Anyone ever compared Apogee MiniDAC head to head against a high end CDP?

[Loftprojection]

I'm looking for feedback on the Apogee MiniDAC but from people who would have done somekind of A/B test with it against a high end CD player with either a speaker system or headphones. I know "high end" is quite broad but let's say a CDP that costs more than a $1000.

If you've done such a test, I would really appreciate your comments and which equipments you've used. I've read a lot of positive feedback on the Apogee and it is my current top choice for a new DAC but I would like to have an idea how it will fare when I compare it with my Arcam CD23T player.

Thanks.

 

[Don Quichotte]

I've already bought the Apogee, but I'm curious about this as well. I will be able to compare it to a Meridian G08, but I don't have a clue when is this going th happen. Could take a few months...

And the comparison is a bit unfair, the Meridian costs more than three Mini-Dacs.

 

[Loftprojection]

No no, I don't think it is so unfair, I think it will be very interesting indeed. It is probable that you will prefer your Meridian but by how much, that will be the question. If you endup tempted to sell the Meridian to get back some money because the difference is minimal then it will mean the Apogee is quite a product. If you don't mind, please post some impressions as soon as you listen to your Apogee, even if it is not a head to head comparison, it might at least give a good idea since I guess you are already very acustomed to the sound of your Meridian. Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Quichotte I've already bought the Apogee, but I'm curious about this as well. I will be able to compare it to a Meridian G08, but I don't have a clue when is this going th happen. Could take a few months... And the comparison is a bit unfair, the Meridian costs more than three Mini-Dacs.

 

[Trogdor]

It doesn't make sense, you are comparing apples and oranges. How do you attest the sound in a CDP to JUST the DAC? It would be very hard for me at least to take this test seriously. Don't get me wrong, from just a DAC perspective I think the Apogee is tops and ranks up there with ANY CDP. But how would you compare a CDP that upsamples? Is that the same? What about a tube output? Its just hard to compare a pure DAC versus a CDP.

 

[Loftprojection]

Trogdor, I'm not talking about anything scientific here.

Basically I'm just interested to have an idea of what type of sound you can expect when you take an uncompressed file (wav or flac style) on a computer and you use that with an Apogee DAC either on a good speaker or headphone system. How does that fare against a CDP that is worth equal or more than the price of the Apogee. Is the sound quality close, equal or better than using a $2000 CD player like mine (Arcam CD23). What about one that is worth three times the Apogee like Don Quichotte's Meridian?

Yes, I agree with you that it is comparing apples to oranges in a sense. But if you refer to my post, I'm not asking about comparison between lets say the Apogee and the Benchmark DAC1, for this there is plenty of feedback on this forum and others.

Thanks for mentionning it though, it might raise interests for others who might be interested in a test like this as well.

Cheers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trogdor It doesn't make sense, you are comparing apples and oranges. How do you attest the sound in a CDP to JUST the DAC? It would be very hard for me at least to take this test seriously. Don't get me wrong, from just a DAC perspective I think the Apogee is tops and ranks up there with ANY CDP. But how would you compare a CDP that upsamples? Is that the same? What about a tube output? Its just hard to compare a pure DAC versus a CDP.

 

[cotdt]

I'm interested as well.

I feel it's not apples to oranges, but Honda Accord versus Toyota Camry. Sonics versus sonics here...

 

[Don Quichotte]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loftprojection If you don't mind, please post some impressions as soon as you listen to your Apogee, even if it is not a head to head comparison, it might at least give a good idea since I guess you are already very acustomed to the sound of your Meridian.

Sorry, I'm afraid it's a misunderstanding. I do not own the Meridian (I wish I would ...

). It belongs to a friend of mine. I have bought the Apogee about one month ago. Of course I will post after hearing them side by side. Until then, I posted some quick impressions on the Apogee in the Source forum 2 or 3 weeks ago. I will also post some more detailed impressions after finnishing burning in my cables and hopefully getting to compare it to another good source (probably a Lynx soundcard).

 

[Loftprojection]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Quichotte Sorry, I'm afraid it's a misunderstanding. I do not own the Meridian (I wish I would ... ). It belongs to a friend of mine. I have bought the Apogee about one month ago. Of course I will post after hearing them side by side. Until then, I posted some quick impressions on the Apogee in the Source forum 2 or 3 weeks ago. I will also post some more detailed impressions after finnishing burning in my cables and hopefully getting to compare it to another good source (probably a Lynx soundcard).

Hey, no problem. Any kind of comments will be appreciated. Hopefully your Apogee is not better then your friends Meridian, he would probably be

for spending a lot more money than you!

Cheers.