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  #1  
Old 01-28-2022, 07:04 PM
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Default DAC Shootout - Tons of Fun

AA Friends - last night we had a fun gathering at my place and we did a little informal DAC shootout. I will try and post some pictures later, but wanted to get a quick write-up to share.



The contenders were:

PS Audio Directstream DAC (with Bridge II Card) (MSRP $6900 / $3500 "street price" used)

Mcintosh MDA-1000 (MSRP $8000)

dCS Debussy ($11,000 MSRP / $4500 "Street Price" used)

Schiit Yggy Less Is More ($2,200 MSRP / $2000 "Street Price" used

Lumin T2 ($4,500 MSRP)



(I had an AMR DP-777SE that was delivered today, so it didn't "make it" and I just ordered a Lampizator Baltic-3 DAC, which should be here tomorrow. I'll compare these to the "winner(s)" later this week or so)



The audience was a handful of like minded audiophiles, which is always a good time. We all had different tastes, so it was cool to see all of the reactions.



One attendee entered the shootout skeptical that there would be much in the way of differences between DACs. My system is pretty revealing, so that myth was dispelled pretty quickly.



Every single DAC was a completely different presentation.



Our music was streamed through Qobuz.



Playlist was sampled from the following tracks:



Day One - Carly Pearce (female vocal that needs to be "just right")

O Heart Bereaved and Lonely - Leigh Nash (awesome bass on this song)

Move on Up (2019 Remaster) - Curtis Mayfield (This track can easily come off bright, so a good comparison)

The Way You Look Tonight - Frank Sinatra

Love - Michael Buble'

Better Together - Jack Johnson

Poker Face - Lady Gaga

Fur Elise - Cyrus Chestnut / A Charlie Brown Christmas

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Sara Bareilles (Live at the variety playhouse)

Sista - Rachelle Ferrell (not my jam, but awesome bass line)

Sexy Plexi - Jack Johnson

The Sound of Silence - Disturbed

Caterpillar - The Colorist & Emiliana Torrini (fantastic "noises")

Computer Love - Kraftwerk (3-D The Catalogue) this has a very 3-d panning sound, which is way cool

Death Row- Chris Stapleton

Love is a Verb - John Mayer

Musical Genocide - Gregory Porter

Beautiful Girl - Sara Bareilles (fantastic acoustic guitar and female vocal)

Hotel California - Eagles

Bubbles - Yosi Horikawa (fantastic imaging track)





With a diverse setlist, we went on to listening.
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Main > Aurender N10/N100 / Antipodes K50 > Aries Cerat Kassandra mk2 - Playback Designs Dream DAC > D'agostino Momentum HD > PS Audio P10 > D'Agostino S250 > Sonus Faber Aida / REL S812 Six Pack + 4 JL Audio F113 Fathoms > B&W Signature HTM > Anthem Statement D2v > Mcintosh MC205 > Focal 1000 (side surrounds) > Bryston TIW (rear surrounds)

Secondary System > Aurender N100h> AMR777SE > D'agostino Momentum Integrated > Wilson Sasha DAW

Last edited by Grasshopper; 01-29-2022 at 02:33 PM.
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  #2  
Old 01-28-2022, 07:22 PM
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Default DAC Shootout - Tons of Fun

Results:

The rankings were pretty unanimous. In order of favorite to worst were the following:

(1) dCS Debussy
(2/3 - tie) PS Audio / MDA-1000 (These two were more evenly matched. The MDA has a better soundstage, and is very smooth. The PS Audio is pretty "easy" to listen to. It was also pretty homogenized in sound, where there wasn't a lot of variation between songs. Depending on the day, the rankings between these two could go either way)
(4) Schiit Yggy LIM. On it's own, this is a pretty good DAC. It wasn't until we compared it with the other sounds that the whole group wanted to move on pretty quickly from this sound. Bear in mind, that this could be system dependent, and I've previously heard pretty good things from the Yggy in the past
(5) Lumin T2 - Pass. As a DAC it was dull, flat, and didn't survive 5 minutes in the shootout.

To Be Continued ----as the AMR and Lampi go against the dCS!
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Main > Aurender N10/N100 / Antipodes K50 > Aries Cerat Kassandra mk2 - Playback Designs Dream DAC > D'agostino Momentum HD > PS Audio P10 > D'Agostino S250 > Sonus Faber Aida / REL S812 Six Pack + 4 JL Audio F113 Fathoms > B&W Signature HTM > Anthem Statement D2v > Mcintosh MC205 > Focal 1000 (side surrounds) > Bryston TIW (rear surrounds)

Secondary System > Aurender N100h> AMR777SE > D'agostino Momentum Integrated > Wilson Sasha DAW

Last edited by Grasshopper; 01-29-2022 at 11:42 AM.
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  #3  
Old 01-28-2022, 07:24 PM
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*side note, the dCS is VERY detailed. On some tracks that was a problem as poor recordings can come off bright. Using the Lumin as a streamer seemed to calm down the dCS, making it sound pretty darn good.
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Main > Aurender N10/N100 / Antipodes K50 > Aries Cerat Kassandra mk2 - Playback Designs Dream DAC > D'agostino Momentum HD > PS Audio P10 > D'Agostino S250 > Sonus Faber Aida / REL S812 Six Pack + 4 JL Audio F113 Fathoms > B&W Signature HTM > Anthem Statement D2v > Mcintosh MC205 > Focal 1000 (side surrounds) > Bryston TIW (rear surrounds)

Secondary System > Aurender N100h> AMR777SE > D'agostino Momentum Integrated > Wilson Sasha DAW
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  #4  
Old 01-28-2022, 07:27 PM
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IMG_0759.JPG
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Main > Aurender N10/N100 / Antipodes K50 > Aries Cerat Kassandra mk2 - Playback Designs Dream DAC > D'agostino Momentum HD > PS Audio P10 > D'Agostino S250 > Sonus Faber Aida / REL S812 Six Pack + 4 JL Audio F113 Fathoms > B&W Signature HTM > Anthem Statement D2v > Mcintosh MC205 > Focal 1000 (side surrounds) > Bryston TIW (rear surrounds)

Secondary System > Aurender N100h> AMR777SE > D'agostino Momentum Integrated > Wilson Sasha DAW

Last edited by Masterlu; 01-28-2022 at 07:55 PM. Reason: Embed photo
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  #5  
Old 01-28-2022, 07:29 PM
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IMG_0757.JPGIMG_0756.JPG

“Naked” AMR -showing off its upgraded Tri-Core Ebony Capacitors.

Impressions on the AMR and Lampi coming soon-
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Secondary System > Aurender N100h> AMR777SE > D'agostino Momentum Integrated > Wilson Sasha DAW
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  #6  
Old 01-28-2022, 07:55 PM
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My dCS Rossini arrived today! I’ll enjoy it for a while and decide if I want to upgrade it to Apex down the road. Clock will be before that.
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  #7  
Old 01-28-2022, 08:22 PM
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Enjoy.
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Main > Aurender N10/N100 / Antipodes K50 > Aries Cerat Kassandra mk2 - Playback Designs Dream DAC > D'agostino Momentum HD > PS Audio P10 > D'Agostino S250 > Sonus Faber Aida / REL S812 Six Pack + 4 JL Audio F113 Fathoms > B&W Signature HTM > Anthem Statement D2v > Mcintosh MC205 > Focal 1000 (side surrounds) > Bryston TIW (rear surrounds)

Secondary System > Aurender N100h> AMR777SE > D'agostino Momentum Integrated > Wilson Sasha DAW
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  #8  
Old 01-28-2022, 09:19 PM
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This is pretty cool stuff… can’t wait for the other competitors to enter the fray!

Mitch
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  #9  
Old 01-28-2022, 09:49 PM
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Jason… you missed one.



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Reference System: ACCUPHASE A300 AMPS, C3900 PRE-AMP, DP1000 CD/SACD TRANSPORT, DC1000 DIGITAL PROCESSOR, DG-68 DIGITAL EQUALIZER, T1200 FM STEREO TUNER, PS1230 POWER SUPPLY, HRS-SXR CUSTOM RACK w/ M3X SHELVES, TAD REFERENCE ONE MK2 LOUDSPEAKERS, WW PLATINUM CABLES
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Analog Rig: CLEARAUDIO INNOVATION WOOD, UNIVERSAL ARM w/ Da VINCI' CART, 2nd UNIVERSAL ARM w/ GOLDFINGER STATEMENT CART, HRS-MXR REFERENCE RACK-GLOSS BLACK w/ M3X SHELVES, AESTHETIX RHEA SIG PHONO-PRE, BRYSTON BHA-1 HEADPHONE AMP, WW PLATINUM CABLES
Reference System: BURMESTER 911MK3 AMP(3), 088 PRE-AMP, 089 CD PLAYER, 100 PHONO PRE-AMP, 948 POWER CONDITIONER, ACCUPHASE DG-68 VOICING EQUALIZER, AVID ACUTUS REFERENCE SP TT, GRAHAM PHANTOM II SUPREME ARM, BENZ MICRO LP-S CART, GRANDIOSO P1X/D1X STACK, G1X RUBIDIUM MASTER CLOCK, N05 NETWORK PLAYER, SILENZIO MUSIC SERVER, HRS-SXR CUSTOM RACK w/ M3X SHELVES, SONUS FABER AIDA SPEAKERS, JL FATHOM F113v2 SUBS(2) SOUND ANCHOR STANDS(2) WW PLATINUM CABLES

Library System: GRANDIOSO M1 MONOBLOCK AMPS, C1 LINESTAGE PRE-AMP, K1X CD/SACD PLAYER, G1 MASTER RUBIDIUM CLOCK, E02 PHONO-PRE, SILENZIO MUSIC SERVER, AERIAL ACOUSTICS 20T V2, AERIAL SW12 SUBS(2), CANTON REF K1’s, VPI HRX TT w/ SDS POWER SUPPLY, ORTOFON CADENZA BLACK CART, KLAUDIO RCM, SHUNYATA DENALI 6000/S v2, SHUNYATA OMEGA QR’s, WW PLATINUM CABLES
Esoteric/Bryston System: ESOTERIC C02-X PRE-AMP, P-02X TRANSPORT, D02-X DAC, G02-X CLOCK, BRYSTON 28B3 CUBED MONOBLOCK AMPS(4), BRYSTON BHA-1 HEADPHONE AMP, SHUNYATA DENALI 6000/S v2(2) EVEREST 8000 POWER CONDITIONER(2) ALTAIRA CG & SG HUBS, AMR-DP777-SE DAC, SILENZIO MUSIC SERVER, TAD REFERENCE ONE MK2 LOUDSPEAKERS, QUADRASPIRE RACK, WW PLATINUM CABLES
Accuphase/Canton System: ACCUPHASE E800 INTEGRATED, DP570 CD/SACD PLAYER, T1200 FM STEREO TUNER, DG-68 VOICING EQUALIZER, PS530 POWER SUPPLY, CANTON REF K3’s, CANTON REF K5’s, SILENZIO MUSIC SERVER, HRS MXR REFERENCE MAHOGHANY RACK w/ M3X2 SHELVES, WW GOLD CABLES
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  #10  
Old 01-28-2022, 10:53 PM
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The Denafrips Terminator(s) should have been a great addition to the list.

Looking forward the rest of the results.
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