[zoboomofo]

Hello. I have a chance to upgrade my cd player ( an old Sony carousel ) with a CAL Sigma II dac (no 96 kHz upgrade). Could you guys please give me some good reasons not to buy this for 250 USD? I've heard lots of hype about the - also tubed - Art DI/O. It's an appealing alternative but I'm putoff about the power supply. Will it make that much difference with my low end cdp anyway? How does the CAL compare with the Art - I can't seem to audition any DI/Os nearby and I don't want to order online.

Pining for an upgrade,

Zoboo.

 

[morphsci]

Well I can't help you a whole lot except to say that only the ADC side of the ART DI/O is tubed. The DAC side is not. In fact, an oft recommended tweak when using it as a DAC only is to remove the tube. FYI.

 

[zoboomofo]

Whoa! Talk about fast service. Thanks for the correction, morphsci.

 

[chych]

Go for the ART, I'd bet it would outperform the Cal unit. You can upgrade the PSU for $30, a radioshack 3400 mA PSU...

 

[Nikolai Dot Org]

Don't sweat the power supply thing... a quality replacement is only $27 from Radio Shack.

The main issue with the DI/O is using a SP-DIF cable that is of high enough quality. Cheapies will lose the digital lock.

Wayne at boldercables.com has good SP-DIF cables. A one meter cable should be about $65.

Even with these two "tweaks", you'll still be under $250.

 

[Tim D]

Also make sure the system is in-phase with the correct polarity (i.e. the logical way to plug in power supply). The Art D/IO is not a voodoo machine that you really need to perform all this magic on to make it sound good. I think it gets hyped up like this too often. There are really SIMPLE and affordable things to make it sound BETTER...it should sound good (at least to me) with minimal tweakage. You also just need to get used to some unit quirks as to its locking modes and how to optimally switch them. I can't wait to get the better PS later (my default was 1300ma). If you want to find the unit to audition you may have to look at pro-audio stores(call up some pro-audio stores first).

The 75 ohm co-axial cable I'm using is ok, but I do see that some sync modes are less than ideal. Until I know for sure that it isn't an issue with my Denon (or ART for that matter) however I don't feel the extreme need to get a much better cable yet. Ext Sync is working just spiffy however which is manufacturer recommended, as well as what I preferred initially from subjective listening. I would however love to see how far I can go to optimize 88khz sampling mode and how this mode varies from transport to transport, much less cable to cable (I do know that others have reported slight high-pitch tone in the background, and I doubted they had the exact same transport or digi-cable as me so I still favor ext sync right now like I did originally). I definitely don't think I remembered the same sonic signature with sampling modes from my soundcard digi-out (but its 48khz output).

I also had trouble gleaning sonic character of the D/IO from reviews. There are a lot of reviews or recomendations saying it sounds good, etc, but was hard to get a bead on its sonic character otherwise. After hearing it, my gut reaction to its sonic character that strike me foremost.

Dynamic
Detailed
Transparent

It is not lush sounding nor warm. However it is not overly bright to me, and I can handle louder and longer Beyer DT931 sessions even though its sonic characters may make it seem otherwise!

After re-reading some AA forum posts, it is interesting to see who had similar reactions to me.

 

[zoboomofo]

Thanks for the replies guys. I would like to have replied earlier but for a bitch called dial-up down time

. You guys really like the Di/O eh? It sounds like a giant-killing bargain to me based on the reviews here and on AA. I'm going out to look for it today in the local audio shops. If it isn't there, I'll try the musician's shops. If it isn't there either, I'll have to take the plunge on the Sigma II instead. Its an offer that won't last long, and I don't want to miss out. The guys there are real good to me as well so I sort of want to deal with them anyway ( ie. good service and support ). I really need this fix bad.

I hope to find a DI/O though, now that I know the upgrades and tweaks won't have to cost me hundreds. You guys are probably going to save me a big hit on my wallet if I can get my hands on it too. Thanks again.

FYI, I'd like a new dac because the sound out of the Sony is too congested, too sibilant, and too thin (but at least light on grain). I'd expect the Sigma to open up that 3rd dimension in sound, and thicken the notes with the tubes. That's what makes it so appealing to me. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a reputation for sparkling highs. On the other hand, you guys seem to like the DI/Os detail and timbral accuracy, no? These qualities in the DI/O are hard to come by for me at low prices, so that'll be my motivation for the Art search. I'm sure Tim's comments will help too! Oh yeah, toslink and spdif are the same right? I hope so because I only have a toslink out on the cdp. My only fear about the Art dac is that my Creek headphone amp might take some of its sweetness away. Whatever, I'll try both dacs out if I can and tell you guys what I got.

Still a dac-head,

jamf.

 

[chych]

Eek, only toslink? Unfortunately you will have to forget the di/o as it only has S/PDIF inputs (coax), unless you get a switch box...

 

[Tim D]

BTW even though fullcompass has it on backorder...don't be hesistant to order it from them anyways since I got mine weeks before their estimated time arrival. YMMV. They do have restocking fees, but at their price, reselling it would not be difficult.

 

[zoboomofo]

Not to fear chych. I'll be getting a switch box. Its a Fostex unit that costs ~70USD. Too bad there's no jitter reduction stage . Well as you can guess, you can chalk another one up for team Art DI/O. The Sigma dac was snatched up by some keen shopper anyway. I was surprised how readily available these Art dacs were today. They sell them 10 minutes away from where I live, not bad. So there you go Tim. I won't have to confront my fear of ordering online. I'll just pick this baby up next week when the switch box comes in. Your advice was much appreciated guys. I'm very excited about this upgrade. I'll try to hold off on the Radioshack ps until I get sufficient funds, but that's not likely

. BTW Nikolai, I'll have to risk the no signal lock thing by buying cheap spdif cables. ICs really go for a pittance at these music shops (Long & McQuade).

 

[zoboomofo]

Well, I just picked up my DI/O today, and I'm generally pleased. I was in a rush to get home today, as Christmas came early for me heh heh. So I dig through all this packaging and practically rip the boxes, and cables out, when I realize that my dac did not come with a power supply. After running back to the store with my apparent display unit, I received the ps but not the missing manual

.

What a tease that ordeal was for me. So finally, I get the stuff hooked up, and the first thing I notice is a softer sound. The treble isn't so pronounced, but it isn't piercing anymore either. There seems to be a lack of dynamics, but later I find that it has to do with my having to turn the volume down to compensate for the massive juice output from the DI/O. The bass is stronger, and the digititus is better. Ehhhh, its ok, but worth the ~300USD I spent on the dac, switch box, cables, adapters, and tax

? After impulsively removing the tube, and going through many cds, I realize from an A/B of the dac to the hp out on the cd player that the dynamics of the DI/O is really quite astounding, but I have to crank it to a painful volume. <- nice run-on sentence eh?

This is unfortunate, and doubly so because, now I have the urge to get more stuff to appreciate these dynamics. What should I do? Get a high impedance hp eg. Sennheiser HD580, or would an attenuator suit my need? Geez, I just went out and bought a toy, and already I want something else to play with. I guess I'm back where I started.

Mr. Impulsive.

P.S. You are all bastards!

 

[zoboomofo]

btw, I was informed that Schlong & McQuade OWNS Art! Wierd and wild stuff. So how come they can't beat fullcompass's price?


Oh, and uh this is my first tubed component. Very pretty. Too bad I can't hear its effect.

 

[Hirsch]

The sound of the DI/O changes over time. Figure at least 100 hours before the sound is stable (some people over at audioasylum.com report longer break-in periods). The unit smooths out a bit over time. The upgraded power supply helps the DI/O a lot. It's a Stancor 9vac 3400 ma power supply. $28 at radioshack.com, $18 at alliedelec.com. Other cheap tweaks that work: put a 75 ohm resistor across the digital output, if you're not doing A to D. Easiest way is Radio Shack. Get an RCA to F adaptor and a 75 ohm coax terminator (fits an F connector). Put the coax terminator on the adaptor, and you've got a shorting plug you can use for the digital input. Also can be useful to run a ground wire from the screw underneath the DI/O to a ground (center screw on an electric socket).

If the hot output of the DI/O bothers you, you will need an attenuator. There's one built into the DI/O cables from boldercables.com. There's also one at Headroom (12 db attenuator from Harrison Labs...seems to be OK). I've had mixed luck with attenuators, and prefer to do without if I can, as the worst ones can make the sound unlistenable (MCM Electronics holds that dubious honor).

Then, once you've got all that done, there's always the internal mods...

I may try some of those on one of my DI/Os if I get some spare time over the holidays. One of the people at audioasylum has put together a FAQ on DI/O mods (the link is posted in the DIY forum). There's also a diomod mailing list on yahoogroups. Have fun!

 

[zoboomofo]

Yeah, now that I have this dac, the fun is just beginning. I'll probably first get better power supplies - for the dac and headphone amp. The internal mods will be left until later, when I stop burning and lifting the traces on my perfboards

. Yes, I'm still trying out circuits for my diy amps and practicing. When I'm confident enough with my skills on an iron, I'll venture deeper into the DI/O.

 

[zoboomofo]

A new development in my dac burn-in. I now prefer listening to music through my cmoy to the Creek obh-11. As I've said before, the cmoy is more detailed, and gives clearer decay than the Creek, but sounds less meaty. The DI/O gives the music more "meat" than my cdp dac, so the Creek loses its advantage over the cmoy.

Impressions of the sampling rates:

44.1 kHz = forward treble; similar to my standard dac

48 = muted high freqency, less brittle sounding mids and highs
-static in left channel only

88 = forward mids: sounds like high and low pass filters were added
-still sounds brittle compared to 44.1 setting
-sounds a little compressed depthwise

96 = sweetest tonality of all the settings; best detail
-sounds a little compressed depthwise
-static in left channel only (sigh- damn that left channel!)

ext. sync- smoother highs than 44.1
-pronounced highs and lows
-less brittle sounding than 44.1

better bass, detail in all settings than in standard dac
tonality of DI/O is a mixed bag. I miss the forwardness of the cdp dac, and the bass is sloppy (but is revealed at least), but DI/O is smoother.