Dac1 Vs.LavryDA10 Vs.Zhaolu 2.5C my story - Page 2

Well to be fair, the DA10 probably will do better with your STAX then the DAC1. I prefer my current source to anything at $3k for my HD650. That includes the Rega Saturn (details seemed nice, but bass was lacking). Haven't heard the uber expensive SACD players from Esoteric or EMM, and I'm not sure I want to

I don't know about that. There are some stiff competition at that price point: Ayre C7, Arcam CD33, Naim CD5x, and Rega Saturn, few that I really liked.

I have heard from people that the differences are subtle enough to be ignored.

Should you want to choose between the Lavry or Benchmark, you'd choose according to your needs/preferences. Right now, I would prefer the DAC-1 just because it has RCA and it looks better.

Yes, and a good DAC combined with a good transport can compete with all those players. IMO, it should since when you add up my player and DAC, it costs more then a Saturn

"it should?" well that's for you to find out as part of the journey Happy Listening

x2 This is what makes this hobby both fun and complicated. There is no best peice of equipment, since we all have different headphones and ears. Maybe one of these days I'll hear the uber expensive stuff and think that I must have that. For now, I've found audio nirvana in my mid-fi system.

X5!!! audio is a funny thing: one is trying to justify a subjective sense with objective words and that subjective sense is a function of that exact time/space/mental/system/music/person.... Of course, same can be said about food, art, perfume, and etc.

I've had a DAC1 and DA10 at the same time and I agree with the original posters impressions. The DA10 was simply a much better performer in my system which is why it stayed. As for transports I had some pretty impressive CDPs at the time. The DA10 was certainly more detailed than the DAC1's artificial detail and HF graininess. This isn't obvious, but when compared to a better source it was noticeable to me. Dynamics were also much improved with the DA10.

You can either change the internal jumpers or mod an XLR-RCA adapter. I can't speak for the Cardas, but the Neutrik adapters I have (which I have never used) require shorting a pin.

This guy came to the same conclusion. He seems pretty knowledgeable.

http://studioforums.com/eve/forums/a...6611090261/p/2

And I do! Last year, I flew back home (Hong Kong) 6 times - basically all my holidays, mid-term breaks, etc... It's one hell of a way to keep your 19yo son in the house and out of trouble. The very thought of it sitting there unused, collecting dust while I'm away (my dad has no time to listen and my mom uses it for ambience music) saddens me

From all the reviews I've read, what I've gathered is that the DAC1 is a bit stone-cold compared to the DA10. The SR-404 is naturally pretty thin in the upper mids and the last thing you'd want is a DAC that's verging on too analytical Thanks for your honest recommendation.

Have you tried the DA10 in your system? Is the DAC in the DAC1 better than the one in your Maverick?

I really do want to bring my Stax stuff back home, but I always pack a lot of stuff (books, clothes, etc...) and never have enough baggage allowance for the plane journey back. I have to admit it would be quite interesting to listen to the Stax through the X-03SE even though it is a bit source heavy.

Funny you say your stuff is mid-fi. To the average person you have a ridiculously good system already. To me, you have an absolutely incredible system. Similarly, my gear is not that high end compared to the very high end stuff, but I am also in audio nirvana Oh, the joys of mid-fi!



So you like perfume then... That's one [insert item]-fi that we seem to be lacking

Anyway, it just seems surprising that the Zhaolu comes so close! How much is the 2.5C with zapfilter/discrete head amp/bla bla bla mod? $500 (random guess)? I'm looking for a temporary solution while I save up for something bigger and 'badder'. The reviewer really gave me a shock when he said the DA10 headphone out was indistinguishable from his GS-1! Just imagine how good the balanced out would be?!

Yeah. I've read that one and the reviewer spent such a long time describing the physical aspects of the two DACs! The DA10 does look very dull compared to the flashy, expensive-looking, silver DAC1.

That's the stuff my wife likes. I learned not to tell her that I like the $50 bottle better than the $500 bottle. And she learned to say "yes that sounds good and I think it sounds better with the new [whatever] you bought" works pretty well

Tonally the DAC1 and DA10 are sort of similar. They're not audiophile sources in my opinion because they don't try and romanticize the sound and make anything more pleasing to the ear (which a lot of audiophile gear is suspect to). The DA10 especially let's you see into the recording which is what I love about it.

I've also got an opinion about both sources from friend that's an intern recording engineer in Boston and his boss said hat the DAC1's high frequencies are artificial and not faithful to the original recording.

When I had my STAX SR-404/SRM-313 the DAC1 and Bel Canto DAC2 both sounded great with the system.

I haven't tried the DA10 with my transport, so I don't know how it would scale. I have a feeling it would scale up equally well. Since both the DAC1 and DA10 are supposed to be good about jitter issues, I think it's more a matter of transport mechanisms being able to faithfully read a CD (and not generate read errors). The DAC in the Maverick is decent, but the DAC1 seems to have a better output: slightly more soundstage, better extension, and detail. The one area of my setup that I like, and that I haven't heard on other systems is the definition in the lower bass extension. It's impactful, but not flabby. Seems to be able to dish out bass when it's being pumped in electronica, but make it very subtle and musical for a symphony orchestra.

I know....just 7 months ago I thought $300 on a headphone amp was too expensive. Head-fi has done some evil things All my friends and family members would think my setup ludicrously expensive. But I've noticed it's mid-fi here I suspect if I go any further in this journey, it will mean spending thousands of dollars for smaller returns. Not sure if I'm going to do that....as CDs, SACDs, and LPs are all sounding great I'm spending more time collecting music now.....the most important part of this audio chain!!!!



Bob Katz, Doug Sax, Rick Ruben, Jerry Harrison, Bob Ohlsson, Glenn Meadows, John Atkinson, and Mike Glossop are some audio engineers who say that the DAC1 is pretty accurate. So I guess even audio engineers have different opinions on what's better I would think fidelity to recording is highly variable since every recording is captured and mixed differently.

BTW, milkpowder and chesebert, for food....sushi is obviously inferior, I much prefer any Indian or Thai cooking over sushi. My tastes must be the universal

I would love to hear what Bob Katz, Doug Sax, Rick Ruben, Jerry Harrison, Bob Ohlsson, Glenn Meadows, John Atkinson, and Mike Glossop have to say about the DA10

I have read what Bob Katz and Doug Sax had to say on the DAC1, which are both very old articles. The DA10 only came out very recently.

I googled, and found out that it came out in October of 2005. Still not a whole lot of articles on it, barring the hype on audiophile forums. I guess it takes awhile for audio pros to evaluate and write impressions of "mid-fi" stuff