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Berkeley Audio DAC - Page 2

post #16 of 20
8/17/09 at 10:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarmel View Post
I'm wondering how this would compare to the Wadia 27 that I'm getting modded.
I've owned the Wadia27 - this is better.... don't know about the modding but would be surprised it could do that much.
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post #17 of 20
8/17/09 at 10:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by teros1 View Post
I own the BADA "Alpha" and have compared in my rack to many top DACs - including Weiss Medea, Weiss DAC2, DAC1, Empirical, Oritek DAC/Pre, Bel Canto, and more.

I also run the Bay Area Audiophile Society (BAAS) and describe a comparison event that we held here. The Alpha "won" that event convincingly (but a setup problem did not give the Medea a fair shot).

I have also auditioned dCS, Esoteric, etc.

Based on all of this experience, I would say that the Alpha is a "Top 10" DAC. Its strength is its digital section:
  • Excellent digital filtering
  • Superb digital attenuation
  • Stunning HDCD implementation
  • SOTA handling of high-resolution formats

Its weaknesses (compared to SOTA) are its I/O and, to a lesser extent, its master clock. Both its digital-in and analog-out sections are pedestrian. Ordinary parts and data-sheet-caliber design. (The power supply is decent.)

I replaced the master clock and SE analog-out section with custom Oritek units. Big difference. Maybe top-3 now? <g>

BTW, the DAC chip is the AD1955A (which is SACD-capable). SACD feature not implemented.

Summary: Excellent unit, made better with straightforward mods. In this bracket, buyer taste matters as outright flaws are few! What's important to you?

Disclaimer: Ori is a fellow BAAS officer and a friend.
If they do the following I would bet this thing would be in the top 3 or 5 dacs.

1. Better clock (hi-spec TCXO?)
2. Clock sync feature
3. Discrete output stage over op-amps.

Killer DAC - I would bet this would be the basic recipe for the next Spectral DAC.....
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post #18 of 20
8/17/09 at 11:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by chesebert View Post

On a purely conjectural basis, I would say the Berkeley DAC is a more refined version of DAC1.
Yuck!
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post #19 of 20
8/17/09 at 12:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by teros1 View Post
.

Summary: Excellent unit, made better with straightforward mods. In this bracket, buyer taste matters as outright flaws are few! What's important to you?
I don't know about you, but replacing the entire analogue output stages with Oritek discrete output stage (derived from his Zhaolu output boards?) is not exactly "straightforward."
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post #20 of 20
8/28/09 at 3:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarmel View Post
I'm wondering how this would compare to the Wadia 27 that I'm getting modded.
hi jarmel,

i have a 27ix and would love to know more about your modding and how you like it.

i feed my 27ix with a tact rc2.0 (used for room correcting speakers) in bypass mode for stax listening sessions.

i recently had the following epiphany:
i changed the digital cable from tact to wadia from cardas coax to audioquest falcon aes/ebu and was floored how the soundstage opened up........by comparison, with coax into the wadia the soundstage collapsed...................aes/ebu at 96k was vastly superior into the wadia 27ix than any other combo i have access to.

have you experimented with anything like this?

i've been wondering how my old wadia 27ix stacks up against modern D/As such as the Berkeley and am contemplating a possible upgrade since wadia seems to have left the 27ix behind with respect to h/w upgrades for the past decade

cheers
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