Like every new digital source a little 'tuning' will be necessary. But it nails the basics. Instruments sound 'right' and the speakers disappear. I do like the smaller footprint of the MHDT DAC's though. I think I'd be happy with the Orchid too. I do prefer this DAC over the Havana.

Abbas has a SPDIF cable and I may try it. :scratch2: Someone on his forum said his cables are pretty good.

Nice. I've not tried or heard any of the older nos TDA DACs since my former Marantz Special Edition CD player I had years ago. I remember it sounding really nice and regretted selling it afterwards. Yes, I'm hopeful about the Orchid and the footprint was another reason I decided to give it a try. I spent the last two weeks reading back over various reviews and feedbacks on it. Many reviewers indicated the Orchid has a sound like blending all of the other MHDT DACS together into one. Hopefully that's a good thing. I will like a smooth and more delicate sound if that's what it delivers once broken in. If not, i'll start tube rolling after 30 days. Juin seems to like the earlier version GE tube, I guess the DAC comes with the later 1987 version of the same GE tube.

Anyone here seen or heard the Kassandra DAC before?

An Audio Note dac fan on another forum who's owned 15-20 DACs mentioned this as one of his top DACs now. Could not help but notice familiar similarities in the top plate cutouts and see-through glass front styling.

https://ariesceratespana.com/pages/k...nature-dac-sp/

http://www.audiophile.no/images/Arie...ra%20Mk2-2.jpg

Methinks you will be pleased with your choice. Just trust your ears on the tubes and caps.

I saw the price :icon_thumbsdown:

Then I stumbled on this: http://borderpatrol.net/DAC.htm:scratch2:

Where have I been? Too many DAC's and too little time.

The BP SE (dual transformer) version with Coax only is pretty neat for $1350. Add more if you want usb. I started out and came very close to buying the BP DAC first, would have bought one from Gary at BP but wanted higher reso. I was even working with him to see if he could do a run of "50" Black faceplates. I use to live close to them as a kid. His won't go to 192. More targeted to 16/44 Redbook as I recall. Steve G (Audiophiliac) gave it a good review, he owns one personally. Also, the PartimeAudiophile said good things about it too. That was gonna be my DAC but Gary told me it simply will not work if i try to stream any Spotify Premium 192kbps. Had to pass. If you like 16/44, seems to be a solid deal liked by many.

Tube on/off feature too allows for a softer sound with tube and slightly less rolled off on the highs too. Turn off the tube, gets a tad more detailed. A nice feature, like having two DACs in one, if you like 16bit/44kHz.

I have Spotify Premium and am streaming it into the Abbas through an I Pod touch, set at the highest bit rate, at up to 320kbps. :scratch2:


From the web: What bitrate is Spotify extreme?

Spotify offers low, high and extreme sound quality settings. The normal Spotify bitrate setting is 96 kbps, the high quality bitrate is 160 kbps and extreme is 320kbps. Until recently, extreme quality was only available on Spotify's desktop program, but it is now available for iOS as well.

That Spotify 320kbps stream is listenable. Well below loseless 16/44 Redbook but decent enough for non-critical listening and checking out new music.

I don't understand decooney's friend Gary telling him that a DAC won't work on Spotify Premium 192kbps. That's a fairly compressed, low data rate stream. Any DAC should be able to decode that into a 16/44 output. Perhaps there was some confusion between a 24 bit / 192K high res stream vs a 192K Mpeg compressed file. Spotify uses MP3 compression which can be readily decoded by the simplest of DACs. There is no Spotify streaming option which requires an advanced DAC.

I don't think Tidal requires an advanced DAC either. Spotify is working on offering a lossless option @ $19.95 a month.

Digital makes me crazy..short trip for me.

Got a deal on a Boulder 1021 CD/Streamer Player.
Anxious to see how it performs next to my Ayre QX-5 Twenty????

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4804/...49486aaf_o.jpg