Well, I now see why the SP2k is known as cream of the crop. My ignorant self decided to go with a $35 ddHiFi adapter (I like their adapters overall!) which led to some crazy lower treble intensity for me. I couldn’t even survive 10 minutes, so decided to splurge on the pwa 1960 adapter.
Sound quality impressions? Clean, mature, refined, tight, articulate-you name it. Might as well be describing an ideal employee if you were a hiring manager (except for tight…). Traillii already had the best treble I’ve heard, but this takes it a step even further-the cymbals on “The Last Baron” are just so damn precise and detailed, yet STILL smooth.
Bass has nice weight, with tight decay. It is on the neutral side without any elevated warmth. Technicalities are obviously summit-fi for a DAP, showing remarkable imaging, precision, layering due to a pitch black background.
Will this DAP be for everyone? Nope-while I wouldn’t call it clinical since it does a pleasant job of balancing those technicalities with exciting energy rather than a linear, dull/referential presentation, it is still a mature Hifi sound that doesn’t value coloring the sound.
I’ll have to A/B more, but so far it seems that R8 is a bit more colored with an upper mids boost that can give off a slightly more musical presentation. But in terms of overall tightness and refinement, Sp2k comes out on top. Looking forward to how it continues to burn-in.
Bye bye ghetto adapter, and bye bye wallet. Hello copper friend.