Yes, Tim is right. While i had initial problems with my first EVS DAC and ended up returning it, it was a hard thing for me to do. I really liked this piece but the low level hum / buzz that i had in the system with it was annoying once i noticed it. Even with the barely audible buzz, my Brother's first words when hearing the Mill II ( for less than one minute !!! ) were "this sounds AWESOME !!!". The results were that noticeably improved over my previous tube based dac, which is now serving in one of my other systems. The tube based DAC retailed for 50% more than what the Millennium cost me. That does not include the tube upgrades and mods / tweaks that were done to it either. As you can see, price does not always equate with better performance.
As it turns out, the hum problem was elsewhere in the system. With the EVS being "tweaked out", it is quite sensitive the system that it is in. The EVS was transparent / sensitive enough to reveal such a problem whereas over a half dozen other DAC's had not exposed such a flaw. Probably because they weren't as revealing to begin with. Once i had gotten that problem tracked down, i ended up purchasing another Millennium II and have fallen back in love all over again.
My Brother also own an EVS DAC now, albeit an earlier model. After hearing mine, he decided that he wanted something similar. The results of installing one into his system provided the same "magic" that i had obtained in mine. We had to play around a little bit more with digital cables in his system, but we ended up where we wanted to go pretty easily. Like me, he has no intentions of doing any shopping for another digital source anytime soon. For the record, he had used four different "one box" players and two different DAC's in the last two years.
The trick is to find a component that is both revealing AND "musical" at the same time. Most lack in one aspect or the other or can provide both qualities but do so in limited quantity. It is the "limited quantity" of having both aspects that can make a component / system sound "good" but not quite pull you into the music full time. I've found the EVS to be capable of doing what i want it to do so long as the source feeding it ( transport / digital cable ) are up to snuff. I'm currently using the same transport ( with modifications ) that Bob Crump / John Curl use to demo their CTC gear with. As far as i know, this is also the same transport that Hovland uses as their reference at trade shows. Obviously, the rest of the system behind it has to be up to the same level of performance and i think that i've come pretty close to achieving that. Sean
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As it turns out, the hum problem was elsewhere in the system. With the EVS being "tweaked out", it is quite sensitive the system that it is in. The EVS was transparent / sensitive enough to reveal such a problem whereas over a half dozen other DAC's had not exposed such a flaw. Probably because they weren't as revealing to begin with. Once i had gotten that problem tracked down, i ended up purchasing another Millennium II and have fallen back in love all over again.
My Brother also own an EVS DAC now, albeit an earlier model. After hearing mine, he decided that he wanted something similar. The results of installing one into his system provided the same "magic" that i had obtained in mine. We had to play around a little bit more with digital cables in his system, but we ended up where we wanted to go pretty easily. Like me, he has no intentions of doing any shopping for another digital source anytime soon. For the record, he had used four different "one box" players and two different DAC's in the last two years.
The trick is to find a component that is both revealing AND "musical" at the same time. Most lack in one aspect or the other or can provide both qualities but do so in limited quantity. It is the "limited quantity" of having both aspects that can make a component / system sound "good" but not quite pull you into the music full time. I've found the EVS to be capable of doing what i want it to do so long as the source feeding it ( transport / digital cable ) are up to snuff. I'm currently using the same transport ( with modifications ) that Bob Crump / John Curl use to demo their CTC gear with. As far as i know, this is also the same transport that Hovland uses as their reference at trade shows. Obviously, the rest of the system behind it has to be up to the same level of performance and i think that i've come pretty close to achieving that. Sean
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