[ak622]

Has anyone here tried the Northstar USB dac?  The Northstar 192 MK1 and MK2 have been talked about on this forum and has had good reviews but I haven't read much on the updated Northstar USB.  Does anyone have any experience with and how does it compare with the original Northstar or other similar DACs?

 

[Headphony]

Nice find. Looks like a very interesting DAC. Here is the link on the Northstar website:
http://www.northstar.it/english/Dac_USB32.html

 

[Student_Driver]

Bump. Looks like an interesting design at an attractive price. Wonder how it compares to the Berkeley, which is currently my 'like to have' when I figure out how to pay for. At $1,600 on Audiogon, this might be a short term solution.

 

[DaveBSC]

I don't think it's worth $3000. At that price you could buy an Audio-GD Ref 7 and a Wavelength WaveLink for USB which would probably crush it. At the Audiogon demo price it's more interesting though, that puts it pretty much squarely against the W4S DAC-2.

 

[ak622]

Dave, at the audiogon demo price point ,it is much more reasonable but that still doesn't tell me much about its performance.  Anything else that has been said is just assumptions on how it sounds as it seems like a very limited population have people have heard this DAC.  I am interested in trying it out at the lower demo price not the regular price but I just purchased some Stax to try so I don't have free funds for that.   Maybe someone else here can take one for the team.

 

[mgs1]

Hi all, 
 
I also think this is a good one to investigate, especially for the current intro price. You may be interested in one review I found online (http://www.avmentor.gr/reviews/group_test_dacs_13.htm). It is in Greek but you can use Google Translate or I can help, if needed. Overall, they liked the sound and placed it in the top 3 in the group but, although it has the second highest SNR from all the DACs in the comparison, it also seems to have rather high intermodulation distortion and not very good jitter rejection (they do not say from which input they tested).
 
I'd like to hear opinions on SQ if someone has had a chance to audition it.
 
Michael

 

[rosgr63]

Well the Avmentor review is very positive.
It's the recommended buy out of the 3 top ones they tested. (Naim Audio DAC, Bryston BDA-1 and NSD)
13 DACS were tested in total.

 

[gevorg]

CS8416 digital receiver? LOL!

 

[leeperry]

 

CS8416 digital receiver? LOL!

never judge a book by its movie ^^

 

[upstateguy]

CS8416 digital receiver? LOL!

why is that funny? what's wrong with the CS8416? <----- just curious

 

[gevorg]

Quote:

why is that funny? what's wrong with the CS8416?

There is nothing wrong with it, it just there are better chips available like DIR9001.
 
Dunno, but Northstar should REALLY have some top notch design and power supply to justify the price of their new DAC. Otherwise their choice of chips such as CS8416, CS8421 and PCM1795 is nothing to write home about. Just look what you can get from W4S or Audio-gd for half the price. 

 

[SP Wild]

How do I get Google to translate that review?
 
Edit:  Nevermind, I worked it out.

 

[SP Wild]

The Bryston was a very close second to the Naim, the winner, with only minute differences.  Third choice was the Northstar.
 
The description of the Bryston matches my perception of my Bryston - especially the comments regarding its midrange and Bass performance.  I find it interesting that the PWD didn't rank in their top 3 - highly revered in this forum.
 
Take note:
 
My REF7 mops the floor with my Bryston in my opinion.  The Naim uses two of the Reference 7s eight PCM1704 DAC chips (two of the lesser grade PCM1704 of which the Reference 7 uses 8 of the higher grade PCM1404UK).  I'm sure the Northstar is a great DAC, but I have yet to hear it.
 
I think they overrated the Dacmagic, I sold mine as it is highly outclassed by my other two DACS...it was plagued by "digititis" something reviews never seem to describe.  Lean and bright with no bass control and excessively smeared transients.

 

[The Monkey]

From memory, fwiw, I thought the North Star m192 mk2 was comparable to the audi-gd ref 7.  Not better, not worse.

 

[rosgr63]

Audio-gd never went up to 24/192, NSD M192 MKII does.