[boatheelmusic]

Start reading at post number 582.

 

[yfei]

Quote:

  Will be part of the indistinguishable, there's no point

 
I now just wished there was more "colored" DACs with special output stages (like the EE minimax or Audio-GD offering).
 
Quote:

  We want Hilo! We want Hilo!...

 

 
'Will be' -> 'maybe' ?
 
Based on my comparison between Hilo and D2, and other reviews of Hilo vs DA8, D2 vs DA8,        For PCM I would predict Hilo to have more details than DA8, and more 'linear' than DA8.    For DSD, DA8 can support DSD x128 materials, while Hilo can only do x64,   so I can't predict which one will be the winner.

 

[Turn&cough]

  I tried back tracking a bit to find the comparisons but couldn't.  Could i get a link to the page please?
Also, i've been considering upgrading my peachtree audio DAC*IT but the guys over at avsforums.com in particular the prestigious ARNYK say that DAC's are the easiest device in audio gear to make perfect and basically if done right  they will sound the same.  He says this is possible at a very cheap price.  What are the findings here?

 
He's probably right to a certain extent. It's like asking if a $50 Timex will keep time as well as a 5K Rolex. The Rolex may be more precise over a period of months/years but does it really matter?
 
Get a $250 Bushmaster II and do some blind testing with a few 1K DACs. That should answer your question.

 

[Gary in MD]

   
He's probably right to a certain extent. It's like asking if a $50 Timex will keep time as well as a 5K Rolex. The Rolex may be more precise over a period of months/years but does it really matter?
 
Get a $250 Bushmaster II and do some blind testing with a few 1K DACs. That should answer your question.

 
I'm thinking about a Bushmaster... at that price the most I could lose is... $250. 

 

[Gary in MD]

  That's technically not true.  They're not getting fed any kind of file.  JRiver is doing the conversion on the fly and sending the data directly, not saving it to flac first.  It's possible, but I'm not claiming it's true, that converting to flac files and then playing them back would sound different.  I'm not sure how configurable jriver is with converting to PCM as far as bitrate goes.  I've only done it with foobar2000.

Whatever is happening technically, I hit the play button on a DSD file in JRiver and it plays on both a DSD DAC and a non-DSD DAC, and the DSD DAC sounds waaaayyy better.  JRiver asked me initially if I wanted it to translate these files or just not play them, and I told it to translate.  So it did.  Something was clearly lost in the translation though...

 

[Turn&cough]

   
I'm thinking about a Bushmaster... at that price the most I could lose is... $250. 

Actually the most you could lose is probably $50. If you don't like it you could probably flip it for $200.

 

[dirtrat]

   
'Will be' -> 'maybe' ?
 
Based on my comparison between Hilo and D2, and other reviews of Hilo vs DA8, D2 vs DA8,        For PCM I would predict Hilo to have more details than DA8, and more 'linear' than DA8.    For DSD, DA8 can support DSD x128 materials, while Hilo can only do x64,   so I can't predict which one will be the winner.

 
 
Actually under Windows the DA8 can support up to DSD X512

 

[cizx]

 
Whatever is happening technically, I hit the play button on a DSD file in JRiver and it plays on both a DSD DAC and a non-DSD DAC, and the DSD DAC sounds waaaayyy better.  JRiver asked me initially if I wanted it to translate these files or just not play them, and I told it to translate.  So it did.  Something was clearly lost in the translation though...

 
Yeah, it's all smoke and mirrors.
 
In any case, barring some major breakthrough with the PureDAC (if you get to try it), I'm getting a Yulong as soon as <site censored because we don't talk about group buys here> has it for $950 again.  They said they usually have it every month.
 
Then I'll have to pick an amp for the LCD-X.

 

[Gary in MD]

Another result, based on listening to about a dozen songs:  the Yulong with the slow filter sounds almost exactly like the Ciunas when they are level matched as well as I can get them, which is within about 0.1-0.2 dB.  With FLAC files, that is.  DSDs are again waaaayyyyy better on the Yulong.  There are times when I thought I heard slightly more energy in voices with the Ciunas playing FLAC, but when I replayed the section, there was nothing really there.  So for all intents and purposes if you like the sound of the slow filter of the Yulong but don't care about DSD or a headphone jack, or inputs other than USB, you can save a few hundred bucks by buying a Ciunas (group buys aside... Somebody PM me about getting in on that action).  It sounds great.  But so do all of the others. Just depends on what flavor you like in your DAC.
 
I'm going to do one more test before I stop, with the Emo, playing a few songs through the Odyssey, but mostly trying the HP amp.  If that thing works well, that little box will really be a bargain.  It already is if all you want is a DAC that sounds like most of the others in the class and it has decent pre-amp capabilities to boot, but if it can also drive cans well by itself it might even be worth the regular price.  Or not.  We'll see.

 

[Turn&cough]

I found the DA8's bass to be more textured and a bit more "slammy" but found the upper frequencies easier to live with on the Ciunas.
 
Besides the obvious (price, features) system synergy and whether you listen mostly to "perfect" recordings or "real" music should be taken into consideration if you're down to these two.

 

[Toe Tag]

I am looking forward to Gary's thoughtful writeup of his final analysis and conclusions. It seem the DACs tested are somewhat orthogonal to these http://www.head-fi.org/t/693798/ranking-of-17-dacs-and-dac-configurations and possibly we could say his results are somewhat opposed to their results. 
 
Again not to jump ahead, but it would be interesting to see a "Sub-$500 DAC Shootout" with the following plus a few of Gary's winners and from his sound-the-same group for comparison:
Beresford Bushmaster II
CEntrance DACport LX
ODAC
 
I'd also like to see the test done with CIEMs not headphones. Anyway maybe I should do it myself, such a test would be a lot cheaper to perform. 

 

[schneller]

^^I am actually at the opposite end of the spectrum.
 
I would like for him to take the top two winners of this comparison and compare them against some of the really expensive DACs:
 
NAIM DAC V-1
Bryston BDA-2
Auralic Vega
Ayre QB-9

 

[schneller]

Also interesting to note that the website, AudioStream.com, did not award either the Metrum or Emo DACs its "Greatest Bits" award...
 
http://www.audiostream.com/category/dac-reviews?page=1

 

[cizx]

  Also interesting to note that the website, AudioStream.com, did not award either the Metrum or Emo DACs its "Greatest Bits" award...
 
http://www.audiostream.com/category/dac-reviews?page=1

and yet they DID give it to the Teac UD-501.  crazy.

 

[DoctaCosmos]

what are these dsd files you guys are listening to?  is it a different file type for download on hdtracks.com or something?  what's the difference between them and the flac files i have?