[MrJoshua]

Thanks! I'll try to get hold of an LME49710

 

[MrJoshua]

Just ordered some samples, so hopefully my order will be accepted.

 

[redwires]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrJoshua /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks! I'll try to get hold of an LME49710

I hope you meant a pair since it uses one for each output channel.

 

[MrJoshua]

I've requested 4, just in case

Thanks though!

 

[Maniac]

Here's a mod report from Japan, if anyone who reads Japanese, this may be interesting.

http://www.gjmda.com/

 

[infinitesymphony]

It's November... Review units shouldn't be far off.

 

[patgod]

Any more impressions on this DAC? I've been looking at this unit on ebay, but just haven't seen enough reviews yet. What other dacs could this be compared to? The fubar II is somewhat in the same price range. I'm wondering if this beats out that dac?

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by patgod /img/forum/go_quote.gif Any more impressions on this DAC? I've been looking at this unit on ebay, but just haven't seen enough reviews yet. What other dacs could this be compared to? The fubar II is somewhat in the same price range. I'm wondering if this beats out that dac?

Fubar and this DAC is designed for different purposes with different trade off. KECES aims purely at those who don't shift their gears around a lot, thus with the heavier enclosure, heavier power cable, and basically just massive when compared to Fubar. Where Fubar is more aimed at the market where the user may require the unit to sound nice as well as easy to move.

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by infinitesymphony /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's November... Review units shouldn't be far off.

Well... With December around, it is even closer...

 

[Maniac]

Well, after much waiting, the new version of USB DAC is now finally available. We finally have some cleaner photos now, please check below.

The front:


Back:


Inside view:


Same great attention to detail:



The purpose of the revision (well, we gotta give ourselves a good reason for doing something, don't we?) is to update the styling to on par with DA-131. We can safely say that of the people we asked, more than 70% prefer the newer styling to the older USB DAC.

Styling aside, we feel that it is about time to update some popular "mods" to our new DA-151.


*Independent oscillator, DAC no longer have to generate its own clock, thus reducing the internal noises. If anyone is willing to try, I suspect TentXO would make it sound even better, but I'm not sure if Tent is selling 12MHz XOs.

*Fully isolated oscillator power, preventing noise from being dumped into DAC's power supply. (not possible if you use DAC + crystal to generate its own clock)

*National's new LME49710 OP-Amp (Replacing OPA604AP), a stellar choice for performance. We have not seen anything in the price range, or 10 times the price to perform much better than what this puppy can do, nuff said.

*Some other minor modifications that are helping the DAC to perform better.


And the result we got is fully in line with what we had expected and plus a little more.

*Sound staging and the location of the instruments now sounded much better, bigger sound stage with more precise location of instruments can now be easily heard. (Believe it or not, this is actually the effect of jitter reduction.)

*More transparent, increased detail and clarity, we are not talking about just a little increase, this improves the performance a fair bit. This is partly from the new National OP-Amp and the improved clock.

*Then general feel is that it is now less laid back and even more neutral sounding.


I have not got the time of putting it on eBay yet, but if anyone's interested, the price is now $230 + $45 shipping (The unit is now much heavier, and double boxed packaging also increase the weight quite a bit.). The original USB DAC is still on eBay, but it will be removed in a couple days due to stock being quite low now (4 unit since I last checked).

For people who are interested in getting a pair of OPA604 when getting DA-151, an extra pair of OPA604 will only be $6 USD when purchased with DA-151.

As I had previously promised that there will be some forum discount, any DA-151/DA-131 ordered in December will now receive a $10 discount on shipping. (per unit, ordering more than one unit's shipping is a bit more complicated, please ask before ordering.)

 

[Maniac]

And oh, the review unit will be sent out this month.

 

[pdennis]

Maniac,

I'm interested in the Keces DACs. My source is a Macbook Pro, which means that I have the option of optical or USB out. I've seen comments from a number of quarters (including you yourself, I think) suggesting that optical isn't ideal, so I guess I'm wondering how you think the 131 (restricted to optical input only) stacks up to the new 151.

 

[Maniac]

Personally, I feel that when using a computer source, DA-151 would be a logical choice, no matter if you are using a Mac or PC. Since most computer requires troublesome setup and hardware for high quality digital output. In addition, almost any DAC will basically have a hand tied behind its back if you use optical input. It is not the optimal way of running digital signal to your DAC in terms of signal quality. Manufacturers loves them because they now don't have to worry about a 2~3MHz + other noise antenna sticking out their product (This is what coax output looks like when they send their product for testing).

The simple answer is as follows:


For computers users that listens to 16bit, 32/44.1/48KHz sounds (If you only listens to CD, watches DVD video, then you are...), then DA-151 would be the best choice in terms of sound quality.


For stereo racks/CD Transports users, or have computer with high quality digital output device (Say EMU1212M, RME HDSP9632, etc), DA-131 would be the way to go. If you just have to have 24bit/192KHz ability, I suppose DA-131 is the only viable option as well.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Is the DA-151 the revision for what was previously called the PCM2702? If so, I agree, the styling updates look good.

Such a clean board layout, too (aesthetically speaking)... That's always nice to see.

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by infinitesymphony /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is the DA-151 the revision for what was previously called the PCM2702? If so, I agree, the styling updates look good. Such a clean board layout, too (aesthetically speaking)... That's always nice to see.

Yeah, previously it really have no model name to speak of, thus the problem of not sure what to call it. I usually just call it USB DAC.