Since I live in Chile, there is not many sources of good audio equipment around but my friend Omar, who is the dealer of some brands give me this DAC because I was complaining of the sound of the little headroom micro dac.
Yesterday I got a Valab Chameleon Ultra Low Jitter DAC and i will wait for it. In the meantime I hook this little Dac in my computer at the office.
The rig is there in the picture, with 3 different headphones.... Beyer DT 990 600Ohms.... Denon AH-A100 and Sony MDS.SA 5000...
And then.... the sound... WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
Since I am into the resolution, and somehow not into warm... this thing is warm!!! and resolute... If you can check the picture of my home rig, you can tell.
Construction:
Is a very well made chassis, with a very good isolation. IEC connector ( good in terms of power cables)... USB, COAXIAL SPIDIF with BNC connector. ( very good indeed).
Design:
Is an up sampler unit which automatically up samples the signal 4x up to 192kHz. And 24 bit resolution with an up sampler unit multiplier of the input frequency... in regular terms....
Sound:
First you need to warm up this unit ( already burned in for a week)... Once it gets warm enough.... in Michell Bubble It´s time, with the Beyers.... You can tell the difference... In this case... everything is detailed as hell but you still get this warm sound that makes a can very comfortable... the dynamic range is SUPERB!!.... the signal to noise is around 144dB which in real world terms means you have limitless headroom.. I have measure it and is around 140dB for real ( I have not use any ultrahigh end oscilloscope).
With the denons, world change into something you don{t want to stop listening.... Is amazing how this little cans ( i love them) can do with they low impedance, still, amazing dynamic range and a bass that can blow your head off... in bubbles Feeling good You can feel your arms hair UP IN THE AIR...
Beyer A1 help indeed, but the resolution, air, and spacial image of Perraux DAC is still Amazingly good...
It may be a little polite for some, or a little to much warm for others, but is indeed a very very very good DAC. I know some may think I am crazy comparing this to the little micro DAC.... but I am not... Since Perraux in not very big... It use an IEC cord and not a regular power supply and cost around USD 1.200 is 3 times the little thing... but 10 times more analog, more real and less bright and ear killer...
I do love the Headroom combo, but for certain occasions and with the right cables. Of course when I use the Micro Dac and the A1 things change, Perraux is still much more... Much More... and since this is an sport, i will keep them all :p
Do yourself a favor and check this baby...
Is indeed a killer and I don´t know what will happen with the Valab...
