[Ricco275]

The Merason Frerot and the big brother DAC1 are not much covered on specialised website. They seem to be very good though. Any comparison with the hyped Gustard R26?

 

[Monsterzero]

The Merason Frerot and the big brother DAC1 are not much covered on specialised website. They seem to be very good though. Any comparison with the hyped Gustard R26?

Two very different DACing machines. I'm currently listening to a Merason DAC1 and it's a fantastic sounding machine, however it is a no bells, no whistles approach. No DSD, No MQA, no upsampling, no filters. Swiss made D/S DAC.

The Gustard is Chinese built R2R that does DSD, filters, etc and I believe it has a built in streamer as well.

Like comparing apples and oranges.

 

[Ricco275]

Two very different DACing machines. I'm currently listening to a Merason DAC1 and it's a fantastic sounding machine, however it is a no bells, no whistles approach. No DSD, No MQA, no upsampling, no filters. Swiss made D/S DAC.

The Gustard is Chinese built R2R that does DSD, filters, etc and I believe it has a built in streamer as well.

Like comparing apples and oranges.

Thanks. I was referring to an overall sound quality comparison and the lack of review for the Merason per se.

The dac1 is certainly a very fine machine. How about its little brother Frerot?

 

[Monsterzero]

Thanks. I was referring to an overall sound quality comparison and the lack of review for the Merason per se.

The dac1 is certainly a very fine machine. How about its little brother Frerot?

I haven't heard it myself, but you're correct there is very little on either DAC here on Head Fi. I'm guessing that the lack of DSD capability makes people dismiss it, but on pure sound quality, the DAC1 is one of the finest DACs I've ever heard.

 

[Ricco275]

I haven't heard it myself, but you're correct there is very little on either DAC here on Head Fi. I'm guessing that the lack of DSD capability makes people dismiss it, but on pure sound quality, the DAC1 is one of the finest DACs I've ever heard.

For the time being I’m Tidal HiFi plus and I don’t download music. And I’m a Mac user which appears to be another limit for DSD. Not sure how much rock blues and jazz I would find as DSD on a popular streaming service these days. Who knows if DSD will increase popularity and become mainstream as PCM on roon qobuz tidal.

 

[Monsterzero]

For the time being I’m Tidal HiFi plus and I don’t download music. And I’m a Mac user which appears to be another limit for DSD. Not sure how much rock blues and jazz I would find as DSD on a popular streaming service these days. Who knows if DSD will increase popularity and become mainstream as PCM on roon qobuz tidal.

I only have 3 DSD albums out of 9405 total albums. I guess for jazz and classical fans it might be a big deal perhaps, but for rock, blues, trance, Americana, folk, metal there are virtually no DSD available.
I can upsample my PCM files before it hits the DAC1 and they play fine, but I prefer the sound of non upsampled anyways.

The DAC1 is really a great DAC. I believe there is one in the classifieds now for $3500.00. Lot of great sound for a good price

 

[Ricco275]

I only have 3 DSD albums out of 9405 total albums. I guess for jazz and classical fans it might be a big deal perhaps, but for rock, blues, trance, Americana, folk, metal there are virtually no DSD available.
I can upsample my PCM files before it hits the DAC1 and they play fine, but I prefer the sound of non upsampled anyways.

The DAC1 is really a great DAC. I believe there is one in the classifieds now for $3500.00. Lot of great sound for a good price

I live in Europe so that listing is not good for the voltage unfortunately, I’ll keep looking. I add the Merason little brother for a week, without external supply. Then I replaced it with the Okto dac8 and immediately I felt wow and returned the Frerot. After a few days I started missing what resembled more to an analog sound from the Frerot but at higher specs, which makes me guess the big brother DAC1 would be a good shot.

 

[Monsterzero]

I live in Europe so that listing is not good for the voltage unfortunately, I’ll keep looking. I add the Merason little brother for a week, without external supply. Then I replaced it with the Okto dac8 and immediately I felt wow and returned the Frerot. After a few days I started missing what resembled more to an analog sound from the Frerot but at higher specs, which makes me guess the big brother DAC1 would be a good shot.

The DAC1 has a bright-ish sound and is quite revealing. The bass is controlled and abundant. There is this nice smoothing effect in the upper mids that takes away any sharpness or sibilance. The DAC1 adapts itself to whatever genre of music you're listening to. It is quite fast with crazy good dynamics and transients tend to pop more than what I'm used to hearing from my Lampizator. The imaging, staging and separation is also quite good.

I would give the edge to the Lampi for image size, bass quantity and air. Everything else is either equal or better for the Merason.

EDIT: Also keep in mind that the Merason DAC1 has been replaced by the DAC1 MKll as of last month. Supposedly the MKll is an across the board improvement, but I have not heard it myself. The cost for the MKll is $8k, or you can send in your MKl and Merason will upgrade it to a MKll for $2500.00

 

[gimmeheadroom]

For the time being I’m Tidal HiFi plus and I don’t download music. And I’m a Mac user which appears to be another limit for DSD. Not sure how much rock blues and jazz I would find as DSD on a popular streaming service these days. Who knows if DSD will increase popularity and become mainstream as PCM on roon qobuz tidal.

There is a fair amount of classic rock and jazz on SACD. I play a lot of SACD and SACD rips. Really, SACD is DSD64. And new SACDs are still being released. I have bought a dozen SACDs from Dutton Vocalion UK over the last years and they're quite fantastic.

Anyway "no DSD" is not necessarily a practical limitation if the DAC can do 24/176 KHz since many music players and many DDCs and DACs convert DSD to PCM anyway at least optionally.

To my knowledge none of the big providers stream DSD at all.

 

[Ricco275]

The DAC1 has a bright-ish sound and is quite revealing. The bass is controlled and abundant. There is this nice smoothing effect in the upper mids that takes away any sharpness or sibilance. The DAC1 adapts itself to whatever genre of music you're listening to. It is quite fast with crazy good dynamics and transients tend to pop more than what I'm used to hearing from my Lampizator. The imaging, staging and separation is also quite good.

I would give the edge to the Lampi for image size, bass quantity and air. Everything else is either equal or better for the Merason.

EDIT: Also keep in mind that the Merason DAC1 has been replaced by the DAC1 MKll as of last month. Supposedly the MKll is an across the board improvement, but I have not heard it myself. The cost for the MKll is $8k, or you can send in your MKl and Merason will upgrade it to a MKll for $2500.00

I think I’ll go for either the dac1 mki second hand and the X26pro which seems good too.

 

[Ricco275]

There is a fair amount of classic rock and jazz on SACD. I play a lot of SACD and SACD rips. Really, SACD is DSD64. And new SACDs are still being released. I have bought a dozen SACDs from Dutton Vocalion UK over the last years and they're quite fantastic.

Anyway "no DSD" is not necessarily a practical limitation if the DAC can do 24/176 KHz since many music players and many DDCs and DACs convert DSD to PCM anyway at least optionally.

To my knowledge none of the big providers stream DSD at all.

I’m 50% digital with Tidal and 50% turntable. From what you kindly clarified to me I can leave without DSD.