[J.Y.]

Saw this thread at DIY Audio, thought I might mention it here

I have not wrote much in the past month, so I guess this review is rather ghetto looking. If patience allow, below are some of my thoughts.(being my subjective view and only my subjective view)
(perhaps with a bit of new-toy-syndrome added.

Fortunately enough I was able to obtain a maxed out version of this from a Taiwanese DIYer. Did use me quite a bit of money, but every penny I put into this was of its worth. This thing offered the best sound I've heard from a PC setup. The DAC is rather warm and has a very dark background. This surprised me quite a bit since I find the background was quite a bit darker than that of my main system.(refer to my profile for my rig)

I chose to get this instead of some pro. card or other USB audio device because it uses an independant power supply, and I believe that the using power coming from USB(which is provided by the nasty PC switching) would result in inferior sound.

Picture of DAC & 3W poweramp/headamp(I did steal this link from the original owner

The DAC sounded a bit warm, much like sources with Marantz HDAM circuit. Unlike lower end Marantz sacrifices definition for this warmth, this unit presents well plenty of inner detail.

I did find the headamp to be a bit bassy for Grados, and perhaps some brighter parts on that amp would work better for my Grado's, but since it was originally tweaked for AKG K501s I really have little to say. Perhaps I should buy an AKG soon?

Although I think it could use more high end extension, the higher spectrums is very smooth and grainless. Dynamics seems a bit restrained compared to my CDP, and I prefer my Tascam's brighter presentation of orchestral works. CD-401 sounds very detailed with better attack and better "placing of instruments on stage".

The midrange. I guess it is more or less like Grado's. Some would die for that sweet sound, and some would just say "Yuck!". I find this very analogue sound to my liking.

Coming down to the base, no, I meant bass is where the showdown is. I am really not sure which is better or which is more accurate, but my CDP seems to offer a bit more definition on the bass notes while the DAC offered less grain. Playingback of some double bass notes, the bowing on my CDP is more edgy and dimentional, as the DAC gave a rounder note. Both are really nice ways to present double bass and my memory of a real double bass is somewhere in between. I guess it had to be more of a preference type of thing.

Maybe relating to a something people here is more familiar with would help; I'd say this combo. has a slightly darker version of the McIntosh signature sound.

This Link to some amazing RMAA stats.
I believe that they came up with these stats using RMAA 4.3 and DAL CardDeluxe.

 

[Wodgy]

Thanks for the information. I've been looking at building something with the PCM2702 for a while, but ever since I built an external S/PDIF DAC that project got put on hold.

The PCM2702 is interesting because no commercial manufacturers of USB DACs use it (except for one company in the UK that doesn't use it properly). It is quite popular for use in USB PC speakers, however. I've always wondered how it sounds.

Question: I'm not sure how much of your review reflects the sound of the PCM2702 DAC and how much of it reflects the sound of the headphone amp. Does your unit support a line out? Can you try listening to it through a different headphone amp or maybe directly through the line out with easy-to-drive cans? This would be really useful, since it would tell us more about how the 2702 sounds.

 

[J.Y.]

This unit has a line level output, as well as a line level input.

I might DIY a Grado RA-1 clone, as it should be cheap and easy to get parts. I am not so sure about connecting headphones right to the line-out as I had reports of people ruining the analogue output stage connecting large reactive loads to the unamped output.(headphones are large reactive loads)

Anyways, I am happy with what I have right now, and I am still waiting for AKG to release K601 or even better, K701.