BTW, dacs, headphones and speakers all seem to have sonic signatures, so I'm coming to believe it's all about the matching .

Not to be evaluated alone, necessarily!

thathertz said:

 
My son is 7 years old. If he were my age how would I advise him? 

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You'd probably tell him not to have a child the same year you're born as it forces you to choose between a BMW and the Abyss.

mayatlab said:

   
The Clio please. France counts on your support to get its economy going. Don't you want to taste a bit of va va voom ?

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How the hell do you know about the VA VA VOOM? Do they have the same adverts en Francais?

Pardon me for butting in - but if the ESS chip is so deeply flawed (harsh treble, one note "thud" bass) as some appear to be saying what chip would you chose as the current best all rounder? TI(BB), Wolfson, AKM, AD, Cirrus, etc. Assuming, of course, that the chip is for the most part responsible for a DAC's sound characteristics. 

radio_head said:

  You'd probably tell him not to have a child the same year you're born as it forces you to choose between a BMW and the Abyss.

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Love it 

thathertz said:

   
How the hell do you know about the VA VA VOOM? Do they have the same adverts en Francais?

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Nope, but I watch British Tv, the one on this side of the channel is apocalyptically rubbish.
 
The commercial possibly is the only thing worth your attention about this car. Bascially, your choice is about stinky cheese from Guyancourt with an audiophile strawberry on top or fat sausages from Munich.

turn&cough said:

Pardon me for butting in - but if the ESS chip is so deeply flawed (harsh treble, one note "thud" bass) as some appear to be saying what chip would you chose as the current best all rounder? TI(BB), Wolfson, AKM, AD, Cirrus, etc. Assuming, of course, that the chip is for the most part responsible for a DAC's sound characteristics. 

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AD1955 in dual differential configuration.

mayatlab said:

   
Nope, but I watch British Tv, the one on this side of the channel is apocalyptically rubbish.
 
The commercial possibly is the only thing worth your attention about this car. Bascially, your choice is about stinky cheese from Guyancourt with an audiophile strawberry on top or fat sausages from Munich.

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Ok I laughed so hard I think I got a hernia........
 

boatheelmusic said:

AD1955 in dual differential configuration.

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What's the cost?

The new Cambridge Audio 851D at 1500 or the Emo DC1 at 500 are two examples....

I don't know about differential configuration, but the Matrix Mini-I normal uses 2 1955s and the sound is merely ok.

Purrin!
 
Please take some time to think about this.
 
What is your ultimate system? (Ending with headphones or speakers).
 
Assuming digital input!
 
Source > DAC > AMP > Headphones/Speakers.
 
Speakers are a whole different world for me now (the last speakers I owned were Mission MX5's).
 
I saw your OB speakers at the last meet..(in my browser unfortunately) ...were they based on the Lampizator specs?
Look forward to hearing about your Ultimate system
 
Cheers,
Mike

Ultimate system is always changing, but I would assume he would go for speakers.

His OB speakers were based on his talks with Donald North of DNA who designed his own OB speakers, the DNA Sequence.

mayatlab said:

  What puzzles me most is that if you find the Invicta's treble perfectible (I do too), you seemed to prefer the Lavry in that regard, while I would personally take the Invicta any time over the Lavry as far as listening fatigue goes, or the presence of grain / dirt / grit / lack of refinement in the trebles. In the same way I don't find it any less detailed / textured / agile in the bass than Dan's creation (but then you may very well argue that it probably should be a lot better than it given the price difference and I'd agree with you). I suspect you may find the Benchmark DAC2 quite similar to the Vega given your description, perhaps a little less convincing overall.

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I don't disagree on your points. I actually did find the Invicta more resolving than the Lavry and the Lavry actually sounding a bit more grainy in the last octave Overall I find the Lavry DA11 rather ho-hum or pedestrian. What killed the Invicta for me was its muddy bass, congestion at complex passages, and a lack of coherency between the added body (not found in other SABRE implementations) which covered up the SABRE treble - the bass and the treble. It was like the Invicta didn't have a personality which was "whole". I put the Lavry DA11 up there because it didn't do anything terribly wrong, not because it did anything particularly well. A conservative choice, but also taking into account that one of the ninjas voted the Invicta down significantly.
 

mayatlab said:

 
And I'm sorry but Kerry's lack of prescience regarding foreign issues is nothing in comparison to the jolly disorganised mess that the EU foreign policy is regarding Russia. Let me claim that we're better at being diplomatic noobs than Kerry ATM : http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/04/o-10-ukraine-sanctions-gaffe-city-profits-diplomacy-britain-russia?CMP=fb_gu

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Well, I sort of excuse that because you guys are right there with the EU being partially dependent upon Russian gas. Heck, Putin can decide to go crazy at any time and invade half of Europe. This time, I'm sure ex-Stasi Angela Merkel would be complicit.

maxvla said:

Ultimate system is always changing, but I would assume he would go for speakers.

His OB speakers were based on his talks with Donald North of DNA who designed his own OB speakers, the DNA Sequence.

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Thanks for clearing that up. Dunno why I assumed Purrin used the Lampizator specs.
 
My Ebay 'saved searches' presented this today. To be honest it looks like a great deal!
 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lampizator-Endorphin-Open-Baffle-Speakers-/191089269554?pt=UK_AudioVideoElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_HiFiSpeakers&hash=item2c7dcedb32
 
Anywaaaaaaaay, I feel I know Purrin much better now and I hope he will forgive my earlier aggressive posts. Purrin? 
 
Cheers
Mike