pageman99
500+ Head-Fier
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- Jan 7, 2006
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I received my SDAC about a week ago and have been listening quite a bit. It's not fully burned in yet imo, but it's close enough to post some impressions.
It's smoother than the BDP105 in the top end but not by a large amount, it can still be a little strident at loud volumes. The mids and mid bass are definitely richer. In exchange, the leading edges of the notes aren't quite as defined as I would like. Is this good or bad? Will it improve with more burn in? I don't know yet, but the overall sound now is quite pleasing. It is no where near as analytical as my Light Harmonics Geek Pulse and is somewhat more musical. In summary, I'd say it's a pleasant sounding dac well worth the money in its price range, with networking and the app an additional bonus.
The software for the app, is in my opinion, just ok. It works but is very simplistic. So I simply use JRiver as my control app with no problems. I'm running a wired network with both my HP laptop with SSD and my Melco HA N1 as sources. They both sound fine, but I'm curious to try a USB External SSD. I have an External USB drive but it doesn't work. Another site says this is because the SDAC only supports FAT32 and not NTFS file systems. Dunno if this is true without more testing. I'll need to reformat one of the drives I have laying around to find out.
Overall, I'd say the SDAC is worth its asking price. Will I keep it? I don't know, as I have many similar sounding items in my setups.
Melco>Light Harmonics Geek Pulse>Violectric V281>HiFiMan HE560 or HE1000 or Senn 650's all fully balanced.
BDP105 or Melco>DK Reference VS1 Mk2>PSB Synchrony Ones
HPSpectre 13 w/SSD>Pioneer SC-72>Elac Uni-Fi UF5-PSB Synchrony One Center and Sony 155h surrounds-SVS B2000 sub.
My systems are pretty resolving for what they are, my feeling at this point is that to take the next step, I'd have to move up the ladder quite a bit to get substantial improvements. I suppose an Aurender A10 would do it, but it's $5500 and I don't know if it would be worth it, at least until MQA becomes more widely available.
It's smoother than the BDP105 in the top end but not by a large amount, it can still be a little strident at loud volumes. The mids and mid bass are definitely richer. In exchange, the leading edges of the notes aren't quite as defined as I would like. Is this good or bad? Will it improve with more burn in? I don't know yet, but the overall sound now is quite pleasing. It is no where near as analytical as my Light Harmonics Geek Pulse and is somewhat more musical. In summary, I'd say it's a pleasant sounding dac well worth the money in its price range, with networking and the app an additional bonus.
The software for the app, is in my opinion, just ok. It works but is very simplistic. So I simply use JRiver as my control app with no problems. I'm running a wired network with both my HP laptop with SSD and my Melco HA N1 as sources. They both sound fine, but I'm curious to try a USB External SSD. I have an External USB drive but it doesn't work. Another site says this is because the SDAC only supports FAT32 and not NTFS file systems. Dunno if this is true without more testing. I'll need to reformat one of the drives I have laying around to find out.
Overall, I'd say the SDAC is worth its asking price. Will I keep it? I don't know, as I have many similar sounding items in my setups.
Melco>Light Harmonics Geek Pulse>Violectric V281>HiFiMan HE560 or HE1000 or Senn 650's all fully balanced.
BDP105 or Melco>DK Reference VS1 Mk2>PSB Synchrony Ones
HPSpectre 13 w/SSD>Pioneer SC-72>Elac Uni-Fi UF5-PSB Synchrony One Center and Sony 155h surrounds-SVS B2000 sub.
My systems are pretty resolving for what they are, my feeling at this point is that to take the next step, I'd have to move up the ladder quite a bit to get substantial improvements. I suppose an Aurender A10 would do it, but it's $5500 and I don't know if it would be worth it, at least until MQA becomes more widely available.