Battery powered DAC

I am on the waiting list to try this thing out. I don't like the idea that it has to turned off before it exceeds 4 hrs of playing time or each succeeding play time will be shorter. I got the Nixon DAC now and is left on all the time. Chris Own claims the Ack! to be a much better design than the Nixon DAC. It certainly looks better. We shall see.

A review of this unit has been posted in the Digital Drive section of Audio Asylum:

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/digital/messages/69325.html

I wonder how it compares to the Channel Islands DAC. I think Lak is contemplating on buying this unit for a second system...

Besides Vinnie's, I haven't read a out right positive review/impression of the Ack!. Then again, I doubt a simple non-oversampling DAC will be better than complexed upsampling or with more bits and khz in most people's systems. Best is to try it at home. Chris claimed everyone who did the home demo has kept the DAC. Then again, he sends out demo models...

This is Dusty's opinion taken from the Channel Islands forum in AudioCircle:

"Upsampler... i doubt it for the following reasons:
Although we could probably sell alot of them.. i haven't heard one that makes an across-the-board sonic improvement. The ones that do, usually have something else going on... jitter reduction, interpolation and higher bit rates (word lengths). The CS8420 is an easy way to do it but introduces alot of trade-offs. There is also rumor of the 8420 being discontinued and maybe the whole Crystal semi division of Cirrus Logic."

Here's the scoop IMHO....this ack dAck! is a great little DAC. I've had the latest version from the second production batch for about 6 days now. It was pretty obvious after the first day of use that is was a special piece. It's extremely detailed, wonderfully dynamic and is capable of that musical magic that makes you want to listen for hours. It's also the most non-fatiguing digital sound I've ever heard (although I can't say I've heard them all by any stretch). For $400 I can only think it's an extreme bargin. It also seems less dependant on needing a great transport. My Creek CD43 CDP works great. I also have a Muse Model 2 that I'm comparing it to and it's not even close.

I too wondered if the non-oversampling approach could yield great sound compared to all the newer upsampling/oversampling products out there. I am now a believer that this approach essentially gets rid of a lot of the digital artifacts I've come to expect from digital. You don't realize how much digital haze you have in a normal CDP until you hear this unit and it's missing. The background noise floor seems extremely black which allows you to hear a ton of detail.

The battery approach is somewhat controversial. Some users won't like to have to worry about it. But it's a piece of the design that allows it to sing as beautifully as it does. No AC noise, no over-sampling artifacts, etc.
As Chris will tell you, with good battery hygiene, the batteries will last up to two years. His recommendation is not to run it longer than 4 or 5 hours w/o a recharge cycle (which takes only 15 to 20 minutes). By not running down the battery as much and preventing "deep" charges, the batteries just last longer. I spin vinyl during the charge cycles!

No I haven't heard the CI or Nixon stuff. It's probably pretty good stuff. All I can say is I'm gonna buy this unit w/o a doubt or hesitation. I was skeptical it would be such a great improvement to my system, but the proof is in the listening. I had the advantage of having a few different IC's and digital cables to play with and found some that really made it shine. Hopefully the product is successful because at this price it deserves all the accolades I can come up with.