Originally Posted by milkpowder
As of this very moment, you have me converted to the Opera side because of its good DAC and head amp performance. I'm particularly impressed by the DAC in the Opera. As I'm mainly in the market for a DAC, do you think it would be insane of me to buy the Opera mainly for the DAC and have the headamp as an impressive accessory?
The only thing I'd be wary about with the Opera is that it has no line-level outputs. Given that the low gain setting is pretty low, you should be OK to use the preamp output as a pseudo-line-out with the volume cranked to max on low gain. But if you intend to mainly use it as the DAC for your Stax, I might not go that route, simply because you could get a DAC with better I/O options, likely for less money. I know you are (were?) a big IEM guy, so that might or might not go so well with the Opera either.
Originally Posted by Jon L
That's not exactly what I hoped to see in MkII b/c it's not like MkI was overly forward-sounding. I was hoping MkII would retain the perspective but just clean up the slightly soft-edged presentation and replace with more detail resolution.
What constitutes MkI to MkII status anyway?
Don't make too much of my comments of laid-backness. Especially when used as a DAC only it's a subtle effect, less significant than the degree to which the MkI was forward sounding. I do think it has improved in the other areas you mention, and at this point I'd say it's as resolving as the DA10.
Here are some descriptions of the changes from MkI to MkII from the Aqvox website:
Originally Posted by Aqvox Website
NEW in the MKII Version:
Headphone amplifier in audiophile quality and USB headphone amp.
The fully discrete Class-A circuitry has no IC in signalpath and
delivers exceptional soundquality at actual high end niveau.
A first class monitoring solution. The headphoneamp is coupled directly to the DAC chip.
This saves the voltage gain stage - a shorter signalpath is almost not possible.
NEW in the MKII Version: by factor 15 improved Clock.
NEW in the MKII Version: LowNoise power supply, with 10dB quiter power output.
Our designers created a completely new LowNoise powersupply. Now the power output delivers with 10dB lower noise, cleaner energy and has a higher efficiency. Some better prefilters where added to bann the dirt also in lower frequencys. At the powersupplys output resides a linear regulator. The result is audible. And the sound of the MKII is now better even under bad power conditions.
Originally Posted by vcoheda
And what a shame such high quality audio components as the Lavry and Benchmark fall to the bottom of the list, but no one buys them for their headphone amps anyway. Also nice to see that the DA100 holds its own as a DAC. Have always been interested in one. To know that it performs as well as a Lavry or the DA220, has a USB input, and costs less than those DACs makes it a very attractive product.
The DA10 and DAC1 are near the bottom of that list because of their headphone amps. I'd say the top four on the list are on the same level of DAC performance, and the DAC is just a touch behind. But the first three have much more dedicated headphone amp sections than the latter two. I'd have the Aqvox and Stello tied, but due to the potential issues with the volume of the Aqvox it got bumped a notch.
With respect to the DA100, its' lower price as compared to the DA220 is easy to figure out, as it has a much smaller chassis, fewer I/O connectors, smaller PCB and less components due to no balanced output. For those who don't need balanced output, the DA100 is a bargain for the sound quality you get, especially for what they go for used.