Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Melbguy1, welcome to this great thread, are you going for the vitus player?

Steve,

I am not throwing out anything else but the truth, and thanks for confirming it.

You can select the digital filter on my DAC and I recommend the profile for 192 to be used for all sample-rates. This simply sounds best.

Usually the digital filter in a delta-sigma converter is set at 2x for 192k, 4x for 96k and 8x for 48k sample rates, resulting in a constant out-of-band noise figure allowing you to use the same analog filter at the output. So you are still using 2x oversampling with 192 mode selected. The D/S modulator speed is fixed and there is nothing you can do about it. Some latest DAC chips support 384k with the digital filter totally bypassed, but this is not the case for the AN DAC device you are using. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Yes, I have read your posts that you don't like the sound of AKM DACs, but try to convince the owners of Esoteric K-01, for example, that their player doesn't sound good because it has AKM inside.

As I said, it is all about preferences (synergy to be exact) and the resulting sound quality, nothing else. This said, there is no universal recipe for anything, including audio.

Best wishes,
Alex Peychev
APL Hi-Fi

Hi Matt, I want you to know, since you are computer audio, The Romulas signature has the prized X-mos chip inside that the two designers here are raving about, Then you have the harmonix technology resonance footers stock on the player to get the player to perform to best results, there is alot more I can specify about this product, however, I believe you should go to the Aeshetix site and research, in turn, only if you get the Romulas or pandora signature will you be able to out perform the current dacs here, and God forbid you get a signature with the state of the art volume control to run direct to amps that does not come stock, it is an implentation that cost more money for many good reasons, cheers

matt, I also wanted you to know, there is NO difference in sound quality between the Romulas signature cd-player and the Pandora signature dac, getting the cd-player that does all the Dac does would eliminate some cables and save you money, and you can still use your usb connections for absolute computer audio, cheers ole chap.

I'm definitely enjoying this thread and following Matt's journey. Lots of really great DACs being mentioned.

I've had my Aesthetix Romulus back with the Signature upgrade installed for about 5 weeks now. I'm very, very happy with the sound (it's predessors included the Meitner MA-1 and a brief fling with the Lampi Big 5 w/DSD--the Lampi had some problems and so I didn't get to hear it for long or at its best I'm sure).

I'm loving the Romulus Sig and having lots of fun tuberolling (my pre is the Aesthetix Calypso and I love that it uses the same tubes). I haven't been able to get the Romulus Sig to play DSD files via its spdif inputs (supposed to via DoP of course), but I'm not sure if the problem is the DAC one my Audiobyte Hydra X usb converter. But DSD via the Romulus USB input is sublime. That beying said, I think where I truly prefer the Romulus Sig over my prior DACs is on PCM & redbook.

Enjoy Matt!

Randy