[m-i-c-k-e-y]

That will be interesting for sure. But basing on Søren's products/posts, he's I think more on cost/performance/practical side of guy. But who knows?.

 

[sajunky]

That will be interesting for sure. But basing on Søren's products/posts, he's I think more on cost/performance/practical side of guy. But who knows?.

I agree. Practicality is a main design feature, everything else is behind cost/performance. As for high precision resistors, we won't see it in a near future, as 2541 has a new self calibration feature that reduce such need.

 

[hpamdr]

I agree. Practicality is a main design feature, everything else is behind cost/performance. As for high precision resistors, we won't see it in a near future, as 2541 has a new self calibration feature that reduce such need.

The need is reduced and the result gives reason to Søren. He could add weight with big transformer and unnecesarry capacitance better case with alluminium separation and selling it 4 times the price without real benefit for sound !
I'm pretty happy with 2451 and still use 1541 with alternate filter

 

[adydula]

So I have had several dacs Schiit Bifrost 1 and 2 and recently a iFI Pro DSD....love the Burr Brown implementation of the iFi....
So I am wondering if the 2541 would be worth trying vs the iFi...using D8000 Pros....all is revealed with these cans..

???

 

[leeperry]

Big mystery with this brand for me is that I have a magical-sounding 1101, a friend of mine bought one my advice with a lower serial# and it sounded lo-fi to the utmost when I A/B'ed them, then I bought a 1321 that sounded way worse than my own 1101 with a very shrill sound(upper mids were plain unbearable even with JCAT femto USB board & 5V iPower) and poor SS.

Seems to me that R2R is no exact science lol and/or there's been some corners cutting on resistors precision at some point, I'll keep my beloved 1101 ever after

 

[adydula]

Interesting...with the iFi Pro DSD dac things here have really taken a BIG turn to the positive...its the best dac I have ever used or heard to date.
It has the Burr Brown dac chips that have the upper 6 bits as multibit while the lower 18 bits are delta sigma...so kind of a hybrid approach to have the
nest of both worlds...and it works so very well..

But I have heard from folks with this iFi that also like the 2541 very much...so I am really curious here...

 

[adeadcrab]

2541 is apparently a not-insignificantly bit better than Soekris' previous flagship the 1541. If I didn't already have the single-ended 1421 I would have the 2541. Someday...

 

[adydula]

Well the 2541 is here for about a week now...

 

[adydula]

Been contrasting the 2541 against the iFi Pro iDSD Burr Brown dac...

 

[ProLoL]

Been contrasting the 2541 against the iFi Pro iDSD Burr Brown dac...

What's your impression so far?

 

[adydula]

I just responded to @David222 on this somewhat...

First impressions are lasting ones....

Its a small, very well built, designed and engineered dac, with filters, crossfeed and all the usual inputs and a internal class A amp FWIU with SE and Balanced XLR outputs.
The iFi doenst have the XLR output and it costs alot more....$3495 for the new signature series version...vs $1299 for the Soekris 2541.

More bells and whistles on the iFi Pro iDSD for sure and TUBES if thats your thing. And it does DSD to 512 and 1024 very well...so that might be a thing for you ?
Very easy to use and select stuff...

The Soekris is an industrial looking piece of gear, retro style looking that tells me it here to do the job!! I really like the black front panel and it digital volume control. I prefer this over the traditional motorized pot in the iFi....the pot in the iFi is great...just a small personal thing...

To compare with other dacs in my systems, I set the level to 00 with the digital control and the front button to LINE and listen, But at this "00" setting the clipping light does come on from time to time...this has been noted by Soren and discussed on another site...just set the level to -01. Some say they have to set this to -03 for some music.

The nice thing here is the ability to reduce the output when using it and its filters to avoid driving stuff hard. You have this ability with the iFi via its 4 position switch in the read (screwdriver).

At first when listening the iFi takes the prize in clarity and a sound I am used to and prefer...but after careful level setting its really close...over a wide variety of music they are to me very similar...its at the point that it and it iFi allow you to tell the difference between most recordings....they both are that good in being able to resolve all the details in a recording. I abhor using terms that others on sites use to try to accurately describe the sound of stuff with often very confusing terms for such a subjective topic.

The thing I would state is this is a neutral uncolored "sounding" dac...the filters do "things" to the sound but they are all very slight...and unless you have very, very resolving headphones and very good source material it will be hard to tell the differences. A nice touch in the logic of the 2541 is you can select a filter and have it remember that filter used over the inputs selected. The crossfeed function only works with headphones from what I read in the manual.

The Soekris 2541 is an excellent dac for $1299....and holds its place well against dacs costing more than twice its costs. It may not have all the bell and whistles that some other AIO's have, but for a solid, well built dac this is indeed a great choice.

The last thing is the internal headamp...for the price the first thing some folks jump out is immediately stating at this price range its a ho-hum amp that will do in a pinch. Rubbish. Its a decent amp that drove anything I had a 60 ohms to 420 ohms very well. The iFi does have more power. 1.5 or 4 watts depending on the jack you use.
I wouldnt use this amp to drive Susvaras and He6se's but for 98% of the other stuff it does very well.

It has a 3 yr warranty, and I like this as well. The iFi only has a 12 month warranty !! ?? !! iFi should upgrade their warranty IMO. And I like iFi stuff.

So far the 2541 is working very well...I will never use all the inputs. If you only are looking for a solid well built, well engineered and neutral dac with a decent price considering the high costs of this stuff out there. This unit would suffice very well..

Alex

 

[David222]

I just responded to @David222 on this somewhat...

First impressions are lasting ones....

Its a small, very well built, designed and engineered dac, with filters, crossfeed and all the usual inputs and a internal class A amp FWIU with SE and Balanced XLR outputs.
The iFi doenst have the XLR output and it costs alot more....$3495 for the new signature series version...vs $1299 for the Soekris 2541.

More bells and whistles on the iFi Pro iDSD for sure and TUBES if thats your thing. And it does DSD to 512 and 1024 very well...so that might be a thing for you ?
Very easy to use and select stuff...

The Soekris is an industrial looking piece of gear, retro style looking that tells me it here to do the job!! I really like the black front panel and it digital volume control. I prefer this over the traditional motorized pot in the iFi....the pot in the iFi is great...just a small personal thing...

To compare with other dacs in my systems, I set the level to 00 with the digital control and the front button to LINE and listen, But at this "00" setting the clipping light does come on from time to time...this has been noted by Soren and discussed on another site...just set the level to -01. Some say they have to set this to -03 for some music.

The nice thing here is the ability to reduce the output when using it and its filters to avoid driving stuff hard. You have this ability with the iFi via its 4 position switch in the read (screwdriver).

At first when listening the iFi takes the prize in clarity and a sound I am used to and prefer...but after careful level setting its really close...over a wide variety of music they are to me very similar...its at the point that it and it iFi allow you to tell the difference between most recordings....they both are that good in being able to resolve all the details in a recording. I abhor using terms that others on sites use to try to accurately describe the sound of stuff with often very confusing terms for such a subjective topic.

The thing I would state is this is a neutral uncolored "sounding" dac...the filters do "things" to the sound but they are all very slight...and unless you have very, very resolving headphones and very good source material it will be hard to tell the differences. A nice touch in the logic of the 2541 is you can select a filter and have it remember that filter used over the inputs selected. The crossfeed function only works with headphones from what I read in the manual.

The Soekris 2541 is an excellent dac for $1299....and holds its place well against dacs costing more than twice its costs. It may not have all the bell and whistles that some other AIO's have, but for a solid, well built dac this is indeed a great choice.

The last thing is the internal headamp...for the price the first thing some folks jump out is immediately stating at this price range its a ho-hum amp that will do in a pinch. Rubbish. Its a decent amp that drove anything I had a 60 ohms to 420 ohms very well. The iFi does have more power. 1.5 or 4 watts depending on the jack you use.
I wouldnt use this amp to drive Susvaras and He6se's but for 98% of the other stuff it does very well.

It has a 3 yr warranty, and I like this as well. The iFi only has a 12 warranty !! ?? !! iFi should upgrade their warranty IMO. And I like iFi stuff.

So far the 2541 is working very well...I will never use all the inputs. If you only are looking for a solid well built, well engineered and neutral dac with a decent price considering the high costs of this stuff out there. This unit would suffice very well..

Alex

This is awesome. Thanks Alex! The 2541 sounds like a great unit. 100% agree with you that most people need not be overly concerned with the 2541 headphone output. Also, agree the iFi warranty is seemingly absurd. As a Burson enthusiast, with interest in exploring iFi, it's a pretty high hill to climb in getting over the fact you are investing nearly $2k in a unit that after 12 months you are SOL.

 

[PointyFox]

Is there any way to have the dac2541 default to headphone output upon power on?

 

[adydula]

Is there any way to have the dac2541 default to headphone output upon power on?

Not that I am aware of..

 

[wizzman121]

What are other Soekris users doing with the power- do you leave your unit on 24/7?

I am having an issue with my DAC2541. When I power the unit off it looks like my Windows 10 PC can still see that it is connected (I have seen this with some other DACs as well). The issue is when I have not used the unit for a day and then I power it back on. The PC can still see the unit but no sound will come out of the DAC from any application on the PC (I am using MusicBee and have never had this issue with any other DACs). The only remedy is to unplug the USB cable from the DAC and plug it back in which fixes the issue. Any ideas?

@soekris any insight here?