Dayzee - Flagship DAC from Geshelli Labs

[Promee]

Building on the tremendous success of the J2 and J2S DACs, Geshelli Labs have turned things up to 11 with their new flagship Dayzee DAC. Mine just arrived today, and I wanted to share some early impressions…

Before diving into the sound, I want to first mention how lovely Sherri and Geno are to work with. They are both extremely accommodating and communicative and wanted to make sure that I got the exact customizations I was going for. They answered all of my fairly extensive questions before I even put down a deposit. Truly delightful working with a small, dedicated company like this!

So, most of these will have an aluminum faceplate I believe, but I was not one of the cool kids who had a J2, and I really love the plexi + wood + electronics aesthetic. I mentioned this to Sherri on our introductory phone call, and this was the result:

This one has clear plexi and Zebra wood with no dovetails or custom carving. Also pictured are the Sparkos SS2590 Pro Op Amps. I actually got to try it with the stock op amps as well. Because of a small miscommunication, I ended up having to actually solder in the op amps, but this will not be the case if they are ordered pre-installed from Geshelli. I just mention that in case anyone notices that they are slightly crooked - that little bit of charm is on me, not Geshelli . What can I say? I was excited to hear it!!

Also, for people who landed on this thread trying to decide whether to get the Sparkos upgrade: do it, it’s just that simple. This is a premium DAC, and you will not regret taking it as far as it can go in terms of sound quality. It sounded very good without the Sparkos, but the sound stage and imaging went through the roof with them installed. Detail went up slightly (though I did not do a ton of critical listening prior to installing them to be able to quantify the detail change). I did not perceive any change to frequency response with them, which is good, as even with the stock op amps it is very balanced, with the barely noticeable pinch of extra bass that is characteristic of the AK4499EX.

Specs from Geshelli’s website:

• Dual Mono AK4499EX (with Dual AK4191)
• 8 Mono Socketed Mono Opamps (OPA1655 on Stock Version)
• Optional 8 Mono Sparkos 2590’s (Separate Sockets on Board)
• 2 TOSLINK Inputs (192khz/24bit)
• 2 Coax Inputs (192khz/24bit)
• Geshelli Amanero USB Module (384khz/32bit – DSD512 Native)
• 2 Sets of Balanced (XLR) Outputs
• 4 Sets of Unbalanced (RCA) Outputs
• Toslink Output
• Coax Output
• Selectable Inputs on Front of Case
• Custom Wood Case with Aluminum Front and Rear Plates

I’m not ready to do a full review yet, but I will say after a few hours of listening, I’m pretty certain that this is the best chip-based DAC I have heard. It has all of the toe-tapping goodness that the AK4499EX is rapidly becoming known for, but elevated to a professional level of technicality (at least relative to my own experience with the Topping E70 Velvet). It is very resolving, but unlike some very detailed DACs, it does not come across like it has something to prove - the detail is there if you want to listen for it, but if you want to chill with CCR’s cover of Cotton Fields and wax poetic about audio on some forum, it just goes right on grooving. I have really been looking, and I cannot find a shred of harshness. I intend to provide more detailed impressions and compare with the Denafrips Ares 12th and Iris 12th stack that is my current go-to. I also plan to test the Dayzee’s USB input versus the Iris DDC through the AES input.

And yes, I did simultaneously run the WA22, WA2, and V222 and it was glorious.

Congratulations to Geshelli Labs on the release of the flagship Dayzee, it is a thing of visual and sonic beauty!

 

[Promee]

Reserved for detailed impressions / review

 

[uncola]

Thanks for creating the thread!
Regarding the opamps, I ordered mine with opa1655 because I already have lots of ss2590 opamps.. I asked Sheri if it’s user upgradable and she said I should use 6 pin pro to dip8 mono adapters from sparkos. So I got those. Can you elaborate on why you had to solder yours? I got mine in a full walnut case, red button led and red window on top, no other changes.. I can’t wait to get it!

Edit: can you tell me the dimensions of the box? And what amperage and voltage the power supply is? lol and a pic of the rear and feet? Thanks
I must say the zebra wood looks great! Not sure about the clear front but it’s very unique! I notice yours doesn’t have a screen on the front.. is that because you got the clear front? Ooh and it has aes

 

[Promee]

Thanks for creating the thread!
Regarding the opamps, I ordered mine with opa1655 because I already have lots of ss2590 opamps.. I asked Sheri if it’s user upgradable and she said I should use 6 pin pro to dip8 mono adapters from sparkos. So I got those. Can you elaborate on why you had to solder yours? I got mine in a full walnut case, red button led and red window on top, no other changes.. I can’t wait to get it!

Edit: can you tell me the dimensions of the box? And what amperage and voltage the power supply is? lol and a pic of the rear and feet? Thanks
I must say the zebra wood looks great! Not sure about the clear front but it’s very unique! I notice yours doesn’t have a screen on the front.. is that because you got the clear front? Ooh and it has aes

You’re going to love it! And thanks, I think the zebra turned out amazing as well.

I got the same advice on the adapters, but unfortunately the adapter adds about 5 mm of length, and as you can see they’re right on top of each other. I’m really glad I tried them in after soldering only 2 of the op amps onto the adapters.

You can see that with the adapter it doesn’t fit into the outlines for the pro op amp, so they can’t pack in tightly enough. It might be possible to use DIP8 risers to stagger them vertically, but I figured if I’m going to have to solder them to the adapters anyway, I might as well just pull the board out and solder them directly on the board and put as little as possible in the signal path. It was very straightforward to take apart…

I don’t think the Dayzee comes with a screen at all. You may be thinking of the Zoofa amp.

Dimensions are 16.5 x 11 x 5.5 inches - the 5.5 inches is including the height of the feet.

The feet are pretty recessed underneath, but here are a couple of pics:

And the rear:

The power adapter is a fairly basic-looking CUI Inc branded switching mode wall wart - 12V 2.1A. I had a linear power supply made for it by Pine Tree Audio. When I asked Geno about the power, he said it would need 12V, 1A. He also said that the linear power supply would be unnecessary and shouldn’t affect performance, but I didn’t want a SMPS hooked up right by my amp, so I went for it anyway. Geno recommended Pine Tree Audio, and they have been fantastic to deal with - worked directly with Geno to confirm specs and DC barrel size. They talked behind the scenes and I ended up with a 12V 2A custom linear power supply at a reasonable price and made in the USA. I ordered it a couple of months ago when I ordered the Dayzee, and in the meantime also picked up a combined AC / DC power filter from them, and I’m very pleased with the quality and communication.

I don’t know what the dimensions of the actual cardboard box it came in were, but I already broke it down. They don’t have the packaging materials back from the printer yet, so PDFs of all of that should follow, but Sherri was kind enough to just go ahead and ship the device itself as soon as it was ready so I could start enjoying!

 

[uncola]

Oh man, so I already had the sparkos opamps.. I thought they'd include a socket for easy plug n' play. I emailed them and asked if I could mail in my opamps and pay a labor fee LOL yes I already have a 12V 2A linear power supply with 2.1/2.5mm inner hot barrel I plan to use. and some footers I'm going to put under the dac Doesn't surprise me Geno said it won't make a difference, he seems like an objective audiophile designer. Leo at orchard says the same thing for his pecanpi. I guess they believe the built in power supply has enough regulation

 

[Promee]

Quick update:

Tried the AES connection today from my Iris DDC. It may have made things sound slightly more detailed than USB, but it was not overwhelming. I quickly realized, however, that it is going to be a non-starter for me because it does not support DSD. I have accumulated quite a few albums on MoFi SACD and Analog Productions SACD and ripped onto my Roon server, including several of my favorites. So, I doubt I will be using the AES connection unless it somehow gets updated with DSD support. Still, the USB connection sounds amazing and I listened to my MoFi DSD files of Clapton Unplugged and Pronounced Lynyrd Skynyrd today and they were glorious

 

[newtophones07]

I have purchased two Geshelli products over the years. I tried to order one of these dacs as a high end gift to myself a few months ago. I sent in a few emails, asked a few questions, and the engineer was cool enough to respond. Once I asked about the price and when they were shipping as I was ready to order, they ghosted me. I thought they were not ever going into production.

Darn. Welp the unit looks great, I hope you enjoy it.

Some of AK dacs has a slight roll off above 18khz, do you feel like the treble is diminished relative to your previous equipment?

I wish they would offer a higher end case other than that wood surround and plexiglass for that pricing. All that really matters is the sound though.

Are the balanced outputs 4V or 5V?

 

[Promee]

I had a few issues with emails going to spam initially in my conversations with them, which was really odd and almost never happens, so it could be worth checking on that if you do reach back out to them.

The default will be aluminum for the front and back, and I believe you can get the case in aluminum or wood depending on your preference - the different wood varieties have different prices and the carving options also affect the price. I actually specially requested the plexi because I really dig the look of it, and they discounted the price a bit as a resulted (not something I expected or asked for, they just did it).

I don’t feel that the treble is rolled off, actually, if anything there seems to be slightly more with this than with my Ares / Iris combo. I do know the AK4499 tends to have a tiny bass boost, which could cause a perceived treble roll off, but I don’t hear that here. Also, the filter used, like a slow roll off filter, could potentially cause a treble cut over 18k. In the Dayzee, the filter is pre-selected and not user adjustable, so I’m not sure what it is. When someone gets around to testing it, we should find out based on a combination of frequency response measurements and characteristics of a single impulse, but for now I don’t know what it uses. I am happy to report that the treble is present and accounted for, but I do tend to have a preference for gear that is neutral to very slightly warm, so you might price that into my analysis. I tend to be sensitive to sibilance and 2.5 kHz, neither of which is an issue here.

I’m not sure about the voltage of the XLR outputs. The documentation for the device isn’t finalized. I wonder if that is something I could measure with a multimeter though. I don’t have equipment to sample the output into a computer to analyze. I would bet Geno would be be able to tell you pretty easily about the voltage as well… if you think it’s measurable with a multimeter, I could give it a shot, but it also seems like it could be a pretty easy way to short something out with a slip, and I don’t know how serious that might or might not be…

 

[newtophones07]

I appreciate the follow up. I am excited for you that's for sure. I am glad they are finally shipping. Sucks for me, but hey that's how being a customer goes sometimes.

No need to test the voltage on my behalf and risk shorting something. I was just curious what the final output specs were in in the manual, as I have purifi amps that like 5V.

That's interesting that there is only one predefined filter, I wonder why they decided on that?

That top window design looks awesome. Enjoy

 

[Promee]

I appreciate the follow up. I am excited for you that's for sure. I am glad they are finally shipping. Sucks for me, but hey that's how being a customer goes sometimes.

No need to test the voltage on my behalf and risk shorting something. I was just curious what the final output specs were in in the manual, as I have purifi amps that like 5V.

That's interesting that there is only one predefined filter, I wonder why they decided on that?

That top window design looks awesome. Enjoy

I think I remember someone, maybe Jason Stoddard from Schitt, saying that they don’t put filter selections on their DACs either because they tune and optimize around one instead of giving access to the menu of predefined filters. I think it makes sense if you’re going to edit them / tweak parameters. I can’t really tell just by listening which they might be using here, but I doubt it is slow roll-off because the treble is in full effect. It would be more difficult to tell by ear for me if it is linear or minimum phase. Just for fun, I’m going to venture the guess that it is linear, because I don’t think I hear any smearing of transients, but I could be 100% wrong on that…

And thanks! I love the window too!! I like seeing the things inside that make the pretty noises

 

[JerseyD]

Oh man, so I already had the sparkos opamps.. I thought they'd include a socket for easy plug n' play. I emailed them and asked if I could mail in my opamps and pay a labor fee LOL yes I already have a 12V 2A linear power supply with 2.1/2.5mm inner hot barrel I plan to use. and some footers I'm going to put under the dac Doesn't surprise me Geno said it won't make a difference, he seems like an objective audiophile designer. Leo at orchard says the same thing for his pecanpi. I guess they believe the built in power supply has enough regulation

Uncola, take note that @Promee's description specifies 8 Mono Socketed Mono Opamps. Is that what you already have? I mistakenly bought Mono Sparkos for my J2S before I realized that it needed Dual op-amps (not mono). The Dayzee is the opposite.

 

[Promee]

Oh man, so I already had the sparkos opamps.. I thought they'd include a socket for easy plug n' play. I emailed them and asked if I could mail in my opamps and pay a labor fee LOL yes I already have a 12V 2A linear power supply with 2.1/2.5mm inner hot barrel I plan to use. and some footers I'm going to put under the dac Doesn't surprise me Geno said it won't make a difference, he seems like an objective audiophile designer. Leo at orchard says the same thing for his pecanpi. I guess they believe the built in power supply has enough regulation

Really good point from @JerseyD. Also, Sparkos makes 2 kinds of op amps - pro SS2590 with 6 pin package (those are the ones I put in), and regular SS3601 / SS3602 - with the 3601 being mono and the 3602 being stereo. Geno says that they are going to start putting plug in sockets for the pro op amps in all of the Dayzees so it is easy to just replace with no soldering or adapters needed, it sounds like they will have sockets for both the pro and regular straight from the factory. Even if you get the Dayzee I have before they start putting in the sockets, if you have the regular SS3601 in the 8 pin DIP8 package, you can just do a drop in replacement. If you have 3602, I may be wrong about this, but I don’t think they will work as @JerseyD was saying. Geno can tell you for sure if you have questions!

 

[uncola]

I think my unit is pre the sockets so they said I could mail my opamps in for them to use during the build process. They were super nice! Also maybe direct solder sounds better than the sockets

 

[Promee]

I think my unit is pre the sockets so they said I could mail my opamps in for them to use during the build process. They were super nice! Also maybe direct solder sounds better than the sockets

lol, I said the same thing

 

[matthia]

Geshelli mention on their HP:

Initially the Zoofa and Dayzee will be released in US/Canada only. Freight Forwarding orders will not be accepted. Thank You!

Does someone know if this changes in the future, so we can order the Dayzee in Europe?
Thx