I am not that great at writing reviews, so I will do a mini comparison of the Dac1 USB and the DLIII with the Cullen stage IV mod.
First, I let the DLIII and Dac1 burn in for 100 hours before doing any serious listening. I am running both the Dac1 and the DLIII via coax input from a PC sound card, out putting a bit perfect digital signal using foobar 2000. Both Dacs are then sending there analog signal to a RSA Raptor tube amp. I listened to both dacs with a pair of Edition 9 headphones, and also a pair of JVC dx1000's. I used the edition 9's for this review more since they have a less colored sound then the dx1000's, and are not as rolled off in the treble.
I really listened to both dacs for hours on end before hearing any real differences. At first, both dacs sounded almost the same to me with only a few very small differences. After listening more and more, I started to realize the Dac1 and DLIII really do not sound like each other at all and the differences are more night and day then I originally thought.
I will do my best to describe the differences so they make since to all of you, but I do not know a lot of audiophile words and terminology, so please bear with me.
I may add more to this review down the road, but right now I am only going to talk about detail, treble, and music separation.
Music Separation:
I will talk about music/note separation first, since this will help you understand my thoughts on detail and treble. The Dac1 separates notes, instruments and vocals better then the DLIII by making each note/instrument less full. If each note was a rib bone, the meat on the bones from the Dac1 is less then the meat on the DLIII. The DLIII has a fuller sound on each and every instrument compared to the Dac1, which makes it more difficult to focus on each vocal, note and instrument in the music. This is also the reason the Dac1 appears to have more detail then the DLIII does IMO. I am not saying the DLIII is muddy sounding in anyway. The instrument separation on the DLIII is excellent, but because of the Dac1's thinner sound, the instrument separation with the Dac1 is greater.
Detail:
I personally think the DLIII is just as detailed as the Dac1, but because of it's fuller sound, the DLIII gives you a false since of less detail then the Dac1. I am able to hear just as much detail with the DLIII as I can with the Dac1, but because of it's thinner sound, the Dac1 makes it easier to focus on that detail.
Treble:
I am sure if you read though this entire post, you already know what I am about to say here. The treble on the DLIII is smoother, fuller, and less sharp sounding then the Dac1. The treble extension on both dacs are near identical to my ears, and I can not say that one has more treble extension then the other. The DLIII just "wraps" the sharp treble in a softer casing then the Dac1 does, which makes listening to the upper range of music less fatiguing.
DLIII 96 VS 192 Upsampling:
I thought I should add this to the mini review since it does have some impact on the DLIII's sound signature. When listening at 96hz sample rate, the DLIII has a smoother, fuller, less separated sound then at 192Hz. At 192Hz, the DLIII sounds closer to the Dac1 then when set to 96Hz. 192Hz does not make the DLIII sound the same as the Dac1, but it does give you more instrument separation, thinner sound, and slightly sharper treble. All of these changes makes focusing on instruments and detail slightly easier. It is not a huge change like night and day, but more like coke and pepsi.
Final Thoughts:
I personally like the sound signature of the DLIII better, but that is not to say the DLIII is a better sounding dac then the Dac1. If you like a better separated, colder, easy to focus on the detail sound signature, the Dac1 is a no brainer here. Keep in mind, the Dac1 also has a built in headphone amp, has a volume pot, and costs $300 less then the DLIII with Cullen stage IV mod. Do these few advantages make me want to sell my DLIII and keep the Dac1? No. The warmer fuller sound of the DLIII gives me exactly what I am looking for in a source, and since I am feeding any source I own to a RSA Raptor tube amp, the fact that the DLIII needs some sort of amp or pre-amp to fully function, does not have any effect on my decision.
I hope this review helps some of you, and if there are any other comparisons that you would like me to touch on, please let me know.
