EE Minimax Plus DAC vs. Rega DAC

This comparison was done using a Cambridge Audio 840c CDP (as transport) and newest Mac Mini running Pure Music HD files. Cables were Cardas.
The system is my friends: Vandersteen 5a's fed by the ARC DSi integrated amp.

The Rega DAC has at least 300 hours on it now and was using a inexpensive Pangea power cord, which makes it sound a tad brighter than the stock cord. The EE Minimax Plus was 100% stock. The EE Minimax Plus belongs to my friend and has 150 hours on it (aprox).

Out of the Gate:
The Minimax sounded sweeter and a bit more refined (smoother) at the top end, loaded with detail, and yet not fatiguing at all. The Rega sounded flatter, neutral and a bit less engaging to us initially. On the other hand the Rega's midrange and overall image was excellent. The layered effect on classical tracks was better with the Rega and we continue to love it's overall coherent ability to create a soundstage across a wide soundfield. The Minimax Plus still exhibited a bit of thickness, (Easy to spot on male vocals on SE of Tumbleweed Connection or Lyle Lovett' I love Everybody), but it was not on the same distracting level as with the original Minimax. Still, this chesty quality was present much of time and it took some getting used to.

Extended Listening
Using the 840c: The Rega is dryer, neutral. At times we felt it was more accurate, but not always more fun. It sounds very analogue. The Minimax also sounded like analogue and added a sweetness to some old tracks when the Rega just let them all hang out. Fed with older recordings we preferred the Minimax much of the time. A perfect example was Bob Dylan CD's, which sounded a little harsh with the Rega. But when we put better recordings it was a closer race. My friend felt the Rega was creating a sense of realism missing from the Minimax Plus. His exact words: "The Rega makes a live recording sound live while the Minimax sweetens it out and it's just not the same." On the other hand I dug what the Minimax was doing with the highest frequencies. It seemed to have them under control, while the Rega just let them shine through too brightly. If the Minimax was forcing some sonic character at the high end I like it a lot anyway. Both DACs were SO CLOSE that we usually found ourselves having to check which one was on at times. The differences were very subtle overall.

Using the Mac Mini and some HD tracks was a whole new battle. The Mini is well configured with memory and most of the stuff in the BG turned off. Software is Pure Music. The Rega DAC was fed with the Musical Fidelity V-Link convertor since it's USB is limited to 16 bit files. This is a inexpensive convertor and it's far from the top pick. We also used it on the Minimax plus.
After listening with the CDP the Mac sounded as if it had a slight edge to the highest frequencies. At times we weren't sure, but we agreed it wasn't a negative, just different. The Mac produced a dead-quiet blackness between notes that made things sound a bit dark until we were used to it. The Rega and Minimax Plus seemed even more evenly matched as the pairing made the Minimax sound leaner in the midbass, which was something we were liking more and more about the Rega. The Rega still retained an edge in resolving the venue in live recordings, but the Minimax evened things up with it's superb sweet high end yet again. Listening to Eva Cassidy's live album we were both liking the Rega's presentation better. 20 minutes later we were listening to Anne Sophie Mutter (HD) and her playing was sweet beyond words with the Minimax besting the Rega on that recording. Oddly we preferred the Minimax with the tube switched out as we did with the first unit. Bass was better on the Minimax without the tube for us. Male vocals could sound "chesty" even congested on the Minimax Plus with the tube, less so in SS mode. The owner of the unit agreed that his previous audition of the unit agreed with what I was hearing, but said unit had been tube-rolled with some improvement. The Rega's bass was tight and a bit deeper than the Minimax, but we really thought the quality of bass was pretty much the same.

Image and Soundstage
The Rega seems to pursue this goal more than the other DACs we've heard. It really makes the speakers vanish (on SOME recordings). The Minimax tries to match this ability, but comes in short. For studio stuff it didn't matter a lot of the time. On live recordings the Rega had the edge.

Conclusion
It's hardly a fun answer, but....Pick one! I had a slight preference for the Minimax plus and my friend liked the Rega better. Maybe we were just being polite as it was a very even match-up. He likes a lot of live jazz and that's where we agreed the Rega was king. But I listen to some older rock with less than ideal recording efforts and the Minimax did something beautiful to those recordings. It also handled strings in a way that could make a grown man cry. The Rega created a "room" of music...it's ability to expose distances between instruments with precision was very impressive. The Minimax seemed to pursue musicality above accuracy. Perhaps the best way to put it is that the Minimax Plus was more forgiving in his system. If you're waiting for me to declare a winner....don't hold your breath! For my Merlin speakers I think the Rega was the right choice. The TSM's are speakers that expose midrange like few others and the Rega compliments that very well. Another item some folks would want to consider is that the Minimax Plus can be tried with other tubes, but I find the Rega's 5 filter settings of more value.
As I always say, be very suspicious of anyone claiming that the Rega, Minimax or W4S or even Dacmagic are far better than others in their ranges. The absolute truth is that these units are excellent and are not seriously dominated by DACs we've heard costing much more. If you hear these DACs in the same system back-to-back and have the ability to hear small nuances you'll soon learn that they all have strengths and weaknesses, but generally sound quite close. The DAC I liked the least (W4S 2) was still excellent and would be fine in my system. Of course that's not what we read shootouts for. We want a winner, but it's silly to think that everyone would hear what I heard in a different room with different gear. For what little it's worth I prefer the cosmetics of the Minimax Plus over the Rega. It has more of a high end look. As I plan to add the Rega Apollo R CPD/Transport, the Rega stack may even that score a bit. Owners of either unit may take exception to my comments, but I think we all know that either unit can be tweaked by settings, tubes, power cords and so on. The point here was to compare the units initial character. Bottom line: You cannot go wrong with either.

Cheers,

Rob