[Spektrograf]

Yes I would certainly be interested in checking out the new DS mk2 when time allows. I imagine it's got to be at least pretty good considering it builds on the original platform and contains some further advancements. Then again I didn't necessarily love where they went with the PerfectWave 2 compared to the original so who knows.

Unfortunately that probably won't happen for a while - I dedicated so much time to the DAC search over the past couple years, that I really need to focus on other stuff for a bit. For example I feel like I wasn't really on top of a lot of the new headphone releases lately, and that's a result of the DAC focus. Not that they are mutually exclusive but there's only so much time in a day.

Understandable. Really appreciate your writing on the DAC side. There are few reviewers out there that have taken the time to do multi-product comprehensive comparisons. Your writing has been really useful—esp. when cross comparing to products where I have personal experience with.

(but not complaining if you get your hands on a DS mk2 in the future )

 

[Vincent_Amsterdam]

Exactly. I’m not sure what it is about Cen Grand, but between this thread and their Silver Fox amplifier, it seems impossible for anyone to stay on topic of the amplifier or DAC. It’s OK to compare said component with another similar component, but talking excessively only about another component that has nothing to do with the thread takes away from the thread itself.

There’s nothing wrong with talking about other equipment, but start thread for it then.

It was not completely off topic: it is claimed that through the ‘clock blocking’ mechanism the Deluxe should be more ‘source independent’. In my experience with different (high end) sources the source quality definitely matters. Anyways, a shoot out between several steamers surely is off topic

 

[Pharmaboy]

there's only so much time in a day

If you could somehow secure lodgings near (not in) a black hole, this would no longer be an issue.

 

[Lucus]

Has someone listen to the "basic" version of the Cen.Grand DSDAC ? The DeLuxe has (for me) some useless features (preamplification for ex.) and I have doubts that the "superclock" version makes any audible differences...(I have never heard a difference due to the addition of a master/"super" clock) !
Thanks for feedback if any

 

[project86]

Honestly I've only heard from folks using either the Deluxe or Superclock, but never the base model.

 

[K3cT]

We had a little micro meet yesterday and got the chance to compare DSDAC Deluxe against Rockna Wavelight and Chord TT2 using the matching Silver Fox amp. The condition is less than ideal but I have a general picture on how the Cen.Grand sounds like. It's very promising because it sounds noticeably more detailed than the Chord and Rockna but I can't help but notice that it has a tendency to smoothen transients, more apparent if you listen to faster paced music (one of the testers used metal / rock tracks and he mentioned attacks have more grunt / directness in both the Chord and Rockna). I wonder if there is a certain setting in the DAC that we need to adjust to help with this?

 

[alekc]

We had a little micro meet yesterday and got the chance to compare DSDAC Deluxe against Rockna Wavelight and Chord TT2 using the matching Silver Fox amp. The condition is less than ideal but I have a general picture on how the Cen.Grand sounds like. It's very promising because it sounds noticeably more detailed than the Chord and Rockna but I can't help but notice that it has a tendency to smoothen transients, more apparent if you listen to faster paced music (one of the testers used metal / rock tracks and he mentioned attacks have more grunt / directness in both the Chord and Rockna). I wonder if there is a certain setting in the DAC that we need to adjust to help with this?

@K3cT a very interesting post, especially for me since I do own both of other dacs. Tell us more including about the matching of those dacs with Silver Fox amp please.

 

[ken6217]

Form what I heard, the Cen Grand is a softer sounding DAC. My thinking after hearing that was that it may have a good option for Rock Music.

 

[Vincent_Amsterdam]

The Cen.grand is a relatively forgiving converter and therefore relaxter sounding than for example the Chord or Mola Mola machines. And yes: a tad slower in my experience. On the other hand, this makes the DSDAC better deployable for all genres of music and also it deals better with less ‘audiophile’ recordings. Just my two cents

 

[project86]

I would generally agree that the DSDAC isn't as "crisp" as something like a Chord. To me that makes it seem far more natural but I am sure some would disagree.

I also think this can be somewhat fine-tuned by your choice of digital filter and DSD upsampling. Additionally, using a very good transport will bring out more immediacy. Which, while not required to get pleasing results in general, could make a big difference if someone was "on the fence" about it being too smooth.

Personally I listen to a lot of fast/complex metal (bands like Obscura, Be'lakor, First Fragment, Chthonic, Meshuggah, Fleshgod Apocalypse) and the Deluxe does not feel too smooth to me.

 

[K3cT]

@K3cT a very interesting post, especially for me since I do own both of other dacs. Tell us more including about the matching of those dacs with Silver Fox amp please.

These are still very preliminary impressions but I’ll try to summarise:

DSDAC Deluxe: neutral-warm. Laidback presentation. Transient is a bit rounded. Incredibly resolving. Soundstage also seems to have en edge over the other 2 DACs in depth and width.

TT2: neutral. Driest sounding. Less laidback than both Rockna and Cen.Grand. Transient and attack are more direct than Cen.Grand. Most intimate soundstage among the 3 DACs.

WL: mostly neutral with tinge of warmth. Slight laidback presentation. Resolution is about the same as TT2 (so both are beaten by the Cen.Grand). Most organic sounding due to R2R nature esp. with human vocals. Transient and attack are the fastest and most direct in this group. Soundstage is slightly more diffuse than the Cen.Grand but noticeably wider and deeper than the TT2.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

These are still very preliminary impressions but I’ll try to summarise:

DSDAC Deluxe: neutral-warm. Laidback presentation. Transient is a bit rounded. Incredibly resolving. Soundstage also seems to have en edge over the other 2 DACs in depth and width.

TT2: neutral. Driest sounding. Less laidback than both Rockna and Cen.Grand. Transient and attack are more direct than Cen.Grand. Most intimate soundstage among the 3 DACs.

WL: mostly neutral with tinge of warmth. Slight laidback presentation. Resolution is about the same as TT2 (so both are beaten by the Cen.Grand). Most organic sounding due to R2R nature esp. with human vocals. Transient and attack are the fastest and most direct in this group. Soundstage is slightly more diffuse than the Cen.Grand but noticeably wider and deeper than the TT2.

Agree on all that except depth staging on TT2 is clearly better than Rockna.

Anyway, it was a fun micromeet, able to compare 3 great DACs at similar price range, and how results may vary from one person to each other.

DSDAC is indeed a "very easy" to enjoy DAC. Liquid smooth, full body and sweet Vocal, combine with solid bass response, and very spacious soundstage. Some of my favourite singers such Katie Melua, Chie Ayado and Rebecca Pidgeon truly sound the best than the other two DACs. It did surprised me how detail the Cen Grand is (espcially in micro detail and micro texture), consider it is also the smoothest and most forgiving sounding here.

Chord still do a little better job for the cleanest black background than Rockna and Cen.Grand, but also the driest sounding (while actually I never felt TT2 as a dry sounding DAC).

Rockna Wavelight provide more energy for bite and impact, but at the same time less precise than the other 2 DACs.

p.s: I'm truly at fence now to jump to Cen Grand bandwagon. For now my set up has been optmised to paired with TT2. All sound good, no problem about it, but Cen Grand just gave me "a highly interesting" different perspective about sound.

 

[hafzz123]

This is a very interesting DAC, there's no question that DSDAC Deluxe performance is up there with Hugo TT2 and Wavelight. It has a sound that is very easy to enjoy, incredibly smooth, sweet and huge spacious soundstage. I also think it resolve a bit better than Hugo TT2 and Wavelight

However i somehow feel it is a bit oversmooth and the transients are too rounded that sometimes it dulls the attack and edges which i like when i listen to rock/upbeat music. That oversmooth kind of sound is less noticeable than it's sister ( DSDAC 1.0 Superclock ) but it's still there

 

[hafzz123]

Yes I've tried all of the upsampling rate settings and mainly using DSD128 ( the lowest ) and it's still a bit too smooth for my taste

 

[ahossam]

Compared to TT2 + Mscaler, the DSDAC Deluxe is smoother, but I think it depends on your setup. I prefer DSDAC Deluxe for my setup, I use 1266 TC, and also 99% I listened to heavy metal genre.