[size=10pt]Here a are few words on my experience with the Ciunas. To begin, it's replacing an MHDT Paradesia+, which itself replaced a Wyred4Sound DAC-1. I know there is a rather large price delta between the Paradesia+ and DAC-1, but to my ears, the Paradesia+ sounded far more like corporeal bodies behind actual instruments as opposed to musical notes played off of tin plates. That's not to say that the DAC-1 is bad, but audiophile-jargon aside, it's more of what you'd expect a machine to sound like.[/size]
[size=10.0pt]With that said, you can get an idea of the qualities I value in a piece of equipment. Out of the box, the Ciunas sounded pretty poor initially. The sound was recessed, the dynamics were awfully reserved, and the bass, while present – even a $20 Coby DAP can play bass – was nothing I cared very much to listen to. It did sound smooth overall, but it completely lacked the gusto of the Paradisea+, and is something I’d have regretted paying $200 for let alone the $760 USD it cost me (with shipping). After 48 hours of burn-in not very much changed. I tried JPlay (with Beach and River engines – couldn’t get Xtreme to function) and the music may have sounded different, but I couldn’t shake the thought that those $760 would’ve looked better back in my bank account than tied up in this little thing. I burned it in for another 48 hrs, so by this time there had been about 100+ hrs on it, and suffice it to say I wouldn’t swear in a court of law that it sounded that much better. Things did improve some – music sounded more present, the bass finally decided to show up to work, and I got the sense that there was a little fluttering pulse behind the dynamics. But, still nothing special – another me too product that’s not too bad, but that I didn’t care to own.[/size]
[size=10pt]Things changed dramatically once I got the Xtreme engine within JPlay to work. Things did NOT change dramatically after I hit some magical burn-in number. I strongly suspect that a combination of acclimating myself to the sound of the Ciunas in combination with the Xtreme engine produced a sound that I now consider excellent and am happy to have paid for.[/size]
[size=10pt]The Ciunas + JPlay produces a sound that is completely free of the grating white-haze that typically permeates every sound played from a digital source. Whether tubed or SS DACs, I’ve yet to hear one that has eliminated that metallic film, I would say to this degree, but really I mean completely. I cannot hear it at all. Additionally, I’ve realized over the years – and I’ve been involved in this hobby for about 10 yrs now – I tend to really enjoy the vocals in music with the accompanying instruments playing just a supportive role. Said differently, all my audiophile efforts went into making voices sound better because I’ve completely, not consciously mind you, moved on from trying to get instruments to bring me the same level of enjoyment that voices do. Frankly, that’s kind of pathetic given the amount of time and effort invested. For the first time with the Ciunas + JPlay (Xtreme), instruments have body (and I don’t mean “warmth”) and presence (and I don’t mean “transparency”) that has allowed me to enjoy the sound of instruments as much as I do vocals. That may sound like a rather pedestrian endorsement of a product – aren’t all audiophile products supposed to produce those results? What can I tell you; for the gear I’ve owned, it hasn’t been the case. Regarding other audiophile attributes, I really don’t care. Soundstage, imagining, frequency extension, etc. I’d rather listen to my current setup in mono than trade the above qualities for more soundstage and imaging – not to minimize those things, but I’ll leave it up to others who value those qualities more to elaborate on how the Ciunas performs on those fronts.[/size]
[size=10pt]Anecdotally, my place of employment occasionally hires musicians to play in the lobby. The other day, a jazz ensemble consisting of xylophone, stand-up bass, and jazz-guitar were playing. I stood for a while enjoying the music and walked away thinking “my home system sounds better…”[/size]