[JCCI]

Hello everybody,

 

Since it seems that in spite of the website information there are open questions we decided to join HeadFi as a manufacturer. It is the first time we do so and hope we can contribute a lot here.

 

Please understand that as a manufacturer we wish to provide first-hand information, but not comment on other products, except products we have no relation to. So my favourite headphone is no secret, but my optinion on AMP XY is.

 

The PureDAC has a lot of innovative solutions and I guarantee that there is no marketing nonesense involved; just true engineering. If anybody should have any questions we will happily answer them. In case technical questions should go too deep into engineering, this might be the wrong place for discussion.

 

One suggestion upfront: The PureDAC is, more than most other products, consequently designed for balanced use and you won't experience the whole quality without using the 4-pin XLR connector.

 

Sorry if anybody felt we are not responsive on customer requests. We receive quite a lot of requests from all over the world every day and reply all, but maybe not the same day. If really one got lost we apologize, but for sure we never ignore your requests!

 

A big THANK YOU to Drew from Moon Audio who did input so much information about the PureDAC already.

I also promised Jude to send him one as soon as possible, which will happen soon.

 

Some links:

PureDAC website

PureDAC brochure

PureDAC manual

 

Greetings

 

Carlos

 

[DefQon]

I still want this. Hopefully I didn't miss out on an impressions thread somewhere.

 

[Herwet]

Hello Carlos (B.M.C.), and thank you for joining this thread.
I have emailed B.M.C. directly before about where to order the Pure Dac in Sweden and was informed that I could do it directly with B.M.C., since you do not have an active importer/dealer in Sweden. How do I go about this, any link to a page where to order? Can´t see any page on your site for this. (I have talked to Akkelis Audio in Gothenburg and they would like to order three units for their customers.)

 

[Argo Duck]

^ Same question for me - how to order in New Zealand.

Carlos, there seems to be lots of information about the amplifier built into the PureDAC. Very interesting. But less detail about the capabilities of the DAC. It is as a DAC I will make my decision to buy, with the amp a bonus. I guess one question to start with is how does the sound quality (especially low-level retrieval) of the PureDAC compare to your top DAC? What other differences?

DefQon; units have only just started shipping. No impressions yet.

Cheers

 

[JCCI]

Shippings to Europe and US are on their way.
Any customer living in a country without approved B.M.C. distribution can order directly via email. We will arrange the shipment either from our German or Asia office. The reply on such issues might have been slow because it had to be resolved first.
 
Right now I believe it is obvious that we are not yet covering the market request, which should be fine about October. Until then I'm sorry for any waiting time. The production capacity is sufficient, we just have too many backorders due to the late start.
More than the implementation of DSD the problem was getting all exotic parts in time. For the first production run naturally we have no stock of parts for balancing delivery issues.
 
Asking sound impressions is as hard as decribing describing colors. One of our main goals is always not to have a specific sound signature, which is easily said but not done. This means the description of the DAC changes with the music program. The German Stereoplay magazine mentioned that they had a hard time nailing any acoustic signature of the DAC - that's the definition of high fidelity.
Another extensive English user review from Malaysia mentioned the same and pointed on the ease of tweaking of the PureDAC just by the underground surface.
At the show in California as well as in Kuala Lumpur we did put the PureDAC inside of our reference system with our big M2 monoblocks, B.M.C. link and the Arcadia speakers, played with my tablet PC with Linux. It worked perfectly!
 
Another common misunderstanding I have seen in the forums is the thinking in functional blocks like DAC, preamp and headphone amp. There is no such thing in the PureDAC! The PureDAC is a DAPC (Digital / Analog power converter), so there is no extra amplifier stage involved. The preamp as well as the headphone amp are part of the mandatory I/V converter of the DAC and there is no gain stage whatsoever involved. In other words: The PureDAC delivers the preamp or headphone-amp functionality without an extra amplifier. It should be not hard to imagine that a non existing amplifier is hard to beat concerning sound. The DAC is the headphone-amp (preamp) and vice versa. This concept is unique so far and that's where the misunderstandings are coming from.
We got the question how to use the PureDAC as a standard fixed level DAC? The volume solution inside the PureDAC is lossless and also part of the special "Current Injection" I/V converter. Setting the volume to 53 or 54 would represent a standard DAC output. Again; there is no additional preamplifier stage existing.
 
We use a Sabre 9016 DAC and managed to get the XMOS and the Sabre working with a unified clock, absolutely synchronious!.
 
How it compares to the DAC1?
Whenever we do new designs, not just maintaining a product, a better performance vs. price is a mandatory goal. The PureDAC has a much smaller gap to the DAC1 than the price suggests, but still the significant difference in material gives advantage to the DAC1. In Taiwan a reviewer actually did this comparsion already. Once the new solutions get implemented into all products the same way the differences meet the expectations again.
 
Hope this helps!

 

[TIMITS]

I am interested in this DAC also.  Not sure that I fully understand the technical concepts in its design but is sounds exciting. In my case I'm interested in the headphone capability also. In order to make a purchasing decision I just need one or two detailed reviews from reputable sources. 

 

[gurus]

Quote:

 
How it compares to the DAC1?
Whenever we do new designs, not just maintaining a product, a better performance vs. price is a mandatory goal. The PureDAC has a much smaller gap to the DAC1 than the price suggests, but still the significant difference in material gives advantage to the DAC1. In Taiwan a reviewer actually did this comparsion already. Once the new solutions get implemented into all products the same way the differences meet the expectations again.
 
Hope this helps!

 
I could not wait for the PureDAC and I also needed the pre-amp function so I got myself a DAC1/pre. If the above statement is even close to being true the Headfiers are in for a nice surprise. The DAC1 is one of the finest pieces of Audio equipment I have come across. 

 

[JCCI]

Thanks a lot for this nice comment! 

 

[BournePerfect]

I just emailed Drew about availability. Hoping to pick one up and try it out soon.
 
-Daniel

 

[ScuderiaHeadFi]

Quote:

Another common misunderstanding I have seen in the forums is the thinking in functional blocks like DAC, preamp and headphone amp. There is no such thing in the PureDAC! The PureDAC is a DAPC (Digital / Analog power converter), so there is no extra amplifier stage involved. The preamp as well as the headphone amp are part of the mandatory I/V converter of the DAC and there is no gain stage whatsoever involved. In other words: The PureDAC delivers the preamp or headphone-amp functionality without an extra amplifier. It should be not hard to imagine that a non existing amplifier is hard to beat concerning sound. The DAC is the headphone-amp (preamp) and vice versa. This concept is unique so far and that's where the misunderstandings are coming from.
 

 
Audiophile geek heaven 

 

[JCCI]

Quote:

 
Audiophile geek heaven 

It's of course irrelevant for the normal use, since just the result counts. But it it might be still interesting how we got there. 

 

[Audio Addict]

Quote:

It's of course irrelevant for the normal use, since just the result counts. But it it might be still interesting how we got there. 

 
Curious if BMC and the Puredac will be at CanJam / RMAF?  I didn't see a separate listing for BMC, though I know Aaudio Imporrts will be there.

 

[dirtrat]

I've patiently been waiting for a review or someone's impression of this DAC but found nothing! Has anyone here bought one of these or do you have a link for a review?

 

[Argo Duck]

Still early days - it's only just been released!

That said, I've had mine in house coming up six days. Unfortunately, this coincides with an extremely busy time. Quick impressions below, but I'm in no position to elaborate on these for a week or two.

Dealing with BMC - all of it by email - was an excellent experience. They were responsive and open, and once I'd decided to go ahead they got the DAC to me fast. They are obviously proud of their product.

First impressions straight out of the box: (LCD2 plugged straight into the balanced hp out) - slightly soft attack and dynamics; no harshness; smooth throughout the range. Sounded good but nothing that 'grabbed' me right away. I took this as a good thing.

There was a three-blob sound-stage - left, right, centre with little or nothing in between.

This first listen was about 30 minutes and hurried, as I had to be on-site for one of my projects. Impressions were quite different...

...five hours later when, first, the sound-stage was fully (i.e. normally) filled out. Second, I began to notice promising signs with the bass and a lot of new, low-level detail. Most impressive was that this detail wasn't the outcome of exaggerated treble. There seemed to be real 'added' (as in not previously retrieved) information in the mids, lower mids and upper bass. Third, attack and dynamics no longer seemed 'soft'. I need to re-visit this last observation as I think there was a genuine (burn-in?) improvement in these two aspects but I also think the attack and dynamics are not engineered to grab attention with this DAC. This is subjective of course, but the word that started to come to mind was "natural". In the context of the extra information coming through, attack and dynamics seemed "just right".

Over the days since, the one factor that has grabbed me is the articulation in the bass and lower mids. When I first acquired the LCD2, I had an interestingly similar 'good but nothing grabbing me' first impression. This soon changed when I began to hear what these phones do with piano, an instrument I've played (mostly classical) for some 20-30 years. What I did not realise until now was how much more potential my LCD2s had. The texture and palpability in the mids has reached a new level, not something I would've thought possible. There's a fullness of body with this DAC I've not heard before. Combined with the extra detail, it's making me hear perhaps as much as half of my 'familiar' tracks quite differently.

To place this in context, other DACs I have used are Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC; Meier Audio StageDac; Schiit Bifrost (awaiting installation of uber board when I get time); Beresford Bushmaster. As you can see, I have not heard any of the 'big' rivals around or above the PureDAC's price-point, DACs such as the Anedio D2, Lynx Hilo, PWD2, NAD M51 or Audiogd Master7. I mention these DACs as I've considered all of these seriously over the last two years.

So, the PureDAC is quite a lot more than the most expensive of the DACs I have used. I hoped the PureDAC would be better than these. It is. I expected it to be a little better, and hoped it would make advances in fine, low-level areas such as detail and micro-dynamics. Whilst I can't comment yet on micro-dynamics, I can say it is not a little better than my other DACs. It's a lot better.

Some comparisons: the MiniMax has a pristine cleanness of presentation, the outcome I guess of the Sabre chip. It also has good bass but unfortunately (with the LCD2, and even with the tube switched out) it overdoes the upper-bass and washes out important harmonic information in the lower mids. This introduces some muddiness with instruments such as piano and cello. The PureDAC has all the virtues and none of the flaws and presents detail the MiniMax doesn't.

The Meier Stagedac has been my favorite to date, because it doesn't emphasise any part of the frequency spectrum (except possibly slight added presence) and otherwise sounded as good as the MiniMax. It now sounds a little thin.

The Bifrost (non-ubered) sounds fast and gives great separation between notes. Unfortunately this is the outcome of it being lean and dry: for example, low piano notes lack the harmonics that should be there and the result is timbrally unnatural. The PureDAC might sound a little less attacking but that's because it gives the full picture. No contest.

Finally, around day 3 I wondered if all the improvements I heard might be because of using my LCD2 balanced (the PureDAC's balanced hp-out) for the first time. They are not. I have used the PureDAC with my Decware Taboo II (a tube amp with single-ended input and hp-out). All the notes above still apply.

I can't honestly say how this compares to its direct rivals, but I can say this is a much bigger step up than I expected and I am very happy, both with BMC and their product.

I hope this helps.

 

[paradoxper]

Excellent notes, AiDee. I hope we have more impressions to come. This is a consideration of mine (purely on looks and BMC's reputation.)
 
Glad it didn't fall flat on its face right out of the gate.