Recently I got the K Works SuperBerry DAC and I'm very impressed. It's about $1100 but offers performance that I expect from $10000 or more.
K Works is a one-man company in New Jersey (his name is Igor, no website but you can contact him at gorkuz@yahoo.com). The first K Works product I heard was power conditioning products (the "Silencers" which are available from TTVJ). What struck me was that digital shed some of the unpleasant characteristics that I thought were inescapable (it took on greater resolution in the highs and lost some of the "digititus"). But more than that, I noticed the sound "moving toward the center of what matters."
I'm not sure how to explain that. I listen mostly to classical music, and I love its emotional expression, dynamic swings, richness and detail. At the time I was using a Naim CD5x CD player which I chose for its pace, rhythm, and timing (PRAT) and how important PRAT is to the music. I had tried a number of cables and "tweaks" and everything affected the sound in one way or another. But the Silencers were the first product that seemed to improve everything, unambiguously, and move toward the HEART. That is, the combination of dynamics, resolution, immediacy, etc. seemed to express what music is all about.
The Silencers are $75 or so, available from TTVJ. (PLEASE NOTE: ALL PRICES IN THIS REVIEW ARE APPROXIMATE AND SUBJECT TO ERRORS OF MY MEMORY.) They are little transformer-like boxes that plug directly into the wall and suppress RFI.
I'm sure that Igor and I share musical and sonic values. That got me interested in his other products. Next I tried an interconnect called the Goldenheart, about $550 or $600 direct from K Works. I was struck by the transient speed, but more than that, the MUSICAL benefit. For instance, the articulation (tonguing) of brass instruments became much more refined, and made the players sound like they were much better players.
That's one way to describe the HEART of things---that you don't think "my system sounds better" but you think "these musicians sound like better musicians."
Igor makes a DAC which is actually a heavily modified Beresford DAC. The stock unit is now available as an MCM rebrand for $100 to $120 (depending on whether it's on sale). The mods are about $950. I decided it was worth selling my Naim CD5x and getting this SuperBerry DAC. Given how much I liked the sonic values evident in his power conditioning and cable products, I guessed an actual component (a DAC) would have these values in spades.
Igor does a lot of types of mods. _Usually_ he does not make "cost-no-object" stuff (that is, like you had unlimited money to spend) but he finds stock units that are good values for the money and then applies mods that are effective for the money. (He CAN do cost-no-object mods if you want to pay for it.) He explained that his DAC uses jitter reduction tricks that don't take ultra-expensive parts and labor. The DAC mod is many times the stock unit price, but in this case he is replacing so many components that it makes sense.
Before I heard his DAC I switched to an Audio Note DAC ZERO which I found beat the pants off my Naim for resolution and reduction of digititus. I was starting to realize that the Naim is just not that good. With Igor's digital cable called the Clearheart Digital the DAC ZERO took on a great deal of resolution in the highs and just demolish the Naim CD5x setup (I spent $3500 on the Naim, and only $450 on the DAC ZERO!)
So I got the SuperBerry DAC a couple weeks ago. My goodness it is profoundly high-resolution, dynamic, and just overall musical. It makes huge orchestral pieces sound more powerful and dynamic (the bass is especially noticeable) and it makes intimate chamber music sound more emotional and moving.
Basically it is a continuation of the improvements and sonic values I heard in his other products, just taking it many steps further.
Oh, my amp is the DNA Sonett (a SET) and the headphones I'm using now are the humble K601. The imaging became so refined and high-resolution that it reminded me of the HD800. Really a fantastic improvement and offers resolution I didn't think was possible in digital.
Even bad recordings are much improved. Sometimes a bad recording still sounds bad (lacks dynamics, poor tonal balance etc.) but with a good system you can somehow separate the music from the recording. You can try to focus on the music and ignore the "sound" and the SuperBerry helps with that.
Edited by mike1127 - 2/20/11 at 4:00pm
