[LostWeekend]

  I think it's multibit on the bass because it's mathematically easy for resister ladder to deal accurately with just the bass but if it has to render the whole signal then the typical 0.1% error from each resister becomes an problem.  The treble and mids are handled by the d/s part of the chip because it's claim to fame is linearity.

 

[Sapientiam]

Could be the resistor matching is more of a problem at HF. But multibit DACs do a fair bit better than 0.1% for matching - if not then distortion would be around the -60dB level. One aspect for multibit at HF is that at higher frequency, the samples jump about more. Meaning there's a bigger step change between adjacent ones - this normally makes it harder for amplifiers following to keep up - they're spending more time settling coz each step is bigger. S-D always has big steps no matter what the signal and hopefully is designed to cope...

 

[Surfski]

So, has anyone heard the T+A Dac 8 yet? The design discussion is interesting but Ilove to hear how this compares to the Eximus DP1 or similar. Both look great to me but comparisons are everything even if you have to filter out the bias.

 

[SHHS]

Quote:

So, has anyone heard the T+A Dac 8 yet? The design discussion is interesting but Ilove to hear how this compares to the Eximus DP1 or similar. Both look great to me but comparisons are everything even if you have to filter out the bias.

Heard it. Much too polite overall and a bit too euphonic in the mid-range for my taste. At its price point, there are DACs that totally destroy it.

 

[lmf22]

Quote:

Heard it. Much too polite overall and a bit too euphonic in the mid-range for my taste. At its price point, there are DACs that totally destroy it.

 
I got the T+A DAC 8 the day it came out from a local dealer.  There are four filter options.  While the Bezier + IIR filter does sound polite/euphonic as the previous post mentioned, I actually enjoy it a lot.  With the pure Bezier filter I do not find it polite.  The previous DAC I had was the Ayre QB-9 and I like the DAC 8 better, both in terms of sound quality and features.  The more I listen to the DAC 8, the more I am impressed with it. It reveals more details of the music than the QB-9, while remaining smooth and not sounding "digital" (I am using the Bez 1 filter).  The sound stage is wider and deeper, with more layering than the QB-9. There are also more features than the QB-9 (e.g., all kinds of inputs, various filter settings). With a retail price is less than $200 more than the QB-9, I think the QB-9 finally have some good competition. 
 
There is a review of the DAC 8 in German (use Google Translate): http://www.audio.de/testbericht/d-a-wandler-t-a-dac-8-im-test-1288804.html
Someone on the ComputerAudiophile forum mentioned that the upcoming October issue of HiFi News will have a 3-page review of the DAC 8.  
     EDIT: Here is the HiFi News review: http://www.taelektroakustik.de/fileadmin/pdf/testberichte/Hifi_News_Review_DAC8.pdf
 
SHSS, what other DACs do you think sounds better than the DAC 8? 

 

[hopkins]

I assume you are using it through the USB input. Is there any preferable connection (USB vs. SPDIF ) ?
 
Thanks,

 

[RedBull]

I hope they don't have problem with crossover.

 

[lmf22]

Quote:

I assume you are using it through the USB input. Is there any preferable connection (USB vs. SPDIF ) ?
 
Thanks,

 
Yes, for music I am using USB on the Mac Mini.  For movies and TV, the DAC 8 is connected to my desktop computer via the motherboard's built-in SPDIF (optical) connection which is hardly audiophile quality.  So I do not think it is a fair comparison.  

 

[AFWannabe]

Anyone has tried this DAC's headphone output with headphones like Sennheiser's HD800, or both Audeze's?

 

[kLevkoff]

Quote:

Heard it. Much too polite overall and a bit too euphonic in the mid-range for my taste. At its price point, there are DACs that totally destroy it.

Perhaps it's the translation to English, but they seemed to spend more time in their description *saying* that their technology is "sophisticated and wonderful" than they actually did *describing* it.... which I always take as a sort of danger signal. From what I can make out, they use some sort of fallback clock scheme like the Schiit Gungnir - where they use a TCXO if the input is about on for one of the standard sample rates, and a dual PLL if it's too far off. Beyond that, I'm not seeing anything about their jitter handling (except that they do it somehow). They make a huge point that "jitter is bad", but they don't say how they handle it, or what their performance actually is in that regard. They also seem to offer asynch or synch USB (both), which seems odd since asynch is obviously the superior way to do it, all else being equal. I was kind of hoping they would actually *say* something useful in there somewhere.
 
I haven't heard one, but I'm not seeing anything in their literature that especially convinces me that they've got anything new and different to bring to the table. It's sort of like a new car company popping up and saying "we have this new model, it's really fantastic and wonderful, and we all know how important mileage is - you should try one".
(And their old idea of using two different DACs in a CD player just seems too much like taking one speaker whose treble you like and cutting the woofer wires, and setting it next to one whose bass you like, with a rug over the tweeter. In design terms, it's kludgy and just a bit peculiar. You're adding the huge extra complication of a digital crossover to presumably correct for the fact that you can't produce one decent DAC.... )

 

[thomasbao]

Actually there is one aspect of their design which is unique, the twin clocks for both sets of clock families are entirely decoupled so for the price they are asking {2900USD} you are effectively getting a "jitterbug" system that stands comparisons with dacs such as meridian, briscati.and others who spend alot more to eliminate jitter. thats why in the description they claim to have a world class converter

 

[ralphberner]

I compared this DAC against my Vincent CD-S7 DAC. This DAC makes all flat. All deepness is vanished. This device sounds great on the paper only. I would never recommend it. And the remote control is real cheap crap. Very dissapointing experience. I recommend rather the Vincent DAC. I guess it sounds much better too for 1/4 of the price, even it can work up to 48kHz sampling rate only.

 

[soberspine]

did anyone else hear this dac? it has many positive reviews.

 

[sdolezalek]

Over at Computer Audiophile this is probably the hottest DAC on the market (the DAC8 DSD that is).  The secret seems to be feeding it DSD512 material through HQ Player or other upsampling software.  With that as an input ut seems to be besting DACs at more than twice its price and everything in its price range.  
 
See also these reviews:
 
http://www.audiostream.com/content/ta-dac-8#FxwOf7I6lVuZ0bsY.97 
http://www.stereophile.com/content/ta-elektroakustik-dac-8-dsd-da-processor#zcpA3zxof60Wjcu6.97
http://www.hifiandmusicsource.com/2016/06/ta-dac-8-amp-8-review/

 

[tonyo442]

I compared this DAC against my Vincent CD-S7 DAC. This DAC makes all flat. All deepness is vanished. This device sounds great on the paper only. I would never recommend it. And the remote control is real cheap crap. Very dissapointing experience. I recommend rather the Vincent DAC. I guess it sounds much better too for 1/4 of the price, even it can work up to 48kHz sampling rate only.

Hello,
I have the T + A dac8, it is true that the remote control is not a success, when the material Vincent I had amp or preamp or CD player, the advantage of the manufacturer Vincent and show that are material is heavier than normal, it sells their equipment by weight, ......

when to compare the T + A dac 8 which has four converters per channel with Vincent who has a simple stereo, ie two dac per channel, maybe the background noise generated you are more musical, with a friend we compared it with dac easily costing twice the price, the T + A is linear it does not add, it depends on what it works, analyze a material is not given to everyone, it needs a good ear and a brain, ..... and not obvious to some,