"The Best" is a constantly evolving target. Stereophile Magazine would have us believe it is the $108,000 dCS Vivaldi stack.
Worlds best DAC
Went to CES this year to work on my transition to high Rez digital. I've heard many of the highly regarded players in my room or in others systems in the past. I'm actually very happy with my current cd based sound. As I listened to various DACS playing CD then high Rez, I was not bowled over. High rez was better, but only slightly so. The best (and most different) sound I heard happened to have one similarity. They were 2 non oversampling DACS with tube analog stages(Zanden and Ypsilon). These were without question the most natural sounding digital systems I heard at the show. They made CDsound miles ahead of high Rez. What gives?
PS: I understand the limitations of show auditions.
PS: I understand the limitations of show auditions.
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'Agear, I checked into the ML3 Reference speakers, they seem dead serious and also reminded me of Dale's offerings.' They are dead serious all right. But for about the same money they have been surpassed by the Limited. I live near the maker and he is going to try and raise the performance of the ML3 - but its going to be hard because one of the the reasons for the Limited's performance is its lined with 1/4 inch copper and has 1 inch thick cast iron bracing all over the place inside - each speakers weight is about 41kg - with stands each speaker is over 80kg. Duplicating that in a speaker the size of the ML3 is pretty much impossible at a realistic cost. However I have been conned by the maker into getting a brand new speaker he is working on that uses the 6 inch Seas Magnesium cone and Morel Supreme tweeter. It will have a slightly smaller internal volume for even deeper bass - hence it will be more rigid again. The crossover will be in a separate section at the back, and it will have a trapezoidal shape to break up internal standing waves. I can report on how it sounds when its built. But its a big problem for guys outside Australia because they will have Bucklies of hearing it - unless of course you want to take a punt and fly out to the Gold Coast to hear it. Couple it with a bit of a holiday. Thanks Bill |
I found this link of the Trinity Dac, showing an inside photo. |
"Lloyd, I was thinking about your digital front end and your intonations early in this thread about the old equipment itch. I think you should be very pleased with yourself. Digital front ends come and go like the wind in most systems. Few manufacturers make dacs that people seem to hold onto. Audionote and Zanden are two that come to mind. You have a fabulous foundation that is imminently tweakable and has made music for 6 years. Bravo. It is VERY hard to find digital that lays down down analog goodness in a realistic manner. All that being said, the best dac I have "heard" is the Light Harmonic DaVinci. Sadly, the price is a little dear these days... Agear " Hi Agear, Thanks for your kind words. I admit, the single greatest investment I have made in my system in the last 3 years has been growing my CD collection from 400 CDs to closer to 2,000. And loving it. I feel very fortunate indeed. I have heard amazing things about Lampizator 7 and the fact that Lampizator, Light Harmonic have separate DACs internally for PCM vs DSD intrigues me, as more than one has said they find that no one solution fits all digital formats equally well. I know a few people who own Trinity DAC...sounding very very promising! Good luck in your search and please keep us posted!! |
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