Apogee Mini-Dac WOW!

[calcajun]

Just recieved my Apogee Mini-Dac.
Ripped it open and just listened to two songs.
Coax in then straight out the headphone out to my Grado SR 325i.
All i could think was WOW! What a difference.
What stood out imediately was the clarity and soundstage. I am already hearing small wayback mixed sounds in music i never heard before.
Just 15 minutes listening and i am so not sorry i spent this $730.
Now patiently waiting for my Extreme Standard hopefully round the 20th or not long after.

I am also not sorry i didn't try lots of stuff and went straight to the top.
No need to look at DAK's anymore.

 

[JLai]

Anyone know how that compares to a DAC1?

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JLai /img/forum/go_quote.gif Anyone know how that compares to a DAC1?

Congrats on the DAC/Amp!

Since he has the SR325i, that's the right DAC/Amp for him. low ohm efficient cans like Grados seem to be married to that thing, and bring out the warmth while keeping the resolution. the Benchmark is happier with Senns imho, as its presentation is not as warm (but maybe analytically a bit more revealing).

 

[pelayostyle]

Would you mind opening it up and snapping some pics for us?

 

[calcajun]

Although i just had my hearing checked months ago and it was totally good.
There are those who feel the high end of the 325's are a little too much. I personally have not had a problem with that. Keeping that in mind though, i knew the Apogee was suppose to be on the warm side so i did have that in mind when i decided. I am happy with this straight out of it's headphone jack.
In a few weeks or so, this will be eating digital signals from Comp, Dap and cd, then feeding an Extreme Standard.

 

[calcajun]

As far as opening it up, not so sure. I am not mechanically inclined and just not sure about that. First off it has screws wich appear to be torch or star which i don't own.

SHRUG

 

[calcajun]

K, there is a diagram in the manual explains how to open to install the usb card.
Prolly can do pics but just can't say when.

 

[Alucard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JLai /img/forum/go_quote.gif Anyone know how that compares to a DAC1?

Here's a review from a german magazine http://www.apogeedigital.com/product...c_rev_hifi.php

He likes the Apogee better as he finds it to be more musical than the DAC-1.


OMG maybe I have to get one also, for my RS2

Edit: Oops, old thread maybe

 

[sum]

I own the Mini-DAC and owned the DAC1 at the same time. I greatly prefer the Mini-DAC. The DAC1 is more analytical. There doesn't seem to be any difference in detail, but the Mini-DAC sounds more natural to me. The built in headphone amp is very good as well.

 

[Alucard]

It seems I have to get a Mini-DAC then.

But then I get problems with which cable I should buy. unfortunately :/
Should I go regular mini->RCA or get a good XLR cable instead with some rca adapters (handy for future amp upgrades). I have read that the outputs sound different form each other, if I remember correctly.

 

[Don Quichotte]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alucard /img/forum/go_quote.gif It seems I have to get a Mini-DAC then. But then I get problems with which cable I should buy. unfortunately :/ Should I go regular mini->RCA or get a good XLR cable instead with some rca adapters (handy for future amp upgrades). I have read that the outputs sound different form each other, if I remember correctly.

Yes, to my surprise they do! I'd recommend the XLR route as it has better air and soundstage. Perhaps this has something to do with the output impedances and only holds true with the lowish cables I've tried, but I kind of doubt it. For the comparison I used the mini out set on fixed level and the XLR out set on variable, so with the volume pot in the signal path, and even so the XLR was superior.

 

[saint.panda]

Congrats!

The Apogee reigns supreme in ergonomic factors. On the Apogee you can power on both headphone amp and line out or only the headphone amp (3 position switch). And via jumper settings you can make the line out indepedant from the pottie, which is what I use for powering my active monitors. And it has a very nice pottie instead of some kind of digital volume dial. It features a plethora of inputs and outputs, especially USB. The ultra low output impedance makes it an ideal candidate for driving balanced HD 650. It is small, extremely lightweight and can take to rough handling (tried and tested). OK, it's not pretty (purple knobs, what the hell?). To me these issues are just as important as the sound, which is why I eventually went for the Apogee instead of Lavry, Stello, DAC1, etc.

 

[calcajun]

Yup.
Could not be happier with the connections available. No need to unplug or move anything. Extreme fed by xlr to rca. my amp and speakers fed by the mini to rca and of course i can plug phones direct to the Apogee and that also sounds awesome.

 

[Alucard]

I just saw that Apogee is to release a firewire option for their mini series.
So it will be possible to chose firewire instead of usb as I understand it.
What do you think, will it be better (sound better) than the usb?
I read that it will support up to 192kHz I think (the usb only supports 48kHz).

 

[Alucard]

I made some reading on usb vs firewire and firewire seems better on everything. Less cpu intensive and will send data regardless of if the cpu is busy or not, so less pops and crackles.