DAC Shootout - Tons of Fun

[Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by edward3132

Nice review. I am sure you guys had a blast

Interesting to see how the Debussy holds out against the rest of the candidates

Absolutely! Thanks again BTW

Now if I could just talk you into upgrading to the Vivaldi so I could buy your Rossini, we'd be set-

[Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by crwilli

Nice report.

The list could go on and on. And MSB, Lampizator, Esoteric, EMM Labs, Meitner, Bricasti and on and on and on.

Good luck and I bet you are having fun

True! It is fun (my wife would say otherwise because I've bought several DACs in the last couple months).

Lampizator is 'en route, so I'll compare it against the dCS/AMR, and with a Rossini demo next week - I'll have a better idea of how they stack up.

I'd love to hear Esoteric, EMM and MSB---

Any Northern Colorado peeps that want to bring some more contenders, we can keep the party going

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Grasshopper

True! It is fun (my wife would say otherwise because I've bought several DACs in the last couple months).

Lampizator is 'en route, so I'll compare it against the dCS/AMR, and with a Rossini demo next week - I'll have a better idea of how they stack up.

I'd love to hear Esoteric, EMM and MSB---

Any Northern Colorado peeps that want to bring some more contenders, we can keep the party going

I'll be curious to hear what you think of the Lampizator Baltic 3 when it arrives, 'cause in my experience, that DAC punches way above it's price class.

Also, the EMM Labs DA/2 is excellent, too. Ed Meitner know his domain very well.

[audioguy3107]

Jason, cool shootout, sounds like you had some fun! I assume the difference in the DACs outweighed the quality you were getting from the computer? As far as the DACs, I’m looking forward to the next step, even thought the Debussy won the shootout, it’s getting pretty long in the tooth, I would assume the Rossini is gonna really be quite a step up from there. Let us know what you find out!

- Buck

[cleeds]

Originally Posted by Grasshopper

We initially thought about a very complicated setup so we could level match everything...but in the end, decided to make it fun ...

Smart! This hobby is supposed to be fun.

Originally Posted by Grasshopper

I recognize this isn't perfect (I did play with the Lumin afterwords as a source, which did a good job taking off some of the rough digital edges when compared with the MacMini...but didn't alter the basic presentation) ... Some dacs had us tapping our toes, and some we just wanted to turn off immediately-

Perhaps, but I think there really is no such thing as a perfect listening test. Switching back and forth as on a level-matched A/B/X test is anything but fun and I don't think that's the best way to evaluate equipment.

[joel_hifi]

Excellent shootout, great fun to read, thanks for sharing!

My humble suggestion, you should try to include a Meitner MA1 in your shootout, believe they trade around that same price range on the used market. Since you’re showing some interest for tube DACs, another option is the Aqua La Scala which sounds really great. And in case you’d consider Chifi (not everyone does) then Denafrips Terminator, Holo May KTE, Doge 7 (tube) and Musetec LKS-005 are all serious contenders, I’m told the later has gained good reputation in the HK audiophile circle.

[Rtan]

I had my Baltic 3 delivered 2 weeks ago and I’m very happy with the synergy.
But cannot share you much about comparable, because it’s my first separate DAC journey….Baby step.

[Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

I'll be curious to hear what you think of the Lampizator Baltic 3 when it arrives, 'cause in my experience, that DAC punches way above it's price class.



Also, the EMM Labs DA/2 is excellent, too. Ed Meitner know his domain very well.

I’ll be sure to report!

[Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by audioguy3107

Jason, cool shootout, sounds like you had some fun! I assume the difference in the DACs outweighed the quality you were getting from the computer? As far as the DACs, I’m looking forward to the next step, even thought the Debussy won the shootout, it’s getting pretty long in the tooth, I would assume the Rossini is gonna really be quite a step up from there. Let us know what you find out!

- Buck

I’ve found the Berkley Alpha USB goes a long way to decouple many issues with the computer based source. That said, I’ve heard the difference a dedicated streamer makes - which is an improvement.

I’m eager to hear the Rossini as I expect it will take the qualities of the Debussy and do it all better.

If it is indeed smoother too - I may be in trouble.

[Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by cleeds

Smart! This hobby is supposed to be fun.





Perhaps, but I think there really is no such thing as a perfect listening test. Switching back and forth as on a level-matched A/B/X test is anything but fun and I don't think that's the best way to evaluate equipment.

Agreed.

We measured with toe taps and song lengths.

I could tell the Dacs which were preferred by how much longer the person who temporarily occupied the “sweet spot” seat kept a song playing.

The lower rates Dacs didn’t stay on a song for long.

The better Dacs saw much more play and a lot of leaning in, and “wow” feedback.