SOLD: Pass Labs D1 24/96 DAC

[feckn_eejit]

Folks,

Since acquiring my Sonic Frontiers SFD-2 Mk.III, my Pass D1 has been sitting mostly idle... I'm asking US$2750 US$2500 plus shipping from Vancouver, Canada. I'll be putting this on AgoN on Sunday night.

For those that are not aware, the 24/96 version of the D1 uses a CS8414 receiver, DF1704 filter (yeah.....), and 8xPCM1704 DACs, followed by a fully balanced discrete I/V section. Two toroids keep power for the digital and analogue sections isolated. Its PLL circuit employs a single crystal with some sort of funky Fujitsu divider chip to get correct frequencies for both 96/48khz and 44.1khz. Despite this, I have NOT found it to be immune to the differences between various transports, for whatever that's worth. I haven't been able to hook something up which makes it sound crummy, but going to a nice transport is an apparent improvement...

While Wayne Colburn says the non-24/96 version is ideal for pure redbook listening, (that unit uses CS8412/SM5842/4xPCM63) I have used this one for redbook almost exclusively and find it pretty tough to fault... I actually lent it to a friend with a small analogue recording studio for a couple of months. Running balanced straight into a pair of powered Genelec monitors, it proved to be an invaluable tool and was pretty hard for me to get back! I have to say through the Genelecs it did sound astounding. It's pretty tough to come back to redbook when you get to hear your mixes straight off the 24-track... but going from tape to Apogee converters using UV22 to dither down to 16/44.1, then back through the D1 resulted in a thoroughly satisfying redbook experience.

I apologise for the lengthy story, but I think it really speaks to what the D1 sounds like - a tool. If you want your crummy recordings to sound the same as your great recordings, this is not the DAC for you. On the other hand, if you want an honest portrayal of your source material, the D1 is really worth considering.

I bought this unit off AgoN in late '05 to replace a Benchmark DAC1. The DAC1 was certainly a detail monster, but it didn't really satisfy in the lower registers and I was never happy with the gritty-sounding top end. The D1 absolutely solved everything I didn't like about the DAC1, whilst adding a healthy dollop more of what I liked about it.

The thing I'll miss the most about the D1 is the low end. Featuring zero midbass bloat, this thing has the most awesome, defined, tight and fast bottom end I've heard in music reproduction. Feeding my X250.5 powering old Maggie MG-IIIas, the D1 handily extinguished any longings I had ever harbored for the laborious effort of adding a good subwoofer into the equation. I'm a bass guitar player and have spent countless hours with this unit figuring out exactly what's going on in complex bass performances in order to more accurately rip them off. Even when the bass is nicely buried in the mix, I don't wonder what's going on with the D1, I just know. It's the bottom end that makes the idea of getting rid of the D1 difficult for me...

I actually prefer the D1 for headphone listening compared to the SFD-2 Mk.III. The D2D-1/SFD-2 Mk.III combo (when using 24/96 upsampling on the D2D-1) does some pretty neat things with all things "soundstage" (instrument placement, room size, depth, that sort of stuff) which is too much fun to pass up on the MG-IIIas, despite the backwards step in bass performance.

One warning - the bass really doesn't come alive until it's fully up to operating temperature which takes HOURS...

Another warning - when running unbalanced, there is audible distortion in the first four (including fully anti-clockwise) positions on the stepped attenuator. This does not occur running balanced out.


Anyway.........

This unit is a fairly early one which was upgraded to 24/96 after the fact. Interestingly, Pass does NOT have records of this being done to my unit at the factory. Apparently a few upgrade kits did get shipped out... given this discovery, and the fact that there was a bunch of gunk on the main board, I sent the unit to Wayne at Pass Labs to give it a thorough going over. The mess on the board was caused by a leaking cap. He replaced ALL similar caps as a preventative measure. He changed a bunch of resistors and the wires to the stepped attenuator as well. The unit is now in fine health. I have all the packaging material.

It's cosmetically pretty nice but certainly not perfect. The bottom especially is pretty scratched up. I received it in this state and didn't care, since it's the bottom. Plenty of pics to follow.

Thanks for reading and I apologise for the tome!

[feckn_eejit]

I have tried to REALLY detail the flaws in these pics, using worst-case-scenario lighting and angles, save for the last three where it looks as good as it actually does IRL. That said there is a smudge on the top near the front (near the word COAX) which has since wiped off.

[feckn_eejit]

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Price drop bump

[feckn_eejit]

^^^