[xand1x]

Greetings head-fiers,

I rencently purchased a Veda Audio Dynahi-SA and i'm looking for a source to pair it with (warmer). I've been given some great advice by a few members (you know who you are, ty) and i'm just wondering what everyone else thinks in terms of a high quality source to pair this amp with. Any recommendations are welcome, all advice appreciated.

Thanks,

xand1x

 

[grawk]

The apogee minidac is a great warm source

 

[xand1x]

Good to hear, I've actually been wondering. Where can you purchase them? I've seen them at the apogeedigital's site but not in the store.

 

[grawk]

http://www.sonicsense.com
http://www.sweetwater.com

 

[xand1x]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grawk http://www.sonicsense.com http://www.sweetwater.com

TY

 

[Don Quichotte]

I bought it from Sweetwater and it was a pleasure dealing with them. Ask for a small discount, I got $50 off.

The Mini-Dac has a somewhat proeminent (but pretty smooth) treble, mind you. I wouldn't call it really warm, but it's deffinitely not on the cold / analitical side. The minijack and the XLR outputs sound different - see my recent thread in "Dedicated Source Components" forum.
If you go for it, choose the USB version, the extra flexibility is worth the money IMHO.

 

[Jon L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xand1x Greetings head-fiers, I rencently purchased a Veda Audio Dynahi-SA and i'm looking for a source to pair it with (warmer). I've been given some great advice by a few members (you know who you are, ty) and i'm just wondering what everyone else thinks in terms of a high quality source to pair this amp with. Any recommendations are welcome, all advice appreciated. Thanks, xand1x

If you're going to spend good amount of money on a good DAC, I would concentrate on finding a DAC that's neutral and transparent and just good, period. A "warm DAC" may not be what you really want in the long run, especially if you change gears later. Dynahi is sufficiently within the narrow ballpark of neutrality so that a DAC also within that ballpark of neutrality should pair fine with it. You can tailor the final combo sound to your tastes with "condiments," such as interconnects, power cables, footers, headphone cable replacements.

 

[xand1x]

Thanks for the advice jon

Im pretty sure i'm going to pull towards a benchmark when the money rolls around. I really do wish I could audition these though!

 

[grawk]

The big advantage to the benchmark is that there seems to be a steady flow of them in the used market...it's nigh on impossible to find a used minidac...

 

[grandenigma1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grawk The big advantage to the benchmark is that there seems to be a steady flow of them in the used market...it's nigh on impossible to find a used minidac...

The only reason I might advise against the dac1 would be that it might make for an overly bright and cold sounding rig mated with a dynahi... but if thats for you

 

[Solude]

The DAC1 and Dynahi would be a match made in hell. The Gilmore amps are already quite neutral with the Hi sliding a little towards treble energy and the Lo towards bottom end.

The DAC1 is also dry, treble hot DAC that unless you had very dark headphones this combo would be utterly unlistenable. The Dynahi needs a warm source to sound natural otherwise it can come off shouty and overly bright. This isn't really a problem since most sources in the Hi ballpark are warm to begin with, bright is usually a mid-fi problem with a handful of audiophile sources filling that bright market.

Even the MF A324/BC DAC2 aren't warm enough for the Hi coming off as midrange shouty on the Senn 650. The Tri-Vista's more solid bottom end is much better match with the Hi.

Listing amps warm to cold it would go something like this:

Meier > RudiStor > HeadAmp Lo > SFT Hi

The DAC1 might be heaven on a Corda but hell on the Hi.

 

[xand1x]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solude The DAC1 and Dynahi would be a match made in hell. The Gilmore amps are already quite neutral with the Hi sliding a little towards treble energy and the Lo towards bottom end. The DAC1 is also dry, treble hot DAC that unless you had very dark headphones this combo would be utterly unlistenable. The Dynahi needs a warm source to sound natural otherwise it can come off shouty and overly bright. This isn't really a problem since most sources in the Hi ballpark are warm to begin with, bright is usually a mid-fi problem with a handful of audiophile sources filling that bright market. Even the MF A324/BC DAC2 aren't warm enough for the Hi coming off as midrange shouty on the Senn 650. The Tri-Vista's more solid bottom end is much better match with the Hi. Listing amps warm to cold it would go something like this: Meier > RudiStor > HeadAmp Lo > SFT Hi The DAC1 might be heaven on a Corda but hell on the Hi.

You may very well be right. I Just received an MDR-SA5000 (on loan) from jjcha, and I'm going to do some extensive listening today and tomorrow. I am already aware of the dynahi's sound signature as well as the lo, etc. I'm looking for a DAC that is transparant, fast, and detailed (which I heard the DAC1 is). Nevertheless, if I can find a warmer DAC that does all of these things equally as well I'll be set. I'll take a look at the trivista; do you have any other recommendations?

 

[Jeff Wong]

Something to bear in mind is there are mods available for the Benchmark, providing you with an upgrade path:

http://www.empiricalaudio.com/frmods...C-1%20Turbomod

I'm not aware of anyone doing aftermarket mods to the Apogee unit, but that doesn't mean there aren't any.

 

[shplorgh]

I'm really happy with my VDA-1 and VAC-1, which is regarded as a slightly warm dac. But I've never really compared it to another dac so...

 

[xand1x]

Thanks Jeff, great site..I might have to get intouch with these guysthe benchmark dac1 and Perpetual Technologies P-3A, and P-1A Turbomod's are tempting