chillysalsa
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2002
- Posts
- 1,989
- Likes
- 187
The kit came together really quick and easy, a perfect second project. I decided to spice it up a little by putting in some lighting, call it the ‘Chor-ling’ or the ‘Shan-ord’ styling.
The strong suits of this DAC are dynamics, instrument separation, imaging, and a ‘live’ / organic / analog sound presentation. That’s not to say it’s a slouch in the other departments: frequency extension, and soundstaging. It has become one of those pieces of equipment that are making me rediscover my collection. I’ve had a number of instances already where I noticed something totally new about a record I heard a million times already! That’s a major statement, and I think the sign of any good component.
In the few cases where I have the same piece of music on CD and vinyl, I can readily recognize that the CDs now have some of that ‘magic’ that had been seducing me from my turntable. This DAC has stopped a 3 month streak of listening only to vinyl (even though only 20% of my collection is analog!). My overall impression is that his unit has indeed fulfilled my search for an analog sounding digital source. It’s definitely narrowed the gap between my turntable and CD playback, to the point where I’m no longer wishing one sounds like the other.
Massive Attack – Mezzanine:
Track 6, there is that echoing clack sound at 0:40, it totally startled me with how it came out of nowhere. The most amazing thing about this, is when you switch back to the internal DAC of the Yamaha, you listen for the same sound, expecting it, and it goes by with you saying “Oh, uh.. yeah.. there it was. Was that all?”
The TubeDAC has totally removed a layer of ‘haze’ from the ambient sounds in the background. Previously, these were filler noises to give some mood to the song. Now, they are more like a set to a movie - with intricate details that are exposed the more you examine and search for them. The vocals are equally intricate – breathy and delicate, and sound wonderfully organic.
Track 8: that distant piano in the opening. You can almost see what keys look like, it’s almost eerie how well that is imaged. Unbelievable. Through the headphone set-up, the bass is so full my ears get that ‘still vibrating’ feeling when I take the headphones off mid-song – and at only moderate volume.
Bjork – Vespertine:
Track 5, one of my favourites, involves a wonderful harp melody. I can finally track the notes so easily through all the other things going on. Clearly, the separation of instruments is one of the strong points of this DAC, previously everything sounded as though it originated from one source, a source that was always the same generic size and the images of the instruments flowed from it all blended together. But now, they are all distinct, with character and details of their own, and don’t overpower the other instruments / sounds.
Track 6, is a little melody played by a music box, and on the headphones, it sounds so real, you wouldn’t believe. In fact, the track starts with a sound of something sliding across a surface, and it startled the heck out of me because I thought it was something in the room! Sheesh… I was amazed.
On the downside, there is some audible hum. I’m not sure if it’s PS I’m using, or what. I’ve emailed Scott about it, and understand that others have said it’s dead silent. My noise is not intrusive until you get to volume levels that are dangerous to my ears or the equipment, so I’m not bothered. Would like to get to the bottom of it though.
[size=xx-small]Notes:
Audio Alchemy DTI used for reclocking, inversion, & convert Toslink>Coax signal, with Phase set to 180º
4.5 A, 12VAC transformer for power supply made by Ault.
Stock Miniwatt tube used.
Setup:
Yamaha 5 disc changer > Glass optical cable > AA DTI > Apogee WydeEye > TubeDAC > Homegrown Audio Super Silver to:
A) Audio Refinement Complete > PSB Image 2B
or
B) Grado SR-125 & RA-1 amp (via MIT T3 interconnect)[/size]
Edit: Scott got back to me about the hum. Pretty much what I observe: if you press Stop, and start turning up the volume, you don't notice noise until it's a volume you won't dare press Play at! So, it's effectively silent you could say.
The strong suits of this DAC are dynamics, instrument separation, imaging, and a ‘live’ / organic / analog sound presentation. That’s not to say it’s a slouch in the other departments: frequency extension, and soundstaging. It has become one of those pieces of equipment that are making me rediscover my collection. I’ve had a number of instances already where I noticed something totally new about a record I heard a million times already! That’s a major statement, and I think the sign of any good component.
In the few cases where I have the same piece of music on CD and vinyl, I can readily recognize that the CDs now have some of that ‘magic’ that had been seducing me from my turntable. This DAC has stopped a 3 month streak of listening only to vinyl (even though only 20% of my collection is analog!). My overall impression is that his unit has indeed fulfilled my search for an analog sounding digital source. It’s definitely narrowed the gap between my turntable and CD playback, to the point where I’m no longer wishing one sounds like the other.
Massive Attack – Mezzanine:
Track 6, there is that echoing clack sound at 0:40, it totally startled me with how it came out of nowhere. The most amazing thing about this, is when you switch back to the internal DAC of the Yamaha, you listen for the same sound, expecting it, and it goes by with you saying “Oh, uh.. yeah.. there it was. Was that all?”
The TubeDAC has totally removed a layer of ‘haze’ from the ambient sounds in the background. Previously, these were filler noises to give some mood to the song. Now, they are more like a set to a movie - with intricate details that are exposed the more you examine and search for them. The vocals are equally intricate – breathy and delicate, and sound wonderfully organic.
Track 8: that distant piano in the opening. You can almost see what keys look like, it’s almost eerie how well that is imaged. Unbelievable. Through the headphone set-up, the bass is so full my ears get that ‘still vibrating’ feeling when I take the headphones off mid-song – and at only moderate volume.
Bjork – Vespertine:
Track 5, one of my favourites, involves a wonderful harp melody. I can finally track the notes so easily through all the other things going on. Clearly, the separation of instruments is one of the strong points of this DAC, previously everything sounded as though it originated from one source, a source that was always the same generic size and the images of the instruments flowed from it all blended together. But now, they are all distinct, with character and details of their own, and don’t overpower the other instruments / sounds.
Track 6, is a little melody played by a music box, and on the headphones, it sounds so real, you wouldn’t believe. In fact, the track starts with a sound of something sliding across a surface, and it startled the heck out of me because I thought it was something in the room! Sheesh… I was amazed.
On the downside, there is some audible hum. I’m not sure if it’s PS I’m using, or what. I’ve emailed Scott about it, and understand that others have said it’s dead silent. My noise is not intrusive until you get to volume levels that are dangerous to my ears or the equipment, so I’m not bothered. Would like to get to the bottom of it though.
[size=xx-small]Notes:
Audio Alchemy DTI used for reclocking, inversion, & convert Toslink>Coax signal, with Phase set to 180º
4.5 A, 12VAC transformer for power supply made by Ault.
Stock Miniwatt tube used.
Setup:
Yamaha 5 disc changer > Glass optical cable > AA DTI > Apogee WydeEye > TubeDAC > Homegrown Audio Super Silver to:
A) Audio Refinement Complete > PSB Image 2B
or
B) Grado SR-125 & RA-1 amp (via MIT T3 interconnect)[/size]
Edit: Scott got back to me about the hum. Pretty much what I observe: if you press Stop, and start turning up the volume, you don't notice noise until it's a volume you won't dare press Play at! So, it's effectively silent you could say.
