The Channel Islands VDA-2...a Fine DAC

[granodemostasa]

for the record, i've heard opamp output CD players that make my VDA-2 sound like a plastic portable CDP... please don't underestimate the difference that good implementation makes.

[glenmorangie]

partypooper

[granodemostasa]

i'm just trying to add a voice of "limitations"... you know, restraint on our praise of the best dac in it's price category.

[sacd lover]

Originally Posted by granodemostasa

i'm just trying to add a voice of "limitations"... you know, restraint on our praise of the best dac in it's price category.

Put a well designed discrete output stage on those as yet unknown cd players and they would be better yet .... probably much better.

[gtortorella]

I agree, glenmorangie, the more I listen to my system with the VDA-2, the more I am impressed. It sounds even better with the Enigma Audio digital cable (which I received yesterday).

Good point, sacd lover...I wholeheartedly argee. In my 17 years of audiophile listening, I have yet to discern the sonic benefits of op-amps. I would always opt for a discrete transistor or a tube.

[granodemostasa]

well, obviously... but that's not the notion i'm trying to counteract... i'm trying to say that not all opamp based output stages are junk or rip offs, some of them are quite well designed.

[regal]

I have been studying discrete I/V stages. I don't see how CI is doing I/V, buffering, AND performing a differential to unbalanced transfer with one transistor.

My best guess is they are doing passive I/V and not performing the balanced to unbalanced conversion. Passive I/V is probably fine with the PCM1794 but just pulling the + output from a differential is probably sacrificing a lot of SNR. Not saying it sounds bad just that it is probably best with balanced equipment.

[melomaniac]

My VDA2 arrived Wednesday and the Blue Jeans cables (coax and toslink) Thursday. I will take some time to listen more critically tomorrow, but for now, here's what happened right away: Maurizio Pollini grew some extra fingers, I swear, on those Beethoven piano sonatas. Massive Attack emerged from synthisoup and two vocalists were clearly placed in their own spots, sounding much more like chamber music cranked up than like car radio (though the bass was plentiful and subterranean, it was not very detailed - hope that will firm up as this tiny box warms up to its tasks). Miles Davis appeared as a holograph, vulnerable and turning his back to me, clad in silk, just as I remember him on stage in the late 1980s. Bidu Sayo now not only has a voice in the instrumental mix of her Brazilian tour de force, she has a body and a band. Zappa's best band we never heard challenged my speaker's speed and detail more than before. BrightBlackMorningLight will make you feel lightheaded, and the Future Sound of London is not a computer. Marc Johnson and Bill Frisell just got finer instruments, and Joey Baron is not the name for static but in fact a guarantee for a filigreed drumming performance. Future Pigeon sway more heavily in their East-LA shoes, and Basic Channel now really get the neighbors riled up. In short, whoever told me the Oppo universal players were just fine should be ashamed: the CIA DAC is a noticeable improvement right out of the mail-box, and I say this after just a little bit of testing.

[Jeff J.]

Can anyone comment on how the VDA-2 or the DL III compares to the Lavry DA10? From what i've read the VDA-2 and DL III are similar in character, but I've not read of either compared to the DA10.

[melomaniac]

what I've read online here and elsewhere in comparisons of the lavry and the vda2 is inconclusive: some prefer one, other the other, and the fact that the VDA2 is somewhat newer has made it less likely for many people to have auditioned both for the forums (some posts compare the predecessor VDA1 and the lavry). I haven't seen a systematic shoot-out. if someone finds one, please link it here.