Jolida302
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2008
- Posts
- 449
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- 10
It's very cold sounding.
I believe, sometimes, it's a plot to get you to keep a product beyond its return period, so you're stuck with it. That's not always the case, but at times it is. I've seen some really shady business in the top-end of hi-fi, so I make sure to dot my "I"s and cross my "T"s because there are some real sharks out there. I've fostered a very good relationship with AmEx and they watch my back, if a place won't accept them I move on to another dealer.
I just remember arguing with some old guy, I won't say the name of the dealer because that would be mean. *cough*Sound Specialists*cough* And he told me to hold on to an amp for a while longer, because it hadn't "burned in yet" and not to worry about the 30 day return policy, that it was okay. We had a "gentlemen's agreement". Well, I called on day 32 to get an RMA, no joke, and he said, "sorry, it's too late". Really? "Yes, it's too late, I never said anything of the sort." Really? So I called my lady at AmEx and explained my dilemma and she asked, "Is it damaged or defective?" I replied, "No, it just sounds like rubbish." She laughed. "Hold on to your hat, this is going to get interesting." She then reversed the charges and called the guy. He then called me within 5 minutes, he was cross. I told him, "You broke our gentlemen's agreement, and I stopped being a gentleman. You want to give me an RMA number now or should I just stick it out on the curb?" He did and I sent it back. I'm a cuddly teddy bear, until someone tries to take my honey.
Fair call on being sceptical towards burn-in then. I'll take bets on that salesman not being the owner and also being on commission.
well played my friend! I see where you're coming from.
It's very cold sounding.
From the high end sources I have auditioned, the biggest difference with cheaper ones is in the soundstage and details. The top ones can really pinpoint the exact position of instruments, and center imaging. In headphone and smaller speaker systems, many cheaper DACs can do the job reasonably well, but in larger speakers the most minute differences would become quite significant, and the source which sounded wuite good for headphones became apparent that they have a plain 2D aoundstage, with a difference in width but not depth, or otherwise lack in the imaging department. Those are relatively objective qualities which IMO distinguish the better ones from the not so high end ones. Taking my Zodiac Gold and Weiss DAC202 as example, they are fine gear with my headphone systems, but once connected to my main speaker system and compared against my K-01, they immediately pale in terms of 3D soundstage and minute details, as well as top and bottom end dynamics.
When it comes to musicality and whether the sound is analog enough , it is a matter of personal taste - EMM Labs, dCS, MSB Platinum, Playback Designs, Esoteric or Soluution all sound a bit different and it comes down to how you like the sound is presented, but all with a very good soundstage as a base. And talking about turntables, let's not get into the debate of vinyl vs digital, as we all know the arguments of both aides reasonably well - just to point out that high end digital source is much more than sounding analog. There are some really steep turntables as well, taking the Clearaudio Statement as an example. It is perfectly okay to be content and satisfied with budget gear, but it is not fair to dismiss the better ones just because they command insane prices, without actually hearing them in a high end speaker system. If you believe your DAC can sound better than the internal sound chip on your laptop, there is no reason why there can't be a DAC out there sounding better than your current one.