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Kora Hermes or EVS Millenium or Audio Note DAC One.1x?

My search for a new DAC has come down to about 3 choices:

Kora Hermes 24/192
EVS Millenium II
Audio Note DAC One.1x (or perhaps the 1.2 kit)

Has anyone heard all three, any of them side by side? Any opions of suggestions regarding them? It is going to be impossible for me to audition them all, much less in a direct comparision.

The Audio Note DAC's are interesting, but somewhat confusing. They have been "upgraded" or revised to take 24bit/96kHz inputs, yet the main processor is still only an 18 bit chip. How do they resolve 24 bit input with only an 18 bit chip? Does this have something to do with their "1x oversampling", how does that work? It must be done somehow, given the raves I hear from people. How does the Audio Note DAC's use an 18 bit chip to provide resolution comparable to 24 bit DAC's? This is confusing me.
On the Kora Hermes 24/192, does anyone know if the output of the DAC are balanced XLR's, or only single-ends RCA's? All the inofmration I can find on the units (which is quite limited) never mentions the outputs. Also does anyone have any published spec's on the Hermes? The Kora website is not really the best at supplying information.

Are there any other DAC's around the $1500 and below level that I should also be considering? I will be using a very solid EAD T-7000 as my transport, and an Assemblage DSD-1 upsampler/jitter reducer/etc. The rest of the system is a Sonaic Frontiers Line 3 pre-amp, and an EAD PowerMaster 2000.

Any recommendations, insights, comments and suggestions on these DAC's would be helpful and most appreciated.

Thanks!
papertiger
glreno
224 posts
 
Just for clarification, I bought my Hermes from JC Audio. It was not purchased directly from Kora.
stereo
147 posts
 
I am using a Audio Note Dac 1.1x and really like it. The receiver chip (Crystal chip) does receive 24/96, but the Analog Devices dac chip will only receive 18 bits. It is not a problem inserting a 24 bit signal, but you will only get 18 bit resolution. It is non oversampling dac and that in itself (I think) makes it very musical. I have never heard the other dacs, so I cannot comment on their sound, but I do recommend any Audio Note 1x dacs. Lots of good posts about them.
jdubusc
38 posts
 
I have heard the EVS, owned the Hermes (24/192) and now have the Audio Note 3.1 X Balanced. The EVS was not musical, the Hermes was excellent and a good value. But, the Audio Note 1.1 X blew the Hermes away with its transparency; the AN does not oversample. It was the AN 1.1 X that got me into Audio Note and I have since bought the amps and preamp. I would unhesitatingly recommend the Audio Note.

Good Listening, Jim.
sean
6,231 posts
 
Jdubusc: Out of curiosity, which Millennium did you hear ? Ric has made the Millennium, Millennium 1A, Millennium 1B and the Millennium II.

For the record, I have a Millennium II, my Brother has a Millennium 1B and my Father is using a Millennium 1A. While i would not doubt that the Hermes and AN sound very good, i have a hard time swallowing the statement that the Millennium "was not musical". While i know that everyone has different personal preferences, i'm thinking that there was a "compatability issue" taking place somewhere within the system that you heard. Can you recall any of the specific support components / other gear within the system ?

This is not to say that i think that the Millennium series of DAC's are the "end all", but that i know them to be capable performers if given a good signal and loading to work with. Not that this says much, but i also know of a reviewer that uses a Millennium in his reference system. Sean
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kpoulard
42 posts
 
I second Sean's response. I too own a DAC II,and have found this unit to be transparent, dynamic, focused and involving. Jdubusc may have experienced an unfavorable system interaction, due to the reveiling nature of the Millenium DACs.

Ken
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