[Uberzone]

Good evening. I am the Concero owner but unfortunately missed the last 40 pages of this thread. I am interested in how well good concero hp? Who listened to his ear amplifier is acceptable? Want it but dont see normal review. Thnak you

 

[daerron]

Have finally decided to purchase the Concero as a replacement for my Dragonfly. Should be in the post by Friday and looking forward to receiving my little milled DAC. I am hoping it is as good as the reviews state it is! Somehow it is difficult to imagine that two DACs powered by the same chipset could have a vastly different sound. I was hoping to to stretch to the HD version which is a bit more future proof, but the DSD and DXD isn't important to me and I think the lower RCA output voltage will play nicer with my Emotiva Mini-X.

 

[project86]

  Have finally decided to purchase the Concero as a replacement for my Dragonfly. Should be in the post by Friday and looking forward to receiving my little milled DAC. I am hoping it is as good as the reviews state it is! Somehow it is difficult to imagine that two DACs powered by the same chipset could have a vastly different sound. I was hoping to to stretch to the HD version which is a bit more future proof, but the DSD and DXD isn't important to me and I think the lower RCA output voltage will play nicer with my Emotiva Mini-X.

 
Remember, it's not just the DAC chip itself, but the overall implementation. How is power handled? How about upsampling? Filtering? Yes, the ES9023 is a more integrated DAC than most others, so there's less variation in terms of output stage.... but there are still plenty of ways to make the result sound different. My experience with the Concero compared to the Peachtree DAC iT is that they sound very distinct.
 
Enjoy! 

 

[daerron]

Thanks! I am sure that I will enjoy the Concero, after the disappointment which was the Nuwave DAC.
 
I am well aware that the DAC is only a small part of the total equation. I guess its just with all these entry level DACs featuring ES9023 chipsets that makes one feels its an entry level DAC chip. I have studied the Concero design quite a bit, having done a bit of electronics design myself and it is a top notch from a design perspective. Looking forward to trying out the different filters too and love the little remote as well.

 

[Mr.Sneis]

The NWD was disappointing for me too, weird considering PS Audio's reputation.  No one talks about it, but the Parasound ZDac is a much better buy at half the price to my ears (sacrificing asynch usb) for that kind of product. 
 
The Concero I am lead to believe has a great implementation of the Sabre, it was my first experience with a Sabre based dac and I expected the worst but walked away impressed.

 

[project86]

  The NWD was disappointing for me too, weird considering PS Audio's reputation.  No one talks about it, but the Parasound ZDac is a much better buy at half the price to my ears (sacrificing asynch usb) for that kind of product. 
 
The Concero I am lead to believe has a great implementation of the Sabre, it was my first experience with a Sabre based dac and I expected the worst but walked away impressed.

 
Bingo! I too would choose Parasound Zdac or Concero over the more expensive PS Audio device. I've liked some of their stuff in the past, but not all of it, and this seems like a definite miss for them. 

 

[Jaybo]

Hi guys,
 
I'm new here. But I've done my homework. I read through all 80+ pages of this very interesting thread! Thanks for all the reviews, opinions and discussion on this little DAC, you've helped me immensely.
 
I'm building my first system. Thus far I've got a Triode TRV-a300 amp (300b SET) and a pair of Zu omen speakers. Next step is a DAC.
 
Only curve-ball is I'm in Japan. Luckily the RL Concero is available in stores here, and without the ridiculous up-charges typically seen on imported goods. Cost is 60,000 yen, right around what it retails for elsewhere.
 
That makes it very competitive even pricewise with something like the Schiit Bifrost. With Uber upgrade, USB and shipping and taxes, the Schiit is probably even more than the Concero.
 
But, I'm really wondering how the Concero compares with DACs here in Japan. For example, the Teac UD-501 is nearly the same price here as the Concero (63,000). Also available is the Luxman DA-100 and the Rotel RDD-06 at right around the same price.
 
Any thoughts on how these Japanese DACs might compare with the Concero?
 
I only have a couple of concerns with the Concero.
1) Is it going to make the my lower quality digital recordings (MP3s) sound quite bad? That seems to have been stated quite a few times throughout the thread.....
2) Wondering how it might gel with my SET amp / full range speaker combo? Any thoughts?
 
Thanks!

 

[daerron]

I have also been trying to figure out how the Concero compares to the Teac UD-501, but wasn't able to find anything concrete on it? The Teac UD-501 is definitely well priced for the features on offer and I've haven't read any negative feedback about the unit so far. Unfortunately here it ends up $300 more expensive than the Concero here and I preferred the portability of the Concero.
Locally I had to compare the Concero with the Asus Essence Muses edition, but the feedback I've read about the Asus unit also seems to be of a variable nature with some reviewers liking it a lot and others not so much so it looks to be very synergy dependent, while the Concero seems to play nice with most systems out there.
 
The one DAC I might have waited for is the soon to be released Fostex HP-A4. You might want to check that out as it should be way cheaper in Japan than the Concero.

 

[Jaybo]

Thanks for a very informative post.
 
You're absolutely right. I've heard some allusions to the UD-501 vs. the Concero, but nobody has actually put them in a head to head match.
 
I imagine that for a lot of people the Teac would be a no-brainer over the Concero for the same price. But I really don't need the features of the Teac. I don't do headphones or DSD. And, to be honest, I prefer the simplicity of the Concero. The thing is sound quality as a DAC. That's what I really care about it. And also synergy with my system.
 
I haven't heard any negative reviews of the Teach, but I have been advised from some pretty knowledgeable people that it is one to avoid. No explanation of why though........
 
The Fostex HP-A4 looks interesting. I see it was just added to Kakaku.com a few days ago. No reviews or discussion of it there yet though.
 
http://kakaku.com/item/K0000588800/
 
And you're right. That comes in well under my budget. But I really don't need the headphone amp.......

 

[tomscy2000]

  Bingo! I too would choose Parasound Zdac or Concero over the more expensive PS Audio device. I've liked some of their stuff in the past, but not all of it, and this seems like a definite miss for them. 

 
I've heard that the sound of the PWDII varies wildly with firmware, though? Confusing.

 

[project86]

  Thanks for a very informative post.
 
You're absolutely right. I've heard some allusions to the UD-501 vs. the Concero, but nobody has actually put them in a head to head match.
 
I imagine that for a lot of people the Teac would be a no-brainer over the Concero for the same price. But I really don't need the features of the Teac. I don't do headphones or DSD. And, to be honest, I prefer the simplicity of the Concero. The thing is sound quality as a DAC. That's what I really care about it. And also synergy with my system.
 
I haven't heard any negative reviews of the Teach, but I have been advised from some pretty knowledgeable people that it is one to avoid. No explanation of why though........
 
The Fostex HP-A4 looks interesting. I see it was just added to Kakaku.com a few days ago. No reviews or discussion of it there yet though.
 
http://kakaku.com/item/K0000588800/
 
And you're right. That comes in well under my budget. But I really don't need the headphone amp.......

 
I heard the Teac once, briefly, and it seemed..... bland. Not really doing anything wrong, but not doing anything amazing either. Too short of an audition to draw any conclusions but maybe this is what these people were telling you?
 

   
I've heard that the sound of the PWDII varies wildly with firmware, though? Confusing.

 
I've read that too. Seems very weird. Resonessence Labs has improved their products via new firmware, including SQ, but it's never been a drastic, night and day, completely different sound signature. I can't imagine what PS Audio could be doing that makes the device sound like a totally different (and worse, according to some) thing altogether. 

 

[Mr.Sneis]

   
I've heard that the sound of the PWDII varies wildly with firmware, though? Confusing.

They changed some of the hardware and keep renegging on their firmwares making it a complex proposition.  I've been using the same old firmware for a year now and don't want to try the newer builds!

 

[Jaybo]

   
I heard the Teac once, briefly, and it seemed..... bland. Not really doing anything wrong, but not doing anything amazing either. Too short of an audition to draw any conclusions but maybe this is what these people were telling you?

 
Thanks for sharing your (brief) experience with the Teac. I think the people I heard from were speaking both to the blandness you noted and also to some perceived issues with the device's design. But that is just a guess on my part. Anyway, I get the feeling that a lot of the hype with this one attaches to its DSD capabilities. Not something into. Makes me very skeptical about a lot of the positive reviews I see on it.
 
Any thoughts on these concerns with the Concero?
1) Is it going to make the my lower quality digital recordings (MP3s) sound quite bad? That seems to have been stated quite a few times throughout the thread.....
2) Wondering how it might gel with my SET amp / full range speaker combo? Any thoughts?

 

[Nick Dangerous]

No way to know without putting it in your rig.
 
Concero sounds great with my HD800 setup, but I didn't care for it with my desktop PC + M-Audio studio monitors.

 

[Jaybo]

Indeed. That would be ideal. However, in great contrast to the lax return policies found in the States, here in Japan a purchase is a final purchase (more or less). So I'm kind of stuck with it if I purchase. And I don't think the Concero is going to reel to much in on the secondhand market, since it is a bit of an unknown entity here.......
 
What didn't you like about the Concero with your studio monitors?
 
I'm also considering the Yulong D-18 (60,000 vs. 67,000). Pretty similar price-wise. And perhaps a better match for my gear and music files. But then I'll either have to run Toslink or get a USB to S/PDIF converter.