DAC recommendation...decision made: Oritek OMZ...OMG!

[HighLife]

Im listening to it right now i have to say its rather nice...refined...yet smooth with vocals. Of course im using the on board amp...its accurate, full bodied, sounds very nice.

Does it beat the modded Zhaolu...to early to tell...seems to sound alittle congested compared. However it could be the amp. I dunno how the quality of the built in amp is.

[royewest]

The Lavry folks have thought through the balanced > unbalanced conversion pretty carefully. Read the manual. You need to open the box and move jumpers if you're going do do this. The manual has good diagrams and explanations.

The manual is on line here:

http://www.lavryengineering.com/whit...A10_manual.pdf

[HighLife]

thanks, i have to make a run out to see if i can find the XLR-RCA adapater.

[Golden Monkey]

Running down to San Jose this evening to meet Ori and pick up my OMZ! OMZ! OMG! Can't wait...

[HighLife]

Nice =) Grats...

We might have a mini meet for a DAC shoot out.

So far on the list....DAC1, DA10, Modded Zhaolu, Ori, LITE-AH

Let us know how it goes and sounds =)

[Golden Monkey]

Will do. I had to cajole the wife into letting me buy it in the first place, and she's putting some sort of "well, you can't use it until it's paid off" demands (I took out a "loan" from our joint account, lol), so it may be possible that I can send it to you for a bit for some A/B comparisons. I'd be interested to know how it stacks up against some of those heavy hitters like the DAC1 and DA10, as well as other modded Zhaolus. It's right about in the middle as far as price goes at $529. I'll try to post some pics of the internals, as I've noticed that that's one thing I haven't seen yet (besides the ones on Ori's site).

[Ragonix]

Originally Posted by Golden Monkey

Took the plunge, and ,Ori is building me one of the last OMZ's he's (potentially) planning on making. SO excited. It might be done this Saturday, in which case I'll drive down and pick it up. Ori's been great via email, and very quick to reply to my myriad of questions. I can't wait!

You mean Ori is considering exiting the dac business?

[Golden Monkey]

Well, sort of. I'll leave any commenting on this to him, but he says that the time commitment versus the actual number of units he sells is fairly prohibitive. His goal in doing this in the first place was to make quality high-end audio affordable, but building DACs as a side project is a strain on his time. He's still doing them until the supply runs out, but Zhaolu is going to stop producing the 2.5A, so...who knows? He'll still be making the X-1 and X-2 and digital cables (a cable set only takes a few hours, compared to a couple of days for a DAC), and as an aside the X-2 is simply stunning. I got to spend a few hours listening to his set-up (OMZ/Preamp, X-2's,custom power amp, and I don't know what amazing speakers, in addition to his recabled AKG 701's) and I'm deeply impressed with the performance and workmanship. Ori's a great guy...very welcoming, friendly, and passionate and meticulous about sound. Next up on my list are some X-2 ICs!

How does the OMZ sound? Well...phenominal. Or should I say "invisible"? Here's what I'm listening to right now:
Denon DVD-1920 as transport
HGA Veritas silver digital cable
OMZ
Both digital sources on a transformer power conditioner
Monster Interlink 400 MkII IC's (yeah, I know...weak link...shoot me...)
Little Dot MKV hp amp
Senn HD650
(Amp and phones have approx 60 hours on them. OMZ has less than 10, but needs about 200. Cables, idk, but they aren't fully done either. The digi coax is fully burned in)

I'm listening to a DDD Chesky Records high resolution (128x oversampling) standard CD, "The Ultimate Demonstration Disc". This disc takes you through examples of depth, accuracy, resolution, transparency, etc. with samples from their catalogue. It is a great reference disc, although none of it is typically to my taste (vocals, jazz, stuff like that-I prefer rock, blues, techno, punk,classical, anything mostly, lol). Compared to previous listenings, without the OMZ and digital cable in the chain, I can say that it's much more "alive". Very focused, fast, detailed, pure, slightly more analytical without sounding too thin, harsh, or bright...that "digital" sound. Instruments are well placed, distinct, and sound very real. There's a track on here, "Ask Me Now", performed by Joe Henderson...it's a sax solo, with him playing with his back to the mic, about three feet away, with a wall about 15 feet beyond that. This recording is very detailed...you hear the keys as he plays, can hear his breath, etc., but...I never noticed the sound of him wetting his lips before! The reflection off the wall is amazing. It literally sounds like, well, a live sax. Right freakin' in front of you. There's too much happening in my head right now, and I'd rather listen to music than dissect things, so I'll write a full review later of the DAC - I'll be without it for some time, unfortunately...my wife is a bit of a fascist, lol - apparently I can't have it until I've paid it off (I had to dip into our "war chest" so I could snap it up before they were gone forever).
Initial impressions...was it worth the money? Is it an excellent piece of equipment? Does it blow away anything else I've heard (admittedly, not much)? Should you buy one before they're gone? Will I count the days until it's truly mine?

HELL YES!

EDIT - Resolution and focus aside, I think another strength of this DAC is...I actually don't know how to quantify this, but over a couple of hours listening last night, it was a very non-fatigueing experience. I noticed that when I let my wife hear the system before, her initial reaction was "I don't like it. It sounds too clear." She's no audiophile, and didn't have the terminology to talk about the terms we like to throw around on the forums, but I think I understand where she's coming from. without the DAC, it's not so much an excercise in aural torture by any stretch, but there was a very noticable difference this time around. Nothing that "sounded" different, just that there were no parts where you'd get that startled feeling at a sudden dynamic shift or cymbal crash. It's not that the DAC injects warmth or anything, it's just very very natural and accurate and real...does that make sense?

[glitch39]

Congrats! that is one fine DAC you have there. Read all the OMZ comments and you just added another positive feeback to it. enjoy it well.

[PITTM]

Hey goldenmonkey,

If you're willing to let people audition it during your embargo I would love to hear it. I am down in Santa Cruz and one of my best friends lives in El Cerrito and comes down to visit often. If he could pick it up and bring it down here for a weekend and bring it back up after I would be very grateful as I have been considering upgrading the microdac for a long while now.