I was lucky enough to find a "used" Amber DAC for sale 150 km near to my home. I'm not the guy who buy hifi without personal listening.
The "used" means it was almost one month old. It's a very new product even here in Europe.
I had listened it with my Stax HP (it has an own headamp), with my Mac Mini, and with my cables instead of the unknown system of the seller. With both PCM and DSD source files, as well as with the BBC 3 radio station online.
I was try it as a standalone DAC, and also with the Lampizator Silk AC filter. After a two hour of listening period, I had bought both of the two devices.
This is my first USB DAC, my other sources are analog devices. A Kuzma Stogi turntable with Van Den Hul Colibri pickup, and a Marantz 10B tuner.
I have checked more than a dozen of USB DACs in different price range from the few hundred up to the few thousend Euros. I have to say most of them has nothing to do with music. They have technical virtues like resolution, more bits, or simply just hype.
My Amber has a remote volume control, and DSD, but otherwise it's a base device. With possibly Soviet miltary tubes, paper in oil caps, electrolytes. I don't know, because the box is sealed with security labels. Technically this is my only serious problem. I can't do tube rolls without remowing the labels! All the tubes are inside the black box.
Anyhow, it's a big surprise for me, how can an "entry level" device - without any butique parts - sound so good. I'm not an engineer, but I think it must be the scheming only. The Soviet tubes are not Bendix or Tungsol. The Soviet military PIO caps are not Spragues. Not to speak of audiofil caps like Audio Note or Jensen copper/silver foil capacitors.
Sound impressions:
Please take into consideration, I'm listening classical music with acoustic instruments, and natural, not originally amplified human voice, unlike on an electric concert. And I use it with the Silk filter, which adds it's plus to the result. I think the DAC is not yet fully burned in, the sound still changes.
Not a tipical warm tube sound with coloration and rounded ends. It is rather natural, with open highs and lows. And this kind of neutrality can be also inspiring, not only the sweeet tube sound.
Good midrange, good timbre, excellent rithm.The bass is good with a chello or double bass, but not so good with a timpano. Unlike in the high and mid frequency range, the hidden changes in the bass frequency range results to a rather soft performance with slow decay. The soundstage is small.
For me these are minor problems compared to the high degree of musicality.
It is planned to try some upgrading possibilities offered on the Lampi site. I think there is more possibility in this excellently designed circuit. American NOS tubes, Duelunds, MKP-s may worth to try.
According to the test report, my DAC has two audio tubes, 81(180) and 82. The diode type is ax5. Does anybody know what the 81(180) exactly mean? I think the 82 means ECC82.
