No kidding. T+A is pretty weak. But these are probably engineers we are dealing with. Some chips bypass their filtering when upsample to the highest integers. My Cirrus chip does that. So all I get it the HQplayer filter. AKM does the same. ESS no. But @Archimago did measurements with his Oppo player with ESS chip and it looked like it worked fine. i would just really like to see a shift in DACs once more. From just having a great power supply and analog output stage to a weak digital part, we went to all measurements and super weak power supplies but even weaker analog outputs. I’d rather sacrifice a bit of SINAD for a nice discreet Class A biased output stage anyday. I mean I think we have reached ridiculously low levels of harmonic distortion IMD, and super high S/N nowadays. Can we please have some hifi in mind analog output stages now? It’s time
I use a Schiit Yggy LiM model. It sounds fantastic and uses some commercial DA converter chips that I believe are intended to be used in medical equipment (X-ray machines iirc) I do plan on moving it on though, as I prefer my vinyl setup and am using it far less. I think that i would move to something ESS based, or a dated second hand unit that is overbuilt.
I had an original Arcam Irdac, sounded very good, but sold it. I had regrets later so I bought an Irdac II. Not good! The original had wolfson or Burr Brown chip (I don't recall), the II had ess sabre chip. Different sound (and to my ears not a good sound), so yes there is a difference in chips being used especially as it's from the same manufacturer, same box, same....It's being used as a simple Bluetooth receiver in the kitchen now. It's also the reason why I didn't want a new RME ADI2 (ess sabre) but specifically went looking for an older model with AKM chip...even if RME claim that they both sound the same.
I had the exact same experience with Arcam Irda II. I liked operational aspects of the dac but never liked the sound. Way too bright in my opinion. I sold it and bought a RME ADI2 with the AKM chip and have been very pleased and do not feel the need to change dacs. Although like most everyone in this hobby, I get the itch to try something different.
A man to my taste ! Yes the IrdacII is a lot brighter sounding (with a flatter, less enveloping soundstage) than the original Irdac. If you get the itch to try something else...first try using the NOS filter of the RME together with their standard PEQ correction (to deal with the roll off in highs you get with NOS), it's my favorite by far (better soundstage and instrument timbre/tone than sharp/slow). You can find their PEQ correction setting for NOS on their site (just do a google for those terms). And 2nd, try slightly playing with the different PEQ bands to hear what certain freqs do to the sound, you might be amazed what a slight boost of 0.5dB with a very broad Q factor around 250-300hz can do for you. Basically you can create your own DAC sound with it, but most people just seem to prefer buying 20 other dacs to get the same result . Another advantage of learning to handle/deal with the PEQ settings is that you will learn a lot about in room response, how certain freqs change the perception of a soundstage, etc. Try out different speakers, preamp, amp,...maybe, sure, why not! Change my RME? Never! Unless it's for another DAC with PEQ capabilities.
Virtually no one supports products like RME. Their support is unparalleled Great DAC , mine is now in a bedroom system that for now just is doing headphone duty but I plan on getting a nice pair of powered monitors to drive. I’ve been on the fence about selling it but there is a lot to like about that DAC
My PS Audio DirectStream DSD Mk2 is finally here, day 1. Right out of the box. . .it sounded awesome, I heard an improvement from the OG and the modded DSDs that I own, unmistakable, not subtle. Less high frequency edge, taught yet fuller bass. A couple of hours in I lifted the ground on my two sources (the two I2S inputs) and lifted the ground on my XLR outputs and heard a different presentation, with a bit more clarity and a bit more depth to the presentation. If it gets better (I know it will) I’ll continue to be a happy camper.
I'm envious. I love my DS MKI, but the reports about the DS MKII are just off the charts. I wish that I could justify the expense.
I just looked at their web site to see the price. It’s great that they offer financing at $720 a month!
yeah it’s a bit too much. T+A DAC 200 is about the same amount of money and at least they have a PCM option as well that rocks. As well as a pure DSD DAC.
I have the Denifrips Pontus 2 I was looking for a dac that was more resolving than the dac in my Elac Discovery music server. I like the sound of my Oppo CD player (bdp95) which is detailed but neutral. The Pontus excelled in every measure. Detailed, neutral and terrific soundstage. Made me want to upgrade my turntable to get more out of my vinyl.
He’s good. But imho he needs to put some more research or effort in his analog output stages as well he’s figured out the filter part really well. Time to move on
Yggdrasil LIM vs. Pontus II 12th vs. Gustard R26... which would you choose? i'm having a hard time deciding as the only one i'm able to see/listen too is the Schiit since i'm local to their brick and mortar location. It will be feeding into a Freya+ with Tung-Sol 6sn7 to my Yamaha A-S1200.
First, why the Yggdrasil LIM instead of the OG version with the Analog Devices chips? I haven't been able to hear the LIM version yet. I have heard the OG version with Analog Devices chips. And I like the OG version. And reviews of the LIM version and comparisons to the OG version tend to push me to the OG. I could buy the OG version with zero risk and know I'm going to like it and will integrate perfectly in my system. I can't do the same for the LIM. The lower end Denafrips DACs are what Tone? describes as robe and slippers style sound. I have heard the original versions of the Ares and Pontus at headphone meets. And they are robe and slippers style sound. I've been told that the Terminator is much less of that. But haven't been able to hear one to find out. My headphone amps are already on the smooth side and adding a DAC that is also smooth sounding will end up as smoothened over smooth. And that's too much smooth in the system. If you have an amp that is on the aggressive side then a Denafrips may work. But for me with my amps it won't. I would like to get a chance to hear a Terminator DAC in my system. To find out how it does. It might work in my system, or might not. Don't know until you try. For the Gustard R26 there is a YouTube review here where he compares the R26 to the Yggydrasil OG and Chord and some other DACs. He found the R26 to be less resolving than the Yggy OG. Any DAC I consider for me needs to be equal or more resolving than the Yggy OG. So the R26 is not likely to be an upgrade for me in my system (moving up from a Gungnir MB). The Gustard does have a ethernet network interface built in. And that's a neat feature that can save you some money compared to buying a separate network streamer just to add the DAC to the network. So that's a nice feature if you're using Roon or DLNA or HQPlayer NAA. Saves you from buying something like a separate iFi Zen Stream. The other factors to consider are whether you want to have native DSD support. The Yggdrasil does no DSD. The best way I have found to do on-the-fly DSD conversion from DSD to PCM for my Schiit Gungnir is to use HQPlayer. Which ends up being a $1000+ solution. You need to buy HQPlayer (around $240) and Roon ($830) (because the only convenient way to use HQPlayer is with Roon) plus a computer with enough CPU processing power to do the DSD to PCM processing using the better more processing intensive HQPlayer filers. Which means a mini PC with an i7 or i9 or similar level AMD Ryzen. And at that point the computer side of the system to do the DSD to PCM will cost more than the DAC. That creates an incentive to find a good DAC that does DSD and PCM so it doesn't need the HQPlayer stuff just to play SACD rips at a decent quality. I have been buying and ripping SACDs. My PCM Gungnir MB has become a limitation in how well I can enjoy those SACD rips. So I've been looking for DAC options that do both PCM and DSD.
Rob Watts' design philosophy is to design a DAC processing chip with output that doesn't need an extensive output stage to get the DAC able to send quality output to the RCA or XLR outputs. The most transparent output stage is no output stage. So that's the logic. Holo Audio and several other R-2R DAC manufacturers also follow a similar philosophy about output stages. They design the R-2R DAC processing to have a high enough output and suitable output to be able to drive the RCA and XLR outputs directly with essentially no output stage.
@Stereosound Thanks for posting that video- very interesting to hear his take on design. He is definitely thorough and there’s no argument that his level of understanding of electronic engineering is deeply rooted. I found his opinions and reflections on the give and take of design approaches to be informative. Although some descriptions were oversimplified (probably for the sake of time) it made me wonder how the dac I use would fit into his school of thought as it is not only an R2R/NOS design but is also based on an FPGA processor as opposed to a chip. One bit I found very interesting was how he described tailoring the processing to a point to where a dac could basically impart only that of the recorded instrument without alteration. It’s interesting conceptually but I don’t necessarily believe it to be plausible. While it’s true that many dacs are known to be more revealing and true to the source than others I believe that they all impart their own sonic fingerprint upon the presentation. And that doesn’t speak to the impact given by the additional supporting elements in the system. But still it’s very cool stuff!
