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.
Allow me to correct my mistake, Weiss's top end products do not have I2S, however the Antipodes streamers do offer the I2S output. |
@fuzzbutt17 So have you been trimming or adjusting the Mystique X series DAC's? When reading your post you mentioned that you just purchased the correct equipment to do that, So do the people with a current DAC send them in to get them adjusted? Do you have an ETA on the new Z DAC and an idea of the starting price point? |
@brbrock - It is my understanding that Mojo Audio does indeed make the one MSB fine-tune adjustment on the AD1862/65 chips they use, but needed the more sophisticated equipment to make the four MSB adjustments on BB PCM58 and PCM63 chips. |
Yes, every Mystique DAC since our Mystique v1 had a similar MSB zero-crossing trim adjustment. The single MSB adjustment on the AD1865 and AD1862 DAC chips we've been using did not require as sophisticated equipment to adjust them as the 4-bit adjustments on the PCM58 chips we'll be using in our new Mystique Z. When we get DACs in for repair or traded in we always check the adjustments for MSB zero-crossing of the DAC chips and DC offset of the op amps. Generally speaking we've seen no drift on the adjustments on the DAC chips and very minor drift on the adjustments on the op amps. So we would not recommend customers sending in their DACs to have us fine tune the trim pots. The only times we've found that it has been required to readjust the trim pots in our DACs has been when the DAC chips or op amp modules have been replaced. We're just about to order the circuit boards for our new Mystique Z. About a week after we test the circuit boards we'll be ordering the chassis. Sad to say that historically it can take anywhere from 4-12 weeks to get chassis. That being said, we're hoping to have the first production run of our Mystique Z DACs ready to ship by the end of August. As for price, we're hoping to have an entry-level version that will start at around $5K or $7K with normal resistors, less exotic capacitors, and Lundahl ferrous core chokes. Since historically we don't sell many of our entry-level DACs they will be special order only. The bang-for-the-buck version will have all the best component parts as our Mystique X SE and will come standard with Lundahl amorphous core chokes. We're expecting to sell them for $9K-$11K and we will inventory this version. The top-of-the-line version will come standard with Lundahl nano crystal core chokes and ISO Acoustics footers. We're expecting to sell those for $11K-$13K and we will inventory this version as well. I realize that the estimated pricing has a $2K range. Prices have gone up on all of our parts as well as the aluminum for our chassis. Not to mention any potential import duties. Until we confirm all of the component part prices in August we won't be able to provide a firm price. I hope you can understand. Our first production run will be reserved for existing customers who want to trade in their current DAC. We'll probably start accepting pre-production orders the end of July or beginning of August. Depending on the popularity of our Mystique Z we may not have DACs available for new customers until our second production run. Historically speaking our first production runs usually sell out to existing customers before the production run is even finished. |
