veritas aurum
100+ Head-Fier
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After many years of professional classical recording experience, I could not imagine a better DAC or headphone amp for anything under 10K. Enjoy
After many years of professional classical recording experience, I could not imagine a better DAC or headphone amp for anything under 10K. Enjoy
Posted by TwoEars /img/forum/go_quote.gif
One of the flat out best DACs I've heard is the Norweigian Hegel HD10, it's pretty popular here in scandinavia. Very "easy flowing but yet dynamic and neutral with silent background" is how I'd describe that one, it's a real gem and a bit of a bargain too. Apperently their secret is a pantented method of filtering noise between the internal steps in the DAC, it seems to be working I have to say.
But as you can see the Anedio will be my first own real "high-end" DAC if you can call it that, I'm hoping to be blown away of course.... What really swayed me towards the Anedio was the Sabre chip, which I believe to be very well engineered, but also the the capability for a good headphone out directly from the DAC. I'm a bit of a minimalist in my approach to audio, for me there's no component in the signal path that can improve the sound if it doesn't need to be there. So to have a good headphone amp on the same circuit board as the Sabre DAC looks like a very interesting combination.
Basically - if the D1 delievers detail, bass texture and neutrality without sounding forced, analytical or harsh I think I have a winner and expect to keep it for many years to come.
Well I just got my D1 today, and HOLY CRAP this thing is so crystal clear it's ridiculous. At first it sounded like I had lost a lot of bass punch, but then I realized that it was just better separation of the bass from the mids and highs giving an illusion of less bass. All the audio is completely pure out of a totally empty background. The DAC in the D1 is just incredible. The headphone amp, I'll have to do a lot more listening to before I make any judgments on, on first impression, though I'd say that the headphone amp is very close in sound quality to my m902, but the DAC is so much better that it sounds like it's in a completely different class. The highest impedance phones I have are my HD650's and at 300 ohms it seems to drive them quite well. I will say this though, the Grado's really sound great with this Amp/DAC and is slowly tempting me to sell the HD650's and get some RS1's.
yeah the first thing you notice with D1 is the exceptional clean sound !!
I have not been getting much time with D1 , but it sure is an excellent DAC and great Amp ( for low impedance Hps and IEMs .)
After many years of professional classical recording experience, I could not imagine a better DAC or headphone amp for anything under 10K. Enjoy
I've had a few DACs but not too many; swedish company Harmony Design makes the DA9 DAC which is good, but not spectacular. Then the Icon HDP which was quite a dissapointment, it may be good for a $400 do it all thingy if you're used to listening to your motherboard.... but I know better than that... Then a number of high end sound cards which actually sound better than you think, the biggest thing holding them down is probably electronic interference and cheap op-amps and capacitors.... there's a reason modding the asus essence is so popular, for the money it's prettty much unbeatable.
One of the flat out best DACs I've heard is the Norweigian Hegel HD10, it's pretty popular here in scandinavia. Very "easy flowing but yet dynamic and neutral with silent background" is how I'd describe that one, it's a real gem and a bit of a bargain too. Apperently their secret is a pantented method of filtering noise between the internal steps in the DAC, it seems to be working I have to say.
But as you can see the Anedio will be my first own real "high-end" DAC if you can call it that, I'm hoping to be blown away of course.... What really swayed me towards the Anedio was the Sabre chip, which I believe to be very well engineered, but also the the capability for a good headphone out directly from the DAC. I'm a bit of a minimalist in my approach to audio, for me there's no component in the signal path that can improve the sound if it doesn't need to be there. So to have a good headphone amp on the same circuit board as the Sabre DAC looks like a very interesting combination.
Basically - if the D1 delievers detail, bass texture and neutrality without sounding forced, analytical or harsh I think I have a winner and expect to keep it for many years to come.
Ok, so after doing some more listening I've come to a few conclusions:
1. The DAC in the D1 is just wonderful. I've never head an MBL or any other $5,000+ stuff like that but in comparison to the m902 it's just so clear and articulate. There was once a time when I thought digital music was just numbers and barring any data errors it all sounded the same. Over the past few years I've slowly discarded this belief, the the D1 just completely erases that ideal altogether. Don't get me wrong the m902 sounds really really good. It is a $1500 DAC/Amp afterall but it doesn't strike me as anything special. Yeah it's nice and clear and decodes music well but that's about it, nothing stands out. Now I know that truly good audiophile equipment shouldn't stand out a lot at first listen because if it does it usually means it's colored in some way, but the D1 is an exception. It instantly jumps out as being very clear and spacious while still being neutral and non-fatiguing. Now on to the headphone amp.
2. The headphone amp is very very very neutral. Some may like this, some may not. I believe project86 quoted Anedio by saying that the amp was designed to preserve the neutrality of the DAC. I believe it does this extremely well. The DAC just completely blows me away, and the amp doesn't take anything away from it. Does it add anything to it? Perhaps not but in my opinion the DAC is perfect enough that it doesn't need anything else. I don't have any high impedance headphones, but the amp seems to work well with both my Grado SR225i's (32 ohms) and my Sennheiser HD650's (300 ohms). It's my understanding that the amp isn't quite powerful enough for 600 ohm cans or ortho's. Not sure about how it handles low sensitivity ones like the K701's. That might be an interesting test sometime if I could get my hands on some.
Perhaps I'm being a little unfair to the Amp. I don't mean to suggest that the amp is in anyway underpar for a $1200 unit, maybe it's just that the DAC is so good in comparison the amp seems less significant. After listening to the amp for a while I don't think the amp has any major flaws, but it also doesn't seem to have any characteristics that make it stand out above other amps, but maybe this neutrality and lack of coloration is what makes the D1 sound like the amazing device it really is. Everybody's ears are different, all I can say is, if you have the money and are looking for a great amp/dac combo this it's probably the best choice out there for the price. If I was a tube lover would I dislike the D1? I think if I had a the money and loved tubes the D1 would go really well with a Zana Deux or some other high end tube amp like this. Really the DAC is good enough that I don't anticipate me ever needing to upgrade DAC's, unless they come out with 64 bit music or something like that.
3. Comparing the unit as a whole (amp and DAC) the mids sound at the very most just a tiny bit recessed. That or all my other amps are mid heavy. Either way I prefer the sound of the D1 more because certain tracks vocals almost sound forced inside your head, and the D1 manages to take vocals and set them out in front of you. The D1 is very detailed and yet seems to avoid sounding harsh. The sound is just butter smooth, yet never muddy. I know they're supposed to be mutually exclusive. Let me put it this way, sounds in music that sometimes sound harsh still have the aggressive tone that they did before but they don't hurt now. Also it has an incredible jitter reduction system which seems to work fantastically, because I could listen to this thing for hours with no fatigue. Imaging is just killer on this unit. I've actually heard two cellists off in the right ear and thought, "oh I hear that one is in front of the other instead of side by side." The soundstage is nice and wide but I think what impresses me the most is how deep it sounds. Even my Grado's which aren't know for their soundstage, have this incredible feeling of vocalists waaay off in front of you instead of just, in the center. Also some amps have kinda artificial soundstaging where they sound big, but they sound big in all 3 dimesions, as in stuff above and below and behind as well. The D1 doesn't do this, at least not that I can hear. Sounds from the D1 are laid out in a nice semi-circle in front of you.
Overall I'm very glad I bought the D1, for the time being it seems pretty upgrade proof. The only and I mean the ONLY reason I would consider buying another piece of audio equipment (aside from some more headphones with which to enjoy the d1) is maybe getting a tube amp. That being said, any amp I'd buy would have to be at least $1500, $2000 otherwise I don't think it would do the DAC justice.
My current system consists of the Anedio driving Antique Sound Lab "Monsoon" tube monoblocks (120watts pentode, 60watts triode) into Paradigm Signature S1s. Custom silver cabling, As to headphones, in the past I have owned Stax Lamda Pros. I am currently testing headphones, So far Denon 2000, with Fostex 50s and MB Quart 400s on the way. I will be modifying the phones and will probably keep the Fostex as I am accustomed to Monitor type sound and listen primarily to classical. I have modded the Monsoons with all teflon caps and hexfred rectifiers. Felt no need to modify the circuits as they are already reference class. Regards
I've read parts of the thread, the D1 sounds like a great high end DAC.
How do you think the D1 will fare with a Schiit Lyr amp (6N1P tubes atm) + Hifiman HE-6?