears made the verdict : I sold my Weiss and now a happy owner of Cayin
Anyone in the market for a high end DAC ($10k+) should give this a serous audition
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Not surprised, Cayin makes great gear. Good to see them getting recognition. I used to have a Cayin integrated amplifier, which had 8 power tubes. I couldn't find any fault with the SQ and it was built like a tank. In the end, I made the switch to a European-made integrated tube amp that only requires 4 power tubes. |
30th may be most expensive Chinese dac I've seen, looks pretty impressive on paper. Your results not surprising to me, I went to Chinese dacs some years ago, never looked back. My present Musetec 006 also competes favorably with my very nice vinyl setup, rarely use vinyl anymore.
As for digital format, I no longer care about bit rate/upsampled with recordings or streaming vs rips, dsd, scad, etc. 16/44 fine, always amazes me how much untapped potential this format has/had. How well recordings mastered far more important than the format.
I do differ with my estimation of sound quality of those 'classic' cd's, which I have plenty of. These classics were produced in a time when A./D converters were pretty poor, mostly I prefer remasters of these recordings. |
Thx for this post. This D30 DAC isn’t displayed yet on Cayin’s website.
+1 I just made a minor modification to my battery-operated Concert Fidelity DAC-040BD which allows it to use a much more powerful battery, More current, more grunt. Wow!
+1 16 bit/44.1khz Redbook can sound excellent in a tuned-up system. It's not the specs, it's the execution. |
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