Musician Taurus
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Happy Holidays to all Head-Fi members. I am here today to write a review about a very special product. A product that I have had the luck to spend a lot of time with. Some of that time has been because it was sent to me while uprooting my life, and some of it has been due to not having the strength to write this review. But I can think of no better day to write than today. As always, this review comes from my crazy mind. I hope that you can take the time to learn about a wonderful product and listen to some great music while doing so.
I would like to thank Arthur and Power Holdings for setting up this opportunity to spend so much time with this lovely DAC. You can reach Arthur at Power Holdings, as he carries all of their products and does a great job with customer service, especially. power-holdings-inc.com
I would also like to thank Musician Audio for creating such a wonderful product and providing me the DAC.
As with all of my reviews, you will get a mixture of allegories, metaphors, music in a specific order and a combination of how we bring our senses together to understand this hobby, the products we use, and most importantly, how all of it fits together to create an integrated whole. It is all in service of one thing. To enjoy our music. So, whether this DAC is for you, whether you can afford it, whether you want to spend more on a DAC, that is of little consequence. What matters is that we take stock in what is important and that we use our senses (all of them) to listen, feel, and bring context to our lives. I am not an engineer, I don't lift up the hood to look inside, and I don't care about how the DAC measures. I let my ears and senses guide me. It is just how I do things and I see no issue with those who like an objective take on a product. This is just not where you will get that type of review. I don't listen to measurements, I listen to music and until someone can show me a graph that explains the space between the notes (where great music lives) I will continue with my own unique philosophy. I by no means believe it is the right way, or the only way, it is just my way. With that, let's get started.
Musician Audio has sprung up in the past few years and has continued to create wonderful products. If you are unaware, the engineers for Musician are also responsible for many other R2R brands and they make DACs that probably will never make it to the USA. Within the Musician line-up you get their Draco, Pegasus II, Aquarius, and the Taurus. Each going up in price. Other brands you will know are Denafrips and Schumann Ladder. All wonderful products in their own right. The bottom line is that they are a very talented group of people making wonderful products. Many of which have a similar design language. They use great components, and with every R2R DAC, the quality of the resistors will determine much of how the DAC will sound. Along with the quality of the Power Supply and the analog stage. The things I believe make a DAC great, and this DAC is chalk full of greatness. It continues to impress me daily.
You can get warm and mushy R2R DACs that are relaxing and fun; they are generally less money. You can get R2R DACs with great tonal density and weight to the sound; generally in the middle and usually enough for most sane people. Lastly, at the top tier you can get R2R DACs that bring together a musically neutral signature with a beautifully saturated midrange, incredible tone and that wonderful R2R Timbre that is just so unique to this topology; generally saved for their best DACs. In addition, the Taurus brings all of these together and is both detailed while having a wonderfully developed treble completely devoid of peaks and nodes. Top end Resolution is not off the charts, but extremely subtle and tastefully done. In my opinion, this is what makes R2R so special, and the best R2R DACs do this; without sacrificing speed, dynamics and proper pacing, while possessing an incredible amount of emotion and a complete lack of our sensory deprivation bank (if you can call out this reference do so in the comments).
As you can see, the design language is very similar to Denafrips. If you can see the lights lit up, I am using I2S-2, in NOS mode and I am currently letting Roon upsample to max PCM up to 768khz, 8x upsample. But, you can decide what you want to do. Here is the back of the DAC in sections so you can see what you have available. The DAC also has two internal clocks at 44.1k and 48k, which has become pretty standard in well built DACs.
So, you have USB, 2-I2S, AES, Coax and Optical. The USB firmware is fantastic and sounds incredible. However, I am using a Matrix DDC and prefer the DAC with I2S. You also get two BNC connectors for an external clock for those that want to take the DAC even further. The rabbit hole can be vast with this DAC. I did not use an external clock, I felt the DAC was performing optimally through my DDC, Server and Streamer. For the rest of the review consider all of the sound to be based on I2S, but I will try to speak to all of the inputs I have used.
As for the outputs, you get 4.3V out of XLR and 2.5V from the RCA's. They recommend you only use one at a time, but I have not found a difference in the sound when both are plugged in, however, I never run more than one at a time. Only one set of ears, but did switch from DAC to DAC to compare and volume matched for a fair comparison to ensure that I was not giving one DAC an edge over the other. My reference DAC puts out 6.2v XLR and 3.51v RCA, so some attenuating was needed to ensure I was comparing apples to apples.
System For This Review:
Roon NUC10
Euphony PTS - set up as a Roon Streamer or Core. I use as a streamer.
Matrix SPDF 2
Miroslav CFA3
Mjolnir Pure BiPolar
Eddie Current Aficionado
Caldera Closed
Atrium Open
Verite Closed
Hifiman HEKv2 Non-Stealth
Final D8K Pro
LFF Code X - Original HE-5 Woody
All of my End Points are hooked to my PTS, with only a 4TB SSD hooked to my NUC, yet all end points are only recognized by my NUC's Optimized Core KIt. The PTS doesn't even show in Roon. Quite a fascinating, but welcome surprise to this non-engineering mind.
Packaging:
When the DAC arrived I was surprised by the size and weight. Full size component at 32lbs. It was perfectly put together in a heavy corrugated box, incased in foam and was very well protected. There was the typical power cord underneath. That is it. Simple and for a Fixed DAC, you really don't need anything else. Most people spending $3800 on a DAC will put their own aftermarket cables on the DAC, so cables are inconsequential in my opinion. The most important thing is that it is protected, and comes in perfect condition. It arrived in 3 days from China. That is fast and being a naturally impatient person was a perfect thing for my crazy brain. I was able to start to break it in by day 4 from getting tracking. That is great service from Musician Audio. They recommend 300 hours of burn in, but I am not that patient, so I ran it in for about 100 hours before I started to listen, and then I let it run in for another 200 hours while listening as I really like to listen each day to hear how something changes. However, I have put well over a 1,000 hours on the Taurus and feel very comfortable with it in my system. The vast majority of burn in took place electrically by 100 hours, only small electrical changes occurred afterwards, and the rest was my brain changing as I learned. My first impression changes 90% of the time as I continue to listen. My first impression doesn't start until I feel the product is at an optimal point, up until then I just enjoy the process of listening to how it changes. This way of burning in the DAC makes the amount of time needed to review longer, but that is just how I like to do things. And just because it is burned in doesn't mean that changes don't occur beyond the time they say. I still hear things today that surprise me, affect me and help me to learn more about myself, how I hear, and what the DAC is doing. It may be electrically stable, but my brain is far from stable and we are in a constant state of evolution, therefore, things continue to change and provide me new moments of beauty.
Product Info:
The USB firmware is the best that I have heard and I could happily live with it without any hesitation. The AES was also good, but sounded a bit soft and less dynamic for me, and I found that the I2S through my Matrix SPIDF 2 was the perfect combination of subtle, dynamic, powerful, emotive and lively. I needed to do nothing other than plug it in to either I2S input and was off and running. It is still relaxed when you want it to be, but most importantly, this DAC faithfully reproduces music that has the perfect amount of 2nd order harmonic distortion and for those who love R2R DACs, the perfect amount of saturation and timbre that when paired properly, turns into the most beautiful resolution with just the right hint of wetness. I did not try the Coax or Optical as I don't have those cables.
Sound Impressions:
Being the holidays and the fact that we are in the middle of a divided country trying to find its way, I started with the most positive songs I could think of. The bass line is strong with just the right amount of power, decay and control. The horns and guitar play off the melody beautifully and then you get Lee's soulful voice. Back Up Vocals were powerful and subtle, placed perfectly in their own space. Instrument specificity was spot on. For those who can tell me the relevance of this song to our country and lives, please do so in the comments. Bottom line is that the CFA3 with the Caldera Closed and the Taurus gives me everything that this song has to offer.
Imaging is spot on. Each channel plays the instruments in their exact place and there is the perfect amount of air and pace to give us everything you need to truly understand how brilliant Lee Dorsey was, and how positively the message is conveyed. The Taurus perfectly conveys the positivity and possibility we all can experience and enjoy if we have the right attitude.
Next up was John Legend's song "If Your Out There"
The first time I heard this song was on the CNN heroes special they do every year of ordinary men and women who do extraordinary things. Maybe 15 years ago. He played live on his grand piano and it hit me right in the gut. This version off his studio album Evolver is not that version, but the Taurus perfectly portrays the positivity that we all need right now as we spend time with our families and enjoy time breaking bread, bringing smiles to our children and hopefully we all do our part to bring joy to those around us. The Taurus just absolutely nails how beautiful the back up vocals are, and how emotive his vocals are. This song rings so true and is a timeless reminder that we each have a part to play in making this world a better place.
If you haven't learned from me yet, I love this DAC. If you need to stop here, know that this DAC is amazing.
Next up is a live version of "In Your Eyes" from 1987 in Athens, Greece with Youssou N'Dour. There is no better version of this song, and not only is Gabriel's singing and band at their absolute best, but when Youssou comes into the song the hairs stand up on your neck and you hear everything from chanting, to baritone vocals and the incredible voice of Youssou N'Dour; They then drop perfectly into the song without a hitch. Oh, and the Taurus cleanly, balanced and naturally picks up every last bit of detail and emotion out of one of the truly great and inspiring songs from the 1980's. Who can't forget the moment in Say Anything when John Cusack holds up the Boom Box in the rain. Iconic, and this version is like none other they performed. It is that good.
A brief break to say that everything that I am playing in this review can be found on Tidal via Roon except one, which I downloaded from Bandcamp. More on that later.
Ok, back to the Taurus...
Transients, Dynamics and Decay:
I don't tend to spend a ton of time on this category and won't today, but it does need to be discussed, even if this isn't where I want to focus my time. Typical of all R2R DACs, the level of dynamics and transients are dependent on the quality of the design and the resistors. As you can see from the technical specifications, this DAC is special. Transients are fast, powerful and full of excursive properties. The DAC is incredibly dynamic with the ability to change speeds, stay with the music and present all the emotion and dynamism of the music being played. Whatever is your flavor, you can trust this DAC will not skip a beat.
The Decay of the DAC is perfect to my ears. I can hear the front end, the note and the trailing edge of every note. The pacing at which notes decay is what makes this DAC so wonderful. It has the ability to bring out emotion and make you just feel the music through your ears and into your body. There is just so much space between the notes that you can feel how far the musicians are from each other and you feel that if you stop listening something will be missed that might not even be there. Just like a great book, that feeling that if you put it down you will miss something not in the pages. I cannot think of a better way to express my love for how this DAC decays.
It is like eating a perfectly made batch of Bolognese. Bottom up cooking at its finest where you let everything come together piece by piece in the right order, salted at the exact right moment and then slow braised to bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes while blending the savory aspects of veal, pork and boar to make the perfect blend. A nice Chianti to help add the right amount of acid and then cooked down with the tomatoes to bring it together and then finished with basil. You can't add the basil too soon or you lose the aroma and cook out all of its great properties. If you are feeling frisky you can make homemade Gnocchi or use the best dry pasta you can find (I use De Cecco) and then top it with Burrata for the most sumptuous of meals. That is how the Taurus makes you feel. Like your music is sumptuous and that it has body, depth and layering with perfect pacing. We eat like we listen. We use our senses to feel it, to embrace it and to enjoy it. As we eat it, we feel the food tenderly melt into our mouths, tasting each layer. The front of the sauce and noodle and cheese then as it permeates our mid-palate and then we finish the bite tasting all of the different aspects of the dishes core of sweet, salty, savory, and umami. It decays across our palate like the music decays across our ears. As a lifelong chef, I have always believed that the more I taste, the better my palate becomes. The same is true for music. The more we listen the better we hear. I believe this to be true with all disciplines. We simply must practice and use what we have to become more and more proficient. There is no other way than good ole' fashioned hard work to get us to become good enough to discern the littlest of things that make the difference between good and great. That is different for each of us, but I believe that we get what we put in. The Taurus and Bolognese perfectly depict the same feeling for me. A love for my senses, and a desire to understand them to the best of my ability.
Spatial Presentation:
To my ears, the Taurus's greatest attribute is its ability to spread the center image out to all 4 corners and provide you a wide and deep soundstage. The very first time I listened to it I was blown over by how incredibly wide and deep the presentation of the music was. I was hearing things in the back of the crowd that I could hear with other DACs, but not to the extent where I could actually understand how close or far they were from the stage.
The perfect example of this is the song "Rosewood Heart" off of Goose's first live album in 4 plus months and a drummer change. When they drop into the jam you can hear this woman in the back scream out as she knows what is coming and you can feel the build of the song as if you are sitting right next to the soundboard and you can take in the whole experience. The Taurus excels in ways that most DAC's just can't. When I hear that beautiful voice in the background screaming "Yeah, love it", I know that I don't need to be there to experience the music as if I am there. I know exactly where she is at in the crowd, and it allows me to feel so much more in touch with the moment. Sorry this one isn't on Roon, you will have to go to Bandcamp to find this one.
The Taurus never ceases to amaze me as it stretches and stretches left, right, up, down, and front to back. It possesses macro qualities other DACs do not and that is what makes it so special. It is without question my favorite part of its sound as it allows you to hear the whole sonic spectrum while the rhythm section creates a pocket and the soloing instruments float above that melody. I know exactly where every musician is on stage and can hear them perfectly in their own space. There is nothing like feeling like you can hear everything that the recording picks up. There is nothing like the feeling like you are there when paired properly with the right system to make an integrated whole.
Tone & Timbre:
The tone of the Taurus is simply lovely. There isn't much else I can say. The DAC portrays music as it is meant to be heard and makes things sound real. Guitar sears, piano sounds open and realistic like a waterfall of sound, vibes sound alive with the mallet compressing into the note, and horns sound powerful and emotive.
Wayne Shorter's "Soothsayer" is one of my all time favorite albums. Mostly written during his time in Miles' second great quintet, but not released until the late 70's; it is a perfect album. From the wonderful Lady Day, to the titular song "Soothsayer' you get a Septet playing at their best. Tony Williams is the greatest drummer of the 20th Century, in my opinion and Ron Carter creates the most incredible pocket. That man has some seriously deep pockets. Wayne's solo in "Soothsayer" is powerful, but never too much, it is subtle and soft when called for and always with the perfect tone. Mixed with Freddie Hubbard on Trumpet and James Spaulding on Alto Sax gives you three of the greatest at their respective instruments playing during their prime. Wayne wrote an explosion of music during those days with Miles but not all of it was released until later. He was considered the "idea man". The Taurus displays all of those ideas with the exact amount of tonality, pacing and balance.
The timbre of the Taurus is pure R2R. North of neutral, but not so much that the DAC ever sounds too heavy and mushy as lesser R2Rs can. It sounds holographic without being too much, and it has the perfect amount of air to bring out its tone and timbre without ever feeling as if things are forced or unnatural. It just sounds right. The midrange opens up like a beautiful Lilly in May. If you've ever been to the Lilly Garden in Golden Gate Park in May you will know exactly what I am talking about. You can almost smell the salty air mixed with the sweetness of the Lillies when you listen to the Taurus.
The Taurus is just plain and simple. It is about playing music that sounds right and when paired with the right devices it sounds amazing. To my ears I like it most with extremely fast amps that are less warm giving it the perfect balance. Fortunately, my system has plenty of fast and mostly neutral amps to mix perfectly with that beautiful midrange timbre.
Comparisons:
I had the opportunity to compare the Taurus to 4 DACs.
1. The Cen.Grand DSD Deluxe
2. The Meier Corda Soul MK2
3. The Matrix X2 Pure
4. The Pietus Maximus - two different DAC Cards (although I won't compare to this DAC as that isn't fair to the Pietus)
In addition I used it with 4 different amps.
1. Pietus Maximus
2. CFA3
3. Mjolnir Pure BiPolar MK2
4. Eddie Current Aficionado
Matrix X2 Pure $4500 vs Musician Taurus $3800
These couldn't be more different DAC'S. The X2 Pure is the 10th Anniversary DAC by Matrix and was one of if not the first DAC to use the ESS 9039 Pro DAC Chips. They used 2, in dual mono with LDO's powering the analog and digital sections, which were separated by a billet of aluminum. The DAC had an in-house O-Core Transformer and was a Roon Ready DAC/Streamer. It has ethernet, I2S, USB among many other inputs and just tons of flexibility. A great app, however I did not like the way the app organized my music. I have been a Roon user for 7 yrs and will most likely never change. I am too addicted to the way it organizes my music and the simplicity of the software that for me makes Roon the only way to go. But, YMMV on this one. Having the DAC also work as a streamer was great and made hooking to my NUC a breeze through the Ethernet. In addition, it also had a fabulous wi-fi connectivity and I heard no difference in sound between the ethernet port and the wi-fi. However, I did find the DAC to be more stable using ethernet, as I do with any product where I can hardwire into my system with my ethernet switch.
Whereas the Taurus is an R2R DAC with proprietary FPGA, and is a completely different topology. It is loaded with resistors in 4 rows, has wonderful power supplies and a great analog stage that is isolated from the digital stage and can do things that most R2R DACs just cannot do. It is modern, sleek, heavy at 32lbs and a full size component. The Taurus comes in both black and silver and both are absolutely gorgeous. Musician is the house brand at this manufacturing plant that also makes Denafrips, Schumann Ladder and many others for untold brands. Their design language is similar on them all, but their internals are not and their sound is certainly not the same as well. Now that Denafrips is direct, we will see what they do with Musician and any new DACs in the future. I hope they keep moving up the ladder as the Taurus is simply sensational. It is also a dual crystal mono DAC that is fully balanced. It is not Roon Ready, does not have a streamer and is just a fixed DAC. It has no volume attenuator and puts out a very nice 4.35v XLR and 2.5v RCA. I love that a DAC is still using voltage that cannot power a nuclear reactor and allows your amps to run properly with the gain they have and the wattage they output, giving you a system that is very easy to manage and handle. However, if Roon Certified or Ready is your thing then this is not the DAC for you. However, it does great hooked to either my NUC or streamer and Roon has no problem picking up any of its inputs.
The sound of these two DACs couldn't be any different. The X2 Pure is straight down the middle neutral with a focus on micro details and a very developed center image. The timbre is a bit wonky in comparison to the beautiful timbre of an R2R DAC, but I found no issues with the X2 Pure's tone and timbre and loved using it for more than a year. In addition, the X2 Pure was extremely detailed, with tons of top end resolution and I found it to be musical and easy on the ears. Almost relaxed, which was a bit of a contradiction as the DAC was also very forward sounding in the upper mids and lower treble. The bass was fast, explosive and the DAC as a whole was extremely dynamic. However, the center image did not spread out spatially in the same way. Some might say this was a miss on their part. I don't think so. I just think this is how they designed it to sound and that no mistakes were made. They simply chose to build a DAC/Streamer with a forward sound and a ton of micro detail and resolution. However, it was not the most macro focused DAC. Something I mitigated with amps that were extremely spatially adept. I had no issues with the size of the stage on the X2 Pure because my amps and headphones balanced things out. Synergy reigns supreme and will always be the case. So, I built my system around the fact that I knew the X2 Pure had certain limitations, and certain things that I absolutely adored in its sound and make up. I had no issues whatsoever using the X2 Pure and listened lovingly everyday to my system anchored by the X2 Pure.
The Taurus is 180 degrees away from the X2 Pure. While it is still a very detailed and resolving DAC, it does not have the same level of detail or resolution as the X2 Pure. However, its macro properties are off the charts and while the DAC is not the end all in detail and top end resolution, it has plenty and the macro detail more than makes up for the difference. The Taurus's tone is far superior, as is its north of neutral R2R timbre. In addition, the Taurus has more liquidity and tonal density. It doesn't have the same speed of the X2 Pure, but it isn't lacking and I find no reason to fault the DAC for its PRaT, or for the amount of information being conveyed. Bass is strong, decay is at the perfect pace and its excursive properties are fantastic. But what makes it truly special is the amount of saturation in the midrange that turns into the most beautifully wet resolution and extends into the treble above 8k. The DAC is completely devoid of any peaks or nodes and is just one smooth customer. It is relaxed, but powerful. Vocals are off the charts with emotion and palpable energy. A great way to hear it is to listen to two songs off of the Dave Matthews/Tim Reynolds album "Live from Radio City Music Hall"
They do the most beautiful rendition of the Daniel Lanois song "The Maker" where you hear Dave's singing at its absolute best. You can feel his love for the song and every intonation and breath can be heard. Coupled with Tim Reynold's incredible playing. From his use of different chord structures while playing rhythm along side Dave, to the way his solo circles the music anchored by Dave's acoustic playing. Tim's tone is gorgeous, realistic and you can really hear how he is able to create a Monet like landscape. The other song is called "Sister". I have a special affinity with the song as it is about the fact that Dave and his sister felt like at birth their hearts were switched and he has his sister's and she his. Such a beautiful concept and one I feel deeply with my own sister as we both traverse unknown territory both with a terminal disease that neither of our doctors know what it is, how to treat or how much time we have left. We are 6,000 miles apart but I am always with her and her me. We have always been connected by so much more than a disease, but a heritage, a life and a way of viewing the world that brings us together no matter where we are. I absolutely adore the way Dave sings this song, tender and loving while Tim's plays his guitar with a slide bar and perfectly compliments the emotion of the song. Before I forget, this is what makes the Taurus so great. The ability to bring out these types of emotions, to make my senses tingle and to bring me closer to a world view and context. I don't just hear my music, I feel it. The same way I have felt, smelled, touched and listened to the food I have created. We can never forget that we are connected to this universe through our senses and how we use them to understand our own way in this world. The Taurus has been an amazing journey of learning and exploration.
Meier Corda Soul MK2 $3500 vs Musician Taurus $3800
From the brilliant mind of Jan Meier, a Dr of Physics and maybe the smartest person in the industry. The Corda Soul MK2 is so much more than a DAC. It is an All in One, Pre-Amp and DSP machine. It is Jan's Opus and an absolutely brilliant device worth 8x its price. It is that good. I am going to try and just focus on the DAC section, but the Soul MK2 is a picture of true brilliance made by a man too smart for this industry and as nice a human being as you will meet. The Soul's DAC is a dual mono affair with Cirrus chips. It maxes out via USB at 24/192 and is all that you need.
A fun story about Jan, I wrote him and said I don't think I can hear significant differences above 24/96 and he said "No one can". Typical Jan to just give an easy and to the point answer. Although, I like to use max PCM on DACs with Roon, each is different and does not affect how I feel about the DAC. They all decode to a certain level and feel that is enough for their design and topology. I just like to upsample to max PCM for my own curiosity, but I could stop at 24/96 and never feel without.
The Soul MK2 is extremely clean, detailed and perfectly balanced. Its original incarnation was built for the HD800 and ensemble music. However, he recognized that it needed a bit of an update and so he upgraded the DAC section. The entire device is balanced and only offers XLR inputs and outputs. Unfortunately, it is not meant to be a fixed DAC, so I can only listen to it as an AIO. Fortunately, the Headphone Amp is as good or better than the DAC. With the MK2 version he added a bit of warmth, increased low level detail and lost nothing in regards to midband detail or top end resolution, while the bass stayed lightning fast and extremely coherent and linear. In addition, it remains musical and feels like the bass and treble extends forever in each direction. There is simply nothing I can say about this unit that I would change. I love it for what it is and feel that its DAC competes on its own with the best DACs at a price point significantly higher than what he is charging for this device. The upgrade is a significant improvement. Some prefer the original, but for my tastes the changes he made were necessary and noticeable. I am not someone who uses EQ, so I don't use those DSP functions, but I do use the crossfeed function which opens up the stage moving to the right 3 notches. If you want to increase the stage of your speakers you would move the toggle to the left.
All DSP EQ functions are done by a toggle switch with a knurled texture and can only change the particular frequency section through the digital domain and can only be used if using the DAC. Here are the particular options at your disposal.
LLF; de-/increase of frequencies below 170 Hz
LF; de-/increase of frequencies below 500 Hz
HF; de-/increase of frequencies above 1.5 kHz
HHF; de-/increase of frequencies above 4.5 kHz
All controls have Q=0.5 shelving, step size 0.8 dB, range +/- 4 dB.
I asked Jan why 4db, and his answer was "if you need to change a headphone by more than that, find a different headphone, it isn't for you".
Something I don't have to worry about as I don't EQ. I cannot find fault with this DAC in any way and enjoy it for exactly what it is and feel that being a DS DAC, it spreads spatially and remains musical, balanced and tonally accurate at all times. There is no glare, no etch and does not just focus on the micro properties of your music. Timbre is not that of an R2R DAC, but it has no nodes or issues that make me feel that the timbre needs any help. I had the opportunity to listen to the Bartok Apex hooked to the Lina Clock and I preferred the Corda Soul MK2. It is that good and worth a listen and demo if you ever have the chance. If I was to only have one end point and had to sell everything but one item, the Corda Soul MK2 would be the easiest choice ever. I could live with it and never feel like I was missing anything. With two headphone outputs at 0ohms and 120ohms, and an incredibly stable drift, the Soul can handle any headphone you throw at it except the Tungsten and the Susvara. I'd say the HE-6 but they are so rare these days, I won't bring it up. However, Jan claims it can power every headphone properly without issue. I just don't have a Susvara or Tungsten here to test it. The Soul has no issues with my Code X at 87.5 SPL, or my HEKv2 at 90 spl and is a magician with high impedance headphones. Back to the DAC, it is close to perfect to my preferences knowing that it is not meant to sound like an R2R DAC and I love it for exactly what it is and what it does. Sometimes it is nice to have your cake and eat it too...
The Taurus compares favorably as a DAC. Just so different it is like asking someone to compare the difference between the old Detroit Tiger Stadium and Fenway Park. Both iconic and both completely different and wonderful in their own right. They are doing such different things and presenting my music so differently that it is hard to compare. The Taurus has a larger spatial presentation and macro properties, but I would not say that it is better. Just different. That difference is tone, timbre, macro detail and the emotion of the DAC's tuning and ultimate way with music. Vocally it is not as crystal clear as the Soul, but there is more intonation and decay which gives the Taurus an advantage if you want to be blown away with emotion. The Soul still gets my juices flowing, but the Taurus has a special way of grabbing on to the nape of your neck and not letting go.
This is my absolute favorite Springsteen album. Every song is perfection and just listening to Bruce on his piano and singing some of his rarer and beautiful songs is an absolute treat. This album perfectly personifies what I am talking about with the Taurus and vocals and instrument reality. His piano is perfectly portrayed and his voice is crackling... Every song on the album is my favorite, but some stand outs are Independence Day, I Wish I Were Blind, Drive All Night, Iceman, The River and Incident on 57th Street. Like I said, the entire album. If you want to buy this DAC, listen to this album and the sale will be made by the time you get to the end. It is that good... The Taurus no matter what I listen to sounds amazing. I only wish being a Detroit kid that Bob Seger would create a similar album so that I can feel a slice of home no matter where I am and connect to the lyrics in the same way someone from NJ connects to the songs of Bruce.
Before I continue, I want to say that I am comparing the Taurus to some really good DACs and so I am not giving you a winner as they are all different and all deserve a listen and all deserve a certain type of listener. The point is to highlight how they are different, not necessarily better. The only DAC I like more than the Taurus is the next one, which is my reference DAC.
Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe $6300 vs Musician Taurus $3800
As I stated above the Cen.Grand is my reference DAC and is as good a DAC as I've heard up to $15,000. The Deluxe is a DSD DAC converting everything through their own proprietary algorithms up to DSD1024. Therefore all DSP is turned off in Roon for this DAC and saved as such. It can be used as a fixed DAC and can be used as a Pre-DAC, which is how I use it. The Muses Volume Pot is so good and I find the liquidity and tonal density to increase, also giving my Pure BiPolar MK2 more room to play since it is such a powerful amp. I am not going to go into all the tech that makes this DAC work as it would take me thousands of words that my hands just can't take. I am already shredding them with the length of this review. I will say this, though. The Deluxe is extremely dynamic, energetic, emotive, complex, and balanced. The sound is just about perfect to my preferences and is a mixture of the inherent qualities I like in DS DACs and those that I like about R2R and FPGA DACs. It has fantastic tone, and the timbre is also north of neutral giving it some of that R2R holographic magic. Not to the level of the Taurus, but it is not missing for anything when I listen to my system through it. The Deluxe is just as I want it to sound. It has more flexibility with more amps and ultimately is my choice for my everyday listening. Especially with my Eddie Current Aficionado which sounds like heaven paired with the Deluxe. The ECAF is a very special amp and if you have one never sell it, as I haven't seen one for sale in a very long time. Those who have one know what they've got and aren't going to let it go anytime soon.
The Taurus counters as it does against every DAC with incredible macro properties and with beautiful tone and timbre. This is the only time when I find my reference DAC to be my choice for most of my listening. That doesn't take away from the Taurus's natural attributes or its beauty. I don't feel that I am missing anything with the Taurus versus the Deluxe, I just prefer the Deluxe in almost every way but its macro detail, which is not far behind. But behind it is and so the Taurus, while not the Deluxe, is still a worthy contender and one that I would not be remiss to own or feel that I was missing out if I couldn't own the Deluxe. It is still a wonderful DAC and me owning the Deluxe doesn't take away anything that I have said about the Taurus up to this point.
Winner is the Deluxe. But it isn't a huge difference. 5-7% would be my guess. Not a huge amount, but enough to tell me that it is noticeable and tells me that I am happy with it anchoring my main system. That being said, I do prefer the Taurus with my favorite solid state amp. My very special and unique CFA3 that is the perfect companion for the Taurus. The CFA3's midband benefits greatly from the north of neutral timbre and the DAC does not prevent the CFA3's superior top end resolution from coming through. It is a match that I find to be absolutely perfect and reminds me how important synergy is to how a finished product comes out of my headphones.
Headphones:
This review is getting really long, so I will try to be concise here. I do not EQ my headphones. If I don’t like the synergy I move on and find the right pair. While I recognize why people use EQ and the benefits, I am not great at figuring out Q levels and the right amount of movement of a certain frequency and my patience grows thin. So, I’ve adopted my own strategy of trying to pair what the designer has built and why to my system to maximize my enjoyment. This is by no means something I feel is the right way, it is just my way. So, YMMV. I have carefully curated my stable based on my chain, musical choices and listening preferences.
ZMF Caldera Closed:
I love this headphone and find that it is the headphone I have always wanted ZMF to make. While I love the CO as well, the musicality of the CC is right up my alley and is absolutely incredible on the Soul, Taurus and Deluxe. With a bit more heft below 500hz and a more musical upper midrange and lower treble; the tone of the CC and the Taurus is a wonderful pairing and one that I highly recommend. So long as you have the right amp to bring together a great pairing. For me, all of my amps with the Deluxe and Taurus are magic with the CC. My favorite amp with the CC is the Eddie Current Aficionado, which I run off the Deluxe. But, I could live with the CC on the Taurus and CFA3 forever and never feel as if I was missing anything. They are a perfect combination. I am lucky to have the amps I do, and know that I am in a constant state of asking myself whether or not I feel worthy to have what I have.
HEKv2 Non-Stealth:
This headphone sounds absolutely incredible through the CFA3 with the Taurus. It is one of my favorite headphones and one of my favorite pairings. It is strong, dynamic and subtle. While it is also great on the Deluxe with the Pure BiPolar MK2, the combination of the CFA3 with the Taurus makes this headphone absolutely sing and has complete control of the drivers while providing perfect balance and tone. Those who have this headphone know what they have, the last of the old Hifiman tuning coupled with modern drivers and know how very rare this headphone’s tuning is today in Hifiman’s line up. Good luck finding one. It is worth the look...
LFF Code X:
This is my absolute favorite headphone and the combination of the CFA3 with the Taurus is pure magic. This headphone's sense of tone/timbre matched by the Taurus's makes this combo one for the ages. If you can find this headphone, I highly recommend it. They are becoming increasingly harder to find and for good reason. Those who have the remaining few know what they have and so prying them out of their collections will be next to impossible. This headphone is simply perfect and combined with the Taurus and CFA3 is my absolute favorite way to listen to music.
ZMF Atrium Open and Verite Closed:
These headphones are principally used off my Corda Soul MK2 and my Eddie Current Aficionado. They sound great with the Taurus when I have changed out the Deluxe so I could hear them, but as of now I am happy with my system as it is set up, so I don't get the opportunity to enjoy these headphones on the Taurus as often as I'd like. However, when I have, the result was stunning. The timbre of the Taurus was a perfect match to the these two ZMF headphones. Although, at 300 ohms they both benefit from my tube amp and just light up these incredible headphones.
A great example of this is the Jerry Garcia Band's reading of the Bob Dylan tune "Tangled Up in Blue". Wow, what a great way to hear both the AO and the VC and the Taurus. Jerry crackles with energy, the upbeat version is full of everything that made Jerry's second band so remarkable and this reading of one of the truly great songs written in the past 75 years so amazing. They absolutely nail this version. John Kahn's bass is fast and visceral, and Jerry's voice was mature and full of everything that made him such a genius. Couple that with incredible back up vocals and Jerry's guitar and you get what is pure brilliance if you like this type of music.
Final D8K Pro:
This is an easy one. It is the best technically adept headphone I own and it is pure magic on the Taurus with the CFA3 or the ECAF. There is simply no amp I own that this headphone doesn't shine on. It is just that good of a headphone and when paired with incredible 1s and 0s and the right amp you get a brilliant combination. One last song to highlight how much this headphone can do and how good it is on the Taurus.
My all time favorite musician is Steve Kimock. Especially his playing from the mid 1980's until 2000. He was coined by Jerry Garcia as his favorite guitar player in 1988. And for good reason. The man could move from Feelin' Alight into Coltrane's "Afro Blue" on slide guitar barely breaking a sweat. But, if you want to hear his pure genius, listen to "Forever is Nowhere" with Steve on lap steel and you will hear a man at the absolute height of his powers and quite possibly at this time the greatest guitar player that no one really knew about. He was simply that good for about a 15 yr period of time. He is now in his early 70's and his playing is not what it was. I was at this show the night it was recorded and I can tell you that the recording on Tidal and Roon is masterful. They always had the best sound engineers at their shows and the sound was always perfect at their venues. It is not the same as being in a 1200 seat auditorium on the rail watching his hands, but I at least have those memories.
Amps:
I used the Taurus with 4 amps. The CFA3, the Mjolnir Pure BiPolar MK2, The Pietus Maximus and the Eddie Current Aficionado and the result was the same with all of them. Blissful music, incredible tone and timbre, magical macro properties and the very best of what an R2R DAC can present to the listener. I don't want to take too much more of your time, so I will just say that with all of my amps I found the Taurus to be a perfect pairing. Especially the Eddie Current Aficionado. The speed of that amp mixed with the relaxed nature of the Taurus was a match made in heaven.
Conclusion:
We have covered a lot of territory and I hope that you enjoyed the ride. I hope you have a wonderful holiday and that you learned enough about this wonderful DAC to make an informed decision. I cannot decide for someone what they like or what the want, but I can tell you that if R2R is your thing and you can afford this DAC, I highly recommend that you audition it. You will be hard pressed to find a better R2R DAC for under $10,000 and I've heard most of them. It is so underpriced it is silly. It is just that good. If you like DACs with liquidity, tonal density, the perfect amount of saturation and the ability to pair with most amps I highly recommend you give this DAC a try. I prefer with amps that are on the cleaner side, but the Pietus has some color and sounds glorious on the Taurus. So, with that said I wish you a wonderful rest of your holiday and I hope you enjoyed taking this ride of music and the senses with me. Thank you for reading! 2 Big Thumbs UP!
I would like to thank Arthur and Power Holdings for setting up this opportunity to spend so much time with this lovely DAC. You can reach Arthur at Power Holdings, as he carries all of their products and does a great job with customer service, especially. power-holdings-inc.com
I would also like to thank Musician Audio for creating such a wonderful product and providing me the DAC.
As with all of my reviews, you will get a mixture of allegories, metaphors, music in a specific order and a combination of how we bring our senses together to understand this hobby, the products we use, and most importantly, how all of it fits together to create an integrated whole. It is all in service of one thing. To enjoy our music. So, whether this DAC is for you, whether you can afford it, whether you want to spend more on a DAC, that is of little consequence. What matters is that we take stock in what is important and that we use our senses (all of them) to listen, feel, and bring context to our lives. I am not an engineer, I don't lift up the hood to look inside, and I don't care about how the DAC measures. I let my ears and senses guide me. It is just how I do things and I see no issue with those who like an objective take on a product. This is just not where you will get that type of review. I don't listen to measurements, I listen to music and until someone can show me a graph that explains the space between the notes (where great music lives) I will continue with my own unique philosophy. I by no means believe it is the right way, or the only way, it is just my way. With that, let's get started.
Musician Audio has sprung up in the past few years and has continued to create wonderful products. If you are unaware, the engineers for Musician are also responsible for many other R2R brands and they make DACs that probably will never make it to the USA. Within the Musician line-up you get their Draco, Pegasus II, Aquarius, and the Taurus. Each going up in price. Other brands you will know are Denafrips and Schumann Ladder. All wonderful products in their own right. The bottom line is that they are a very talented group of people making wonderful products. Many of which have a similar design language. They use great components, and with every R2R DAC, the quality of the resistors will determine much of how the DAC will sound. Along with the quality of the Power Supply and the analog stage. The things I believe make a DAC great, and this DAC is chalk full of greatness. It continues to impress me daily.
You can get warm and mushy R2R DACs that are relaxing and fun; they are generally less money. You can get R2R DACs with great tonal density and weight to the sound; generally in the middle and usually enough for most sane people. Lastly, at the top tier you can get R2R DACs that bring together a musically neutral signature with a beautifully saturated midrange, incredible tone and that wonderful R2R Timbre that is just so unique to this topology; generally saved for their best DACs. In addition, the Taurus brings all of these together and is both detailed while having a wonderfully developed treble completely devoid of peaks and nodes. Top end Resolution is not off the charts, but extremely subtle and tastefully done. In my opinion, this is what makes R2R so special, and the best R2R DACs do this; without sacrificing speed, dynamics and proper pacing, while possessing an incredible amount of emotion and a complete lack of our sensory deprivation bank (if you can call out this reference do so in the comments).
As you can see, the design language is very similar to Denafrips. If you can see the lights lit up, I am using I2S-2, in NOS mode and I am currently letting Roon upsample to max PCM up to 768khz, 8x upsample. But, you can decide what you want to do. Here is the back of the DAC in sections so you can see what you have available. The DAC also has two internal clocks at 44.1k and 48k, which has become pretty standard in well built DACs.
So, you have USB, 2-I2S, AES, Coax and Optical. The USB firmware is fantastic and sounds incredible. However, I am using a Matrix DDC and prefer the DAC with I2S. You also get two BNC connectors for an external clock for those that want to take the DAC even further. The rabbit hole can be vast with this DAC. I did not use an external clock, I felt the DAC was performing optimally through my DDC, Server and Streamer. For the rest of the review consider all of the sound to be based on I2S, but I will try to speak to all of the inputs I have used.
As for the outputs, you get 4.3V out of XLR and 2.5V from the RCA's. They recommend you only use one at a time, but I have not found a difference in the sound when both are plugged in, however, I never run more than one at a time. Only one set of ears, but did switch from DAC to DAC to compare and volume matched for a fair comparison to ensure that I was not giving one DAC an edge over the other. My reference DAC puts out 6.2v XLR and 3.51v RCA, so some attenuating was needed to ensure I was comparing apples to apples.
System For This Review:
Roon NUC10
Euphony PTS - set up as a Roon Streamer or Core. I use as a streamer.
Matrix SPDF 2
Miroslav CFA3
Mjolnir Pure BiPolar
Eddie Current Aficionado
Caldera Closed
Atrium Open
Verite Closed
Hifiman HEKv2 Non-Stealth
Final D8K Pro
LFF Code X - Original HE-5 Woody
All of my End Points are hooked to my PTS, with only a 4TB SSD hooked to my NUC, yet all end points are only recognized by my NUC's Optimized Core KIt. The PTS doesn't even show in Roon. Quite a fascinating, but welcome surprise to this non-engineering mind.
Packaging:
When the DAC arrived I was surprised by the size and weight. Full size component at 32lbs. It was perfectly put together in a heavy corrugated box, incased in foam and was very well protected. There was the typical power cord underneath. That is it. Simple and for a Fixed DAC, you really don't need anything else. Most people spending $3800 on a DAC will put their own aftermarket cables on the DAC, so cables are inconsequential in my opinion. The most important thing is that it is protected, and comes in perfect condition. It arrived in 3 days from China. That is fast and being a naturally impatient person was a perfect thing for my crazy brain. I was able to start to break it in by day 4 from getting tracking. That is great service from Musician Audio. They recommend 300 hours of burn in, but I am not that patient, so I ran it in for about 100 hours before I started to listen, and then I let it run in for another 200 hours while listening as I really like to listen each day to hear how something changes. However, I have put well over a 1,000 hours on the Taurus and feel very comfortable with it in my system. The vast majority of burn in took place electrically by 100 hours, only small electrical changes occurred afterwards, and the rest was my brain changing as I learned. My first impression changes 90% of the time as I continue to listen. My first impression doesn't start until I feel the product is at an optimal point, up until then I just enjoy the process of listening to how it changes. This way of burning in the DAC makes the amount of time needed to review longer, but that is just how I like to do things. And just because it is burned in doesn't mean that changes don't occur beyond the time they say. I still hear things today that surprise me, affect me and help me to learn more about myself, how I hear, and what the DAC is doing. It may be electrically stable, but my brain is far from stable and we are in a constant state of evolution, therefore, things continue to change and provide me new moments of beauty.
Product Info:
- Proprietary R2R+DSD architecture, true balanced 24Bit R2R+6Bit DSD (32 step FIR filter).
Adopting AL TERA high efficiency chip. 0.005% precision resistor, low distortion, low noise power supply, FIFO buffer. - Each channel is equipped with an independent high-speed FPGA to control decoding through four sets of 0.005% R- 2R network with low linearity error, high decoding speed and low digital noise.
- The self-developed and designed digital filter works in 16 X Over Sampling mode, with 32bit input resolution for each filter stage, which can greatly increase the dynamic contrast, analyzing power, and more natural and delicate tone, and so on.
- Dual crystal design, can accurately reproduce audio signals of different sampling rates, jitter is greatly reduced and stability is significantly improved.
- The power supply adopts chopper rectification, customized MUSICIAN brand red shell capacitors, equipped with O- type 250W iron core transformer, multiple LT1763, LT3045 for 2 times regulator filtering, can effectively isolate the linear regulator for digital and analog part of the multi-stage power supply, which ensures that the DAC can provide low noise and stable power supply voltage.
- DSD1024, PCM 1536KHz supports USB and l2S inputs (audio source needs to be compatible with this unit’s interface).
- Proprietary USB audio solution based on the STM32 F46 Advanced AMR microcontroller.
- Sicyon USB driver licensed for Windows platforms
- No drivers required for Mac and Linux
- DSD - All inputs are 0S064 DoP, USB and I2S inputs are 0S01024.
- PCM
All inputs are 24bits / 44.1 K, 48K, 88.2K, 96K, 176.4K, 192KHz.
USB & I2S inputs are 1536KHz. - Digital Input
Coaxial, Optical, AES, USB, I2S- 1, I2S- 2 - Clock Output
45.1584MHz , 49.1 52MHz
The USB firmware is the best that I have heard and I could happily live with it without any hesitation. The AES was also good, but sounded a bit soft and less dynamic for me, and I found that the I2S through my Matrix SPIDF 2 was the perfect combination of subtle, dynamic, powerful, emotive and lively. I needed to do nothing other than plug it in to either I2S input and was off and running. It is still relaxed when you want it to be, but most importantly, this DAC faithfully reproduces music that has the perfect amount of 2nd order harmonic distortion and for those who love R2R DACs, the perfect amount of saturation and timbre that when paired properly, turns into the most beautiful resolution with just the right hint of wetness. I did not try the Coax or Optical as I don't have those cables.
Sound Impressions:
Being the holidays and the fact that we are in the middle of a divided country trying to find its way, I started with the most positive songs I could think of. The bass line is strong with just the right amount of power, decay and control. The horns and guitar play off the melody beautifully and then you get Lee's soulful voice. Back Up Vocals were powerful and subtle, placed perfectly in their own space. Instrument specificity was spot on. For those who can tell me the relevance of this song to our country and lives, please do so in the comments. Bottom line is that the CFA3 with the Caldera Closed and the Taurus gives me everything that this song has to offer.
Imaging is spot on. Each channel plays the instruments in their exact place and there is the perfect amount of air and pace to give us everything you need to truly understand how brilliant Lee Dorsey was, and how positively the message is conveyed. The Taurus perfectly conveys the positivity and possibility we all can experience and enjoy if we have the right attitude.
Next up was John Legend's song "If Your Out There"
The first time I heard this song was on the CNN heroes special they do every year of ordinary men and women who do extraordinary things. Maybe 15 years ago. He played live on his grand piano and it hit me right in the gut. This version off his studio album Evolver is not that version, but the Taurus perfectly portrays the positivity that we all need right now as we spend time with our families and enjoy time breaking bread, bringing smiles to our children and hopefully we all do our part to bring joy to those around us. The Taurus just absolutely nails how beautiful the back up vocals are, and how emotive his vocals are. This song rings so true and is a timeless reminder that we each have a part to play in making this world a better place.
If you haven't learned from me yet, I love this DAC. If you need to stop here, know that this DAC is amazing.
Next up is a live version of "In Your Eyes" from 1987 in Athens, Greece with Youssou N'Dour. There is no better version of this song, and not only is Gabriel's singing and band at their absolute best, but when Youssou comes into the song the hairs stand up on your neck and you hear everything from chanting, to baritone vocals and the incredible voice of Youssou N'Dour; They then drop perfectly into the song without a hitch. Oh, and the Taurus cleanly, balanced and naturally picks up every last bit of detail and emotion out of one of the truly great and inspiring songs from the 1980's. Who can't forget the moment in Say Anything when John Cusack holds up the Boom Box in the rain. Iconic, and this version is like none other they performed. It is that good.
A brief break to say that everything that I am playing in this review can be found on Tidal via Roon except one, which I downloaded from Bandcamp. More on that later.
Ok, back to the Taurus...
Transients, Dynamics and Decay:
I don't tend to spend a ton of time on this category and won't today, but it does need to be discussed, even if this isn't where I want to focus my time. Typical of all R2R DACs, the level of dynamics and transients are dependent on the quality of the design and the resistors. As you can see from the technical specifications, this DAC is special. Transients are fast, powerful and full of excursive properties. The DAC is incredibly dynamic with the ability to change speeds, stay with the music and present all the emotion and dynamism of the music being played. Whatever is your flavor, you can trust this DAC will not skip a beat.
The Decay of the DAC is perfect to my ears. I can hear the front end, the note and the trailing edge of every note. The pacing at which notes decay is what makes this DAC so wonderful. It has the ability to bring out emotion and make you just feel the music through your ears and into your body. There is just so much space between the notes that you can feel how far the musicians are from each other and you feel that if you stop listening something will be missed that might not even be there. Just like a great book, that feeling that if you put it down you will miss something not in the pages. I cannot think of a better way to express my love for how this DAC decays.
It is like eating a perfectly made batch of Bolognese. Bottom up cooking at its finest where you let everything come together piece by piece in the right order, salted at the exact right moment and then slow braised to bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes while blending the savory aspects of veal, pork and boar to make the perfect blend. A nice Chianti to help add the right amount of acid and then cooked down with the tomatoes to bring it together and then finished with basil. You can't add the basil too soon or you lose the aroma and cook out all of its great properties. If you are feeling frisky you can make homemade Gnocchi or use the best dry pasta you can find (I use De Cecco) and then top it with Burrata for the most sumptuous of meals. That is how the Taurus makes you feel. Like your music is sumptuous and that it has body, depth and layering with perfect pacing. We eat like we listen. We use our senses to feel it, to embrace it and to enjoy it. As we eat it, we feel the food tenderly melt into our mouths, tasting each layer. The front of the sauce and noodle and cheese then as it permeates our mid-palate and then we finish the bite tasting all of the different aspects of the dishes core of sweet, salty, savory, and umami. It decays across our palate like the music decays across our ears. As a lifelong chef, I have always believed that the more I taste, the better my palate becomes. The same is true for music. The more we listen the better we hear. I believe this to be true with all disciplines. We simply must practice and use what we have to become more and more proficient. There is no other way than good ole' fashioned hard work to get us to become good enough to discern the littlest of things that make the difference between good and great. That is different for each of us, but I believe that we get what we put in. The Taurus and Bolognese perfectly depict the same feeling for me. A love for my senses, and a desire to understand them to the best of my ability.
Spatial Presentation:
To my ears, the Taurus's greatest attribute is its ability to spread the center image out to all 4 corners and provide you a wide and deep soundstage. The very first time I listened to it I was blown over by how incredibly wide and deep the presentation of the music was. I was hearing things in the back of the crowd that I could hear with other DACs, but not to the extent where I could actually understand how close or far they were from the stage.
The perfect example of this is the song "Rosewood Heart" off of Goose's first live album in 4 plus months and a drummer change. When they drop into the jam you can hear this woman in the back scream out as she knows what is coming and you can feel the build of the song as if you are sitting right next to the soundboard and you can take in the whole experience. The Taurus excels in ways that most DAC's just can't. When I hear that beautiful voice in the background screaming "Yeah, love it", I know that I don't need to be there to experience the music as if I am there. I know exactly where she is at in the crowd, and it allows me to feel so much more in touch with the moment. Sorry this one isn't on Roon, you will have to go to Bandcamp to find this one.
The Taurus never ceases to amaze me as it stretches and stretches left, right, up, down, and front to back. It possesses macro qualities other DACs do not and that is what makes it so special. It is without question my favorite part of its sound as it allows you to hear the whole sonic spectrum while the rhythm section creates a pocket and the soloing instruments float above that melody. I know exactly where every musician is on stage and can hear them perfectly in their own space. There is nothing like feeling like you can hear everything that the recording picks up. There is nothing like the feeling like you are there when paired properly with the right system to make an integrated whole.
Tone & Timbre:
The tone of the Taurus is simply lovely. There isn't much else I can say. The DAC portrays music as it is meant to be heard and makes things sound real. Guitar sears, piano sounds open and realistic like a waterfall of sound, vibes sound alive with the mallet compressing into the note, and horns sound powerful and emotive.
Wayne Shorter's "Soothsayer" is one of my all time favorite albums. Mostly written during his time in Miles' second great quintet, but not released until the late 70's; it is a perfect album. From the wonderful Lady Day, to the titular song "Soothsayer' you get a Septet playing at their best. Tony Williams is the greatest drummer of the 20th Century, in my opinion and Ron Carter creates the most incredible pocket. That man has some seriously deep pockets. Wayne's solo in "Soothsayer" is powerful, but never too much, it is subtle and soft when called for and always with the perfect tone. Mixed with Freddie Hubbard on Trumpet and James Spaulding on Alto Sax gives you three of the greatest at their respective instruments playing during their prime. Wayne wrote an explosion of music during those days with Miles but not all of it was released until later. He was considered the "idea man". The Taurus displays all of those ideas with the exact amount of tonality, pacing and balance.
The timbre of the Taurus is pure R2R. North of neutral, but not so much that the DAC ever sounds too heavy and mushy as lesser R2Rs can. It sounds holographic without being too much, and it has the perfect amount of air to bring out its tone and timbre without ever feeling as if things are forced or unnatural. It just sounds right. The midrange opens up like a beautiful Lilly in May. If you've ever been to the Lilly Garden in Golden Gate Park in May you will know exactly what I am talking about. You can almost smell the salty air mixed with the sweetness of the Lillies when you listen to the Taurus.
The Taurus is just plain and simple. It is about playing music that sounds right and when paired with the right devices it sounds amazing. To my ears I like it most with extremely fast amps that are less warm giving it the perfect balance. Fortunately, my system has plenty of fast and mostly neutral amps to mix perfectly with that beautiful midrange timbre.
Comparisons:
I had the opportunity to compare the Taurus to 4 DACs.
1. The Cen.Grand DSD Deluxe
2. The Meier Corda Soul MK2
3. The Matrix X2 Pure
4. The Pietus Maximus - two different DAC Cards (although I won't compare to this DAC as that isn't fair to the Pietus)
In addition I used it with 4 different amps.
1. Pietus Maximus
2. CFA3
3. Mjolnir Pure BiPolar MK2
4. Eddie Current Aficionado
Matrix X2 Pure $4500 vs Musician Taurus $3800
These couldn't be more different DAC'S. The X2 Pure is the 10th Anniversary DAC by Matrix and was one of if not the first DAC to use the ESS 9039 Pro DAC Chips. They used 2, in dual mono with LDO's powering the analog and digital sections, which were separated by a billet of aluminum. The DAC had an in-house O-Core Transformer and was a Roon Ready DAC/Streamer. It has ethernet, I2S, USB among many other inputs and just tons of flexibility. A great app, however I did not like the way the app organized my music. I have been a Roon user for 7 yrs and will most likely never change. I am too addicted to the way it organizes my music and the simplicity of the software that for me makes Roon the only way to go. But, YMMV on this one. Having the DAC also work as a streamer was great and made hooking to my NUC a breeze through the Ethernet. In addition, it also had a fabulous wi-fi connectivity and I heard no difference in sound between the ethernet port and the wi-fi. However, I did find the DAC to be more stable using ethernet, as I do with any product where I can hardwire into my system with my ethernet switch.
Whereas the Taurus is an R2R DAC with proprietary FPGA, and is a completely different topology. It is loaded with resistors in 4 rows, has wonderful power supplies and a great analog stage that is isolated from the digital stage and can do things that most R2R DACs just cannot do. It is modern, sleek, heavy at 32lbs and a full size component. The Taurus comes in both black and silver and both are absolutely gorgeous. Musician is the house brand at this manufacturing plant that also makes Denafrips, Schumann Ladder and many others for untold brands. Their design language is similar on them all, but their internals are not and their sound is certainly not the same as well. Now that Denafrips is direct, we will see what they do with Musician and any new DACs in the future. I hope they keep moving up the ladder as the Taurus is simply sensational. It is also a dual crystal mono DAC that is fully balanced. It is not Roon Ready, does not have a streamer and is just a fixed DAC. It has no volume attenuator and puts out a very nice 4.35v XLR and 2.5v RCA. I love that a DAC is still using voltage that cannot power a nuclear reactor and allows your amps to run properly with the gain they have and the wattage they output, giving you a system that is very easy to manage and handle. However, if Roon Certified or Ready is your thing then this is not the DAC for you. However, it does great hooked to either my NUC or streamer and Roon has no problem picking up any of its inputs.
The sound of these two DACs couldn't be any different. The X2 Pure is straight down the middle neutral with a focus on micro details and a very developed center image. The timbre is a bit wonky in comparison to the beautiful timbre of an R2R DAC, but I found no issues with the X2 Pure's tone and timbre and loved using it for more than a year. In addition, the X2 Pure was extremely detailed, with tons of top end resolution and I found it to be musical and easy on the ears. Almost relaxed, which was a bit of a contradiction as the DAC was also very forward sounding in the upper mids and lower treble. The bass was fast, explosive and the DAC as a whole was extremely dynamic. However, the center image did not spread out spatially in the same way. Some might say this was a miss on their part. I don't think so. I just think this is how they designed it to sound and that no mistakes were made. They simply chose to build a DAC/Streamer with a forward sound and a ton of micro detail and resolution. However, it was not the most macro focused DAC. Something I mitigated with amps that were extremely spatially adept. I had no issues with the size of the stage on the X2 Pure because my amps and headphones balanced things out. Synergy reigns supreme and will always be the case. So, I built my system around the fact that I knew the X2 Pure had certain limitations, and certain things that I absolutely adored in its sound and make up. I had no issues whatsoever using the X2 Pure and listened lovingly everyday to my system anchored by the X2 Pure.
The Taurus is 180 degrees away from the X2 Pure. While it is still a very detailed and resolving DAC, it does not have the same level of detail or resolution as the X2 Pure. However, its macro properties are off the charts and while the DAC is not the end all in detail and top end resolution, it has plenty and the macro detail more than makes up for the difference. The Taurus's tone is far superior, as is its north of neutral R2R timbre. In addition, the Taurus has more liquidity and tonal density. It doesn't have the same speed of the X2 Pure, but it isn't lacking and I find no reason to fault the DAC for its PRaT, or for the amount of information being conveyed. Bass is strong, decay is at the perfect pace and its excursive properties are fantastic. But what makes it truly special is the amount of saturation in the midrange that turns into the most beautifully wet resolution and extends into the treble above 8k. The DAC is completely devoid of any peaks or nodes and is just one smooth customer. It is relaxed, but powerful. Vocals are off the charts with emotion and palpable energy. A great way to hear it is to listen to two songs off of the Dave Matthews/Tim Reynolds album "Live from Radio City Music Hall"
They do the most beautiful rendition of the Daniel Lanois song "The Maker" where you hear Dave's singing at its absolute best. You can feel his love for the song and every intonation and breath can be heard. Coupled with Tim Reynold's incredible playing. From his use of different chord structures while playing rhythm along side Dave, to the way his solo circles the music anchored by Dave's acoustic playing. Tim's tone is gorgeous, realistic and you can really hear how he is able to create a Monet like landscape. The other song is called "Sister". I have a special affinity with the song as it is about the fact that Dave and his sister felt like at birth their hearts were switched and he has his sister's and she his. Such a beautiful concept and one I feel deeply with my own sister as we both traverse unknown territory both with a terminal disease that neither of our doctors know what it is, how to treat or how much time we have left. We are 6,000 miles apart but I am always with her and her me. We have always been connected by so much more than a disease, but a heritage, a life and a way of viewing the world that brings us together no matter where we are. I absolutely adore the way Dave sings this song, tender and loving while Tim's plays his guitar with a slide bar and perfectly compliments the emotion of the song. Before I forget, this is what makes the Taurus so great. The ability to bring out these types of emotions, to make my senses tingle and to bring me closer to a world view and context. I don't just hear my music, I feel it. The same way I have felt, smelled, touched and listened to the food I have created. We can never forget that we are connected to this universe through our senses and how we use them to understand our own way in this world. The Taurus has been an amazing journey of learning and exploration.
Meier Corda Soul MK2 $3500 vs Musician Taurus $3800
From the brilliant mind of Jan Meier, a Dr of Physics and maybe the smartest person in the industry. The Corda Soul MK2 is so much more than a DAC. It is an All in One, Pre-Amp and DSP machine. It is Jan's Opus and an absolutely brilliant device worth 8x its price. It is that good. I am going to try and just focus on the DAC section, but the Soul MK2 is a picture of true brilliance made by a man too smart for this industry and as nice a human being as you will meet. The Soul's DAC is a dual mono affair with Cirrus chips. It maxes out via USB at 24/192 and is all that you need.
A fun story about Jan, I wrote him and said I don't think I can hear significant differences above 24/96 and he said "No one can". Typical Jan to just give an easy and to the point answer. Although, I like to use max PCM on DACs with Roon, each is different and does not affect how I feel about the DAC. They all decode to a certain level and feel that is enough for their design and topology. I just like to upsample to max PCM for my own curiosity, but I could stop at 24/96 and never feel without.
The Soul MK2 is extremely clean, detailed and perfectly balanced. Its original incarnation was built for the HD800 and ensemble music. However, he recognized that it needed a bit of an update and so he upgraded the DAC section. The entire device is balanced and only offers XLR inputs and outputs. Unfortunately, it is not meant to be a fixed DAC, so I can only listen to it as an AIO. Fortunately, the Headphone Amp is as good or better than the DAC. With the MK2 version he added a bit of warmth, increased low level detail and lost nothing in regards to midband detail or top end resolution, while the bass stayed lightning fast and extremely coherent and linear. In addition, it remains musical and feels like the bass and treble extends forever in each direction. There is simply nothing I can say about this unit that I would change. I love it for what it is and feel that its DAC competes on its own with the best DACs at a price point significantly higher than what he is charging for this device. The upgrade is a significant improvement. Some prefer the original, but for my tastes the changes he made were necessary and noticeable. I am not someone who uses EQ, so I don't use those DSP functions, but I do use the crossfeed function which opens up the stage moving to the right 3 notches. If you want to increase the stage of your speakers you would move the toggle to the left.
All DSP EQ functions are done by a toggle switch with a knurled texture and can only change the particular frequency section through the digital domain and can only be used if using the DAC. Here are the particular options at your disposal.
LLF; de-/increase of frequencies below 170 Hz
LF; de-/increase of frequencies below 500 Hz
HF; de-/increase of frequencies above 1.5 kHz
HHF; de-/increase of frequencies above 4.5 kHz
All controls have Q=0.5 shelving, step size 0.8 dB, range +/- 4 dB.
I asked Jan why 4db, and his answer was "if you need to change a headphone by more than that, find a different headphone, it isn't for you".
Something I don't have to worry about as I don't EQ. I cannot find fault with this DAC in any way and enjoy it for exactly what it is and feel that being a DS DAC, it spreads spatially and remains musical, balanced and tonally accurate at all times. There is no glare, no etch and does not just focus on the micro properties of your music. Timbre is not that of an R2R DAC, but it has no nodes or issues that make me feel that the timbre needs any help. I had the opportunity to listen to the Bartok Apex hooked to the Lina Clock and I preferred the Corda Soul MK2. It is that good and worth a listen and demo if you ever have the chance. If I was to only have one end point and had to sell everything but one item, the Corda Soul MK2 would be the easiest choice ever. I could live with it and never feel like I was missing anything. With two headphone outputs at 0ohms and 120ohms, and an incredibly stable drift, the Soul can handle any headphone you throw at it except the Tungsten and the Susvara. I'd say the HE-6 but they are so rare these days, I won't bring it up. However, Jan claims it can power every headphone properly without issue. I just don't have a Susvara or Tungsten here to test it. The Soul has no issues with my Code X at 87.5 SPL, or my HEKv2 at 90 spl and is a magician with high impedance headphones. Back to the DAC, it is close to perfect to my preferences knowing that it is not meant to sound like an R2R DAC and I love it for exactly what it is and what it does. Sometimes it is nice to have your cake and eat it too...
The Taurus compares favorably as a DAC. Just so different it is like asking someone to compare the difference between the old Detroit Tiger Stadium and Fenway Park. Both iconic and both completely different and wonderful in their own right. They are doing such different things and presenting my music so differently that it is hard to compare. The Taurus has a larger spatial presentation and macro properties, but I would not say that it is better. Just different. That difference is tone, timbre, macro detail and the emotion of the DAC's tuning and ultimate way with music. Vocally it is not as crystal clear as the Soul, but there is more intonation and decay which gives the Taurus an advantage if you want to be blown away with emotion. The Soul still gets my juices flowing, but the Taurus has a special way of grabbing on to the nape of your neck and not letting go.
This is my absolute favorite Springsteen album. Every song is perfection and just listening to Bruce on his piano and singing some of his rarer and beautiful songs is an absolute treat. This album perfectly personifies what I am talking about with the Taurus and vocals and instrument reality. His piano is perfectly portrayed and his voice is crackling... Every song on the album is my favorite, but some stand outs are Independence Day, I Wish I Were Blind, Drive All Night, Iceman, The River and Incident on 57th Street. Like I said, the entire album. If you want to buy this DAC, listen to this album and the sale will be made by the time you get to the end. It is that good... The Taurus no matter what I listen to sounds amazing. I only wish being a Detroit kid that Bob Seger would create a similar album so that I can feel a slice of home no matter where I am and connect to the lyrics in the same way someone from NJ connects to the songs of Bruce.
Before I continue, I want to say that I am comparing the Taurus to some really good DACs and so I am not giving you a winner as they are all different and all deserve a listen and all deserve a certain type of listener. The point is to highlight how they are different, not necessarily better. The only DAC I like more than the Taurus is the next one, which is my reference DAC.
Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe $6300 vs Musician Taurus $3800
As I stated above the Cen.Grand is my reference DAC and is as good a DAC as I've heard up to $15,000. The Deluxe is a DSD DAC converting everything through their own proprietary algorithms up to DSD1024. Therefore all DSP is turned off in Roon for this DAC and saved as such. It can be used as a fixed DAC and can be used as a Pre-DAC, which is how I use it. The Muses Volume Pot is so good and I find the liquidity and tonal density to increase, also giving my Pure BiPolar MK2 more room to play since it is such a powerful amp. I am not going to go into all the tech that makes this DAC work as it would take me thousands of words that my hands just can't take. I am already shredding them with the length of this review. I will say this, though. The Deluxe is extremely dynamic, energetic, emotive, complex, and balanced. The sound is just about perfect to my preferences and is a mixture of the inherent qualities I like in DS DACs and those that I like about R2R and FPGA DACs. It has fantastic tone, and the timbre is also north of neutral giving it some of that R2R holographic magic. Not to the level of the Taurus, but it is not missing for anything when I listen to my system through it. The Deluxe is just as I want it to sound. It has more flexibility with more amps and ultimately is my choice for my everyday listening. Especially with my Eddie Current Aficionado which sounds like heaven paired with the Deluxe. The ECAF is a very special amp and if you have one never sell it, as I haven't seen one for sale in a very long time. Those who have one know what they've got and aren't going to let it go anytime soon.
The Taurus counters as it does against every DAC with incredible macro properties and with beautiful tone and timbre. This is the only time when I find my reference DAC to be my choice for most of my listening. That doesn't take away from the Taurus's natural attributes or its beauty. I don't feel that I am missing anything with the Taurus versus the Deluxe, I just prefer the Deluxe in almost every way but its macro detail, which is not far behind. But behind it is and so the Taurus, while not the Deluxe, is still a worthy contender and one that I would not be remiss to own or feel that I was missing out if I couldn't own the Deluxe. It is still a wonderful DAC and me owning the Deluxe doesn't take away anything that I have said about the Taurus up to this point.
Winner is the Deluxe. But it isn't a huge difference. 5-7% would be my guess. Not a huge amount, but enough to tell me that it is noticeable and tells me that I am happy with it anchoring my main system. That being said, I do prefer the Taurus with my favorite solid state amp. My very special and unique CFA3 that is the perfect companion for the Taurus. The CFA3's midband benefits greatly from the north of neutral timbre and the DAC does not prevent the CFA3's superior top end resolution from coming through. It is a match that I find to be absolutely perfect and reminds me how important synergy is to how a finished product comes out of my headphones.
Headphones:
This review is getting really long, so I will try to be concise here. I do not EQ my headphones. If I don’t like the synergy I move on and find the right pair. While I recognize why people use EQ and the benefits, I am not great at figuring out Q levels and the right amount of movement of a certain frequency and my patience grows thin. So, I’ve adopted my own strategy of trying to pair what the designer has built and why to my system to maximize my enjoyment. This is by no means something I feel is the right way, it is just my way. So, YMMV. I have carefully curated my stable based on my chain, musical choices and listening preferences.
ZMF Caldera Closed:
I love this headphone and find that it is the headphone I have always wanted ZMF to make. While I love the CO as well, the musicality of the CC is right up my alley and is absolutely incredible on the Soul, Taurus and Deluxe. With a bit more heft below 500hz and a more musical upper midrange and lower treble; the tone of the CC and the Taurus is a wonderful pairing and one that I highly recommend. So long as you have the right amp to bring together a great pairing. For me, all of my amps with the Deluxe and Taurus are magic with the CC. My favorite amp with the CC is the Eddie Current Aficionado, which I run off the Deluxe. But, I could live with the CC on the Taurus and CFA3 forever and never feel as if I was missing anything. They are a perfect combination. I am lucky to have the amps I do, and know that I am in a constant state of asking myself whether or not I feel worthy to have what I have.
HEKv2 Non-Stealth:
This headphone sounds absolutely incredible through the CFA3 with the Taurus. It is one of my favorite headphones and one of my favorite pairings. It is strong, dynamic and subtle. While it is also great on the Deluxe with the Pure BiPolar MK2, the combination of the CFA3 with the Taurus makes this headphone absolutely sing and has complete control of the drivers while providing perfect balance and tone. Those who have this headphone know what they have, the last of the old Hifiman tuning coupled with modern drivers and know how very rare this headphone’s tuning is today in Hifiman’s line up. Good luck finding one. It is worth the look...
LFF Code X:
This is my absolute favorite headphone and the combination of the CFA3 with the Taurus is pure magic. This headphone's sense of tone/timbre matched by the Taurus's makes this combo one for the ages. If you can find this headphone, I highly recommend it. They are becoming increasingly harder to find and for good reason. Those who have the remaining few know what they have and so prying them out of their collections will be next to impossible. This headphone is simply perfect and combined with the Taurus and CFA3 is my absolute favorite way to listen to music.
ZMF Atrium Open and Verite Closed:
These headphones are principally used off my Corda Soul MK2 and my Eddie Current Aficionado. They sound great with the Taurus when I have changed out the Deluxe so I could hear them, but as of now I am happy with my system as it is set up, so I don't get the opportunity to enjoy these headphones on the Taurus as often as I'd like. However, when I have, the result was stunning. The timbre of the Taurus was a perfect match to the these two ZMF headphones. Although, at 300 ohms they both benefit from my tube amp and just light up these incredible headphones.
A great example of this is the Jerry Garcia Band's reading of the Bob Dylan tune "Tangled Up in Blue". Wow, what a great way to hear both the AO and the VC and the Taurus. Jerry crackles with energy, the upbeat version is full of everything that made Jerry's second band so remarkable and this reading of one of the truly great songs written in the past 75 years so amazing. They absolutely nail this version. John Kahn's bass is fast and visceral, and Jerry's voice was mature and full of everything that made him such a genius. Couple that with incredible back up vocals and Jerry's guitar and you get what is pure brilliance if you like this type of music.
Final D8K Pro:
This is an easy one. It is the best technically adept headphone I own and it is pure magic on the Taurus with the CFA3 or the ECAF. There is simply no amp I own that this headphone doesn't shine on. It is just that good of a headphone and when paired with incredible 1s and 0s and the right amp you get a brilliant combination. One last song to highlight how much this headphone can do and how good it is on the Taurus.
My all time favorite musician is Steve Kimock. Especially his playing from the mid 1980's until 2000. He was coined by Jerry Garcia as his favorite guitar player in 1988. And for good reason. The man could move from Feelin' Alight into Coltrane's "Afro Blue" on slide guitar barely breaking a sweat. But, if you want to hear his pure genius, listen to "Forever is Nowhere" with Steve on lap steel and you will hear a man at the absolute height of his powers and quite possibly at this time the greatest guitar player that no one really knew about. He was simply that good for about a 15 yr period of time. He is now in his early 70's and his playing is not what it was. I was at this show the night it was recorded and I can tell you that the recording on Tidal and Roon is masterful. They always had the best sound engineers at their shows and the sound was always perfect at their venues. It is not the same as being in a 1200 seat auditorium on the rail watching his hands, but I at least have those memories.
Amps:
I used the Taurus with 4 amps. The CFA3, the Mjolnir Pure BiPolar MK2, The Pietus Maximus and the Eddie Current Aficionado and the result was the same with all of them. Blissful music, incredible tone and timbre, magical macro properties and the very best of what an R2R DAC can present to the listener. I don't want to take too much more of your time, so I will just say that with all of my amps I found the Taurus to be a perfect pairing. Especially the Eddie Current Aficionado. The speed of that amp mixed with the relaxed nature of the Taurus was a match made in heaven.
Conclusion:
We have covered a lot of territory and I hope that you enjoyed the ride. I hope you have a wonderful holiday and that you learned enough about this wonderful DAC to make an informed decision. I cannot decide for someone what they like or what the want, but I can tell you that if R2R is your thing and you can afford this DAC, I highly recommend that you audition it. You will be hard pressed to find a better R2R DAC for under $10,000 and I've heard most of them. It is so underpriced it is silly. It is just that good. If you like DACs with liquidity, tonal density, the perfect amount of saturation and the ability to pair with most amps I highly recommend you give this DAC a try. I prefer with amps that are on the cleaner side, but the Pietus has some color and sounds glorious on the Taurus. So, with that said I wish you a wonderful rest of your holiday and I hope you enjoyed taking this ride of music and the senses with me. Thank you for reading! 2 Big Thumbs UP!
Attachments
Death_Block
I was just about to see if I could use it as a preamp. My next hurdle is finding a balanced source. So not quite sold on it. Excellent review though, very thorough.
geoffalter11
Thank you. It is an amazing pre-amp
Slim1970
Such a complete and throughly written review. I love the song choices and the meaning behind them, thanks for the insight 
. Great review my friend. It might just be your best to date.
. Great review my friend. It might just be your best to date.