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Originally Posted by Andrei
I would like to report on my upgrade to the W4S Dac-2. This has already been well reviewed so I will keep it brief. The short point is that it does represent a decent improvement in sound quality.
Differences were in timbral accuracy, soundstage, and presence. Instruments such as guitar now sound a little closer to a real guitar. In terms of soundstage my kit already provided an excellent soundstage but now it is more well defined with voices being placed so that it possible to point exactly at the location of a player or singer. Presence is better as well. This shows up in singer/songwriter material - think Natalie Merchant, Katie Melua. The illusion of the singer in the room is pretty darn convincing.
A significant feature was that I found it took the full 200 hours before the unit was run in. This was considerably longer than the the original unit, that came on song after 70 to 100 hours. I set the unit to run 24 hrs a day for a week - a long time when you are waiting to try out your new toy!
All in all the Dac-2 DSD SE is a truly excellent Dac. I have not yet installed the ASIO drivers but will soon to try out some hirez DSD tracks I have.
I should also mention that I am happy with the level of service.
(The associated equipment is a dedicated self built PC running Win 8.1 [i7-3770S 3.1GHz] with Foobar2000 memory play as the software. The Preamp is an ATC CA2, the Power amp is the ATC P1, and the speakers are Triangle Magellan Cello. Interconnects are various Oyaide Silver, and speaker cables are Nordost Frey.)
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Good deal Andrei....I've had my DAC-2 DSDse roughly a year. It was originally purchased for my main system; once I put a McIntosh MCD1000 in front of it I couldn't resist putting an MDA1000 in that system. So my DAC-2 DSDse went to my office system, in place of a stock DAC-2 in that system. I enjoy the DAC-2 DSDse daily, it is a splendid DAC that offers a very rich, robust sound (more so than its predecessor), great soundstaging and timbral accuracy. One can hardly go wrong with it...I'll never regret having purchased it.
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Pete
No. 35
Main System: VPI Prime Signature TT in Rosewood, Ortofon Cadenza Black, Stillpoints LP1 V2, McIntosh: MP100, MR78, MCD1000 Transport on Stillpoint Ultra Minis, MDA1000 D/A Converter on Stillpoint Ultra Minis, MS750 Music Server, C40, MC501's (3), Soundcraftsmen: DC2215 Eq/AS1000 Real time analyzer, DBX 3BX II, Carver C9, Nakamichi Dragon, Crown SX724, Crown D-75A (as headphone amp), Sony XBR55X900E 4K TV, JBL L220A's, JBL B460, Sumo Delilah active crossover, WireWorld Silver Eclipse audio interconnects, WireWorld Starlight and Silver Starlight Coaxial Digital interconnects, Wireworld SuperNova 7 Toslink digital interconnect, WireWorld Aurora 7 and Silver Electra Power cords, Wireworld Silver Eclipse 8 speaker cables, Terk AF-1 Powered Antenna, Oppo UDP-205 4K Blu-Ray Player, Bryson BUC-1 USB Converter, Wireworld Gold Starlight XLR Digital interconnect, PS Audio Direct Stream Power Plant 12 on Stillpoint Ultra Minis, PS Audio Dectect, FuruTech Flux-50 NCF Inline Power Filter, Add-Powr Wizard EM Field AC Line conditioner; Stillpoint Ultra SS's under (3) McIntosh MC501 Amplifiers
Florida Room/Art Studio System: Harmon Kardon T60 TT/Ortofon 2M Black, McIntosh: MR77, C32, MC2205; Crown Power Line Four, Wyred for Sound DAC-2 Digital to Analog converter, Soundcraftsmen AE2000 Eq, JBL 4313B's, JBL 2241-based Sub, JBL BX63A Active Crossover, Oppo BDP-105D Blu-Ray Player, Samsung 5500 Series 32" Smart TV, Terk AF-1 Powered Antenna
Master Bedroom System: McIntosh: MX120 Theater processor, MC206 6-channel amplifier; MR74 AM/FM Tuner, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, JVC HM-DH40000U D-Theater Digital VHS, Phase Technology PC80 Towers (now used as stands), (2) JBL 4401's, (1) JBL Studio 6IW speaker, (2) JBL Studio 6IC speakers, Sony XBR-49X900E UHD TV, Panamax 1000 Line Conditioner, (2) JL Audio E110 Subwoofers, Wireworld Solstice speaker cables, Wireworld Aurora Power cords, Wireworld Equinox and Solstice speaker cables and various other flavors of Wireworld and Audioquest cabling
Office System: Marantz 150 Tuner, Crown DL 2, Crown EQ 2, Crown SA 2, Crown D-75A (as headphone amp), McIntosh MCD7009 (as transport), DBX 3BX Series II, Oppo BDP-103 Blu-ray player, JBL 4401's, JL Audio E112 Subwoofer, Samsung 5500 series 32" Smart TV, Wire World Oasis audio interconnects, Wire World Solstice speaker cables, Wyred for Sound DAC-2 DSDse Digital to Analog converter, Wireworld Starlight Coaxial Digital Interconnect, Sennheiser HD800 Headphones, Sennheiser HDVA600 Headphone amp, Wireworld Silver Eclipse Balanced Interconnects, Wireworld Platinum Starlight USB Cable, Add-Powr EAU-2 AC Harmonic resonator
High Resolution Source: HP Omen 17" Gaming Laptop
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