Neko D100 : Initial impression

[upstateguy]

Got one on the 30 day trial.

Initial impression from laptop: nice sound stage, leans toward the bright side, forward vocals, bass light, coax and optical sound the same....

I spent a lot of time comparing my Stello DA100 to SiBurning's Benchmark DAC 1 at the last meet. Under meet conditions, we felt the difference was too close to call. Both had adequate bass. Maybe the Neko will improve over the weekend, or perhaps I will acclimate to it's mild sound.

Strangely, it doesn't seem to do anything for the 650s like the Benchmark and Stello did..... but we'll see.

OK with the '03 880s....

Impression tonight from the M^3 (637/627)/PS

Foobar > ASIO4All > USB > Thingee > Coax & optical

Music:

[EAC flac, EAC 320mp3, and 256mp3 from Amazon downloads]

Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight (flac)
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone (320)
M. Ward - Hold Time (256)
Massive Attack - Mezzanine (flac)
Françoise Hardy - Parenthèses (256)
Schoenberg - Streichersextett Verklaerte Nacht op4 (flac)


Will try it on my main computer and GS-1 over the week end. Also will compare it to my Pico DAC.

1. Blue Circle Thingee as transport
2. Constantine
3. Stello
4. M^3
5. Woo3 (tomorrow)
6. '03 880s
7. 650s

 

[1UP]

Looking forward to your impressions! Can I ask what you mean when you say that the Stello and DAC-1 "do something" for your HD-650s?

 

[nick_charles]

never mind

 

[upstateguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1UP /img/forum/go_quote.gif Looking forward to your impressions! Can I ask what you mean when you say that the Stello and DAC-1 "do something" for your HD-650s?

Without being negative I was trying to say was that the 650s didn't sound as good from the Neko > M^3 as they did from the Stello or Constantine > M^3.

But we'll see what happens over the weekend with a few more hours on the Neko.

USG

 

[1UP]

Please do. I'm surprised you found it bright - I didn't detect any brightness on Wes' demo version at Canjam. Perhaps those transformers need a bit of burn-in.

 

[jinp6301]

I think its time for a mini meet

 

[upstateguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1UP /img/forum/go_quote.gif Please do. I'm surprised you found it bright - I didn't detect any brightness on Wes' demo version at Canjam. Perhaps those transformers need a bit of burn-in.

I think "bright" may have been a bad choice of words because it certainly isn't bright with my 650s. What I noticed most appears to be an emphasis on the mid-range and forward female vocals, which lead me to remark that it sounded bright.... but it wasn't really "bright", it was the shy bottom that made it sound "trebely".

It's strange really. When I replaced the Constantine with the Stello in my main computer rig, I remarked that the Stello was a "Dark" sounding DAC and a good match for my GS-1. But, I decided I wanted something more analytical and was considering the Benchmark (because it was generally considered to be bright and analytical sounding) until SiBurning's and I compared his Benchmark with my Stello. Both of us were surprised when we couldn't tell the difference between the two (under meet conditions). So, maybe the Stello wasn't really dark, and it was the Constantine that I had become accustomed to that had a less bass. Now enter the Neko.... Great mid-range, and a wider, more open sound stage than the Stello, but at the expense of what appears to be a pronounced mid-range. To put it in other terms, one might be tempted to say that both the Stello and Benchmark have smile like EQ curves relative to the Neko, but I've never seen a Benchmark review that mentioned anything like that.

Jin is right, this calls for a mini meet. I was surprise when my Stello ended up sounding like a Benchmark. I want to be surprised again. Who knows, maybe the transformers will burn in.

USG

 

[1UP]

Ah, ok, thanks for the clarification. I think that makes more sense to me now cause I found the D100s certainly have a very prominent midrange; that's its strength.

I've heard the Benchmark and Stello extensively and am confident to describe them as analytical and dark, respectively. The Neko doesn't sound like either of them; it's nearer to the Lavry DA11, which would sit somewhere in between the Benchmark and Stello

analytical, lean - Benchmark
analytical, smooth - Lavry
rounded, dark - Stello
rounded, not dark - Neko

Dunno if this helps!

 

[upstateguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1UP /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ah, ok, thanks for the clarification. I think that makes more sense to me now cause I found the D100s certainly have a very prominent midrange; that's its strength. I've heard the Benchmark and Stello extensively and am confident to describe them as analytical and dark, respectively. The Neko doesn't sound like either of them; it's nearer to the Lavry DA11, which would sit somewhere in between the Benchmark and Stello analytical, lean - Benchmark analytical, smooth - Lavry rounded, dark - Stello rounded, not dark - Neko Dunno if this helps!

Hi 1UP

Boy, I hate to disagree with you but my experience (with SiBurning) was that the difference between the Stello and Benchmark was too close to call, without an intensive listening session. This was a surprise to both of us. The GS-1 has two inputs and two headphone jacks so we were both listening at the same time. If I was not looking, I was not able to tell when he flipped the input switch, or which DAC was playing. His experience was the same. We switched cables between the two a few times and got so confused we couldn't tell which DAC was which or hear a difference when the input switch was thrown.

If I were to try to explain what I'm hearing by using the analogy of an EQ curve, I would say the Stello/Benchmark has a "smile" curve and the Neko has a "frown" curve.

When you did you evaluations what amp and what headphones were you using?

USG

 

[padam]

Thanks for the impressions, looking forward to the Pico comparison

 

[1UP]

Wow that's real strange to me. I don't think the Benchmark and Stello sound at all alike.

Various solid state but not tube amps, variety of Beyer and Sennheiser headphones...also through different speaker rigs - where I find the differences most clear, actually

What about your gear? What was the source? How did you connect it?

 

[upstateguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1UP /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow that's real strange to me. I don't think the Benchmark and Stello sound at all alike. Various solid state but not tube amps, variety of Beyer and Sennheiser headphones...also through different speaker rigs - where I find the differences most clear, actually What about your gear? What was the source? How did you connect it?

It is strange because I was expecting the same results you posted...... both SiBurning and I commented that it wasn't what we expected..... The Stello was supposed to be dark and the Benchmark was supposed to be bright and analytical.

The set up we used was a laptop > foobar > a WAV rip of a CD done in foobar on the spot > USB Blue Circle Thingee > optical and Coaxial (which we verified sounded exactly the same) > Stello & Benchmark > GS-1 > 650s for me and I don't recall what headphones SiBurning was using.

We switched the optical and coax leads as well as the cables from the DACS just to make sure.... we switched everything so many times we lost track of which DAC was input 1 and which was input 2.

I would like to suggest that once someone else is flipping the A-B switch, and you don't know which one you are listening to, preconceptions go out the window and what you hear is what you hear... and in this case the result was that we couldn't tell them apart.

It's a real "Go Figure!"

USG

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Was it old Benchmark DAC1 or new USB version, doubt that there is any appreciable sonic difference between two, but there might. Have you tried Benchmark onboard amp, wondering if all that "dry, analytical, bright" impressions come from there?

 

[1UP]

Fair enough, the only thing that makes me doubt the comparo was that you used the Blue Circle thing...it's a PCM2xxx device - I was using transformer-coupled coax with BNC and proper 75ohm coax cable, which I much preferred...

 

[upstateguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by padam /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the impressions, looking forward to the Pico comparison

I had my dedicated music computer and GS-1 hooked up to the Pico DAC via USB and the Neko DAC via optical last night. Where I feel that the Stello and the Neko have noticeably different sound signatures, I thought the Pico and the Neko sounded remarkably similar from my '03 880s.... another big surprise that will have to be investigated further.

USG