granodemostasa
Headphoneus Supremus
The Great Dac search.
I welcome you all to post up your adventures with various sources and all that.
my story:
I spent about two months trying out different amps and settled on the might Zana Deux from Eddie Current. It’s been a good amp, powerful, fast, with a beautiful soundstage and perfect synergy with my beloved HD650. However, bringing the Zana Deux into my set up caused me to start looking for a new source.
I realize what I’m doing. I’m taking the best attributes of each dac and adding them onto what the “perfect” source would sound like to me. I know it’s asking for a lot, but I guess it does serve to compare where dacs stand. I also realize that I’m a negative reviewer... some try out things and tell you only the good side of it, or don’t’ give you information on the things they don’t’ like. I actually shut up about things I like and talk endlessly about what I don’t like, so manufactures probably won’t like me for this.
Also in listening, the Zhaolu/benchmark and brick overlapped, the brick and Dac 60 overlapped, the DA10, stello and the benchmark also overlapped. The VDA-2 has no overlapping ones, but will have a Benchmark and a stello. My memories are driving the differences between the VDA-2 and the benchmark at this moment… but I have a pretty clear picture right now of what my lavry sounded like.
The Zhaolu Dac. I absolutely loved this dac, I really did. It improved with every modification I made. I sent it into ori and got amazing results. For less than $400 I had a fast, clear, dac with a beautifully large soundstage and an amazing midrange. I thought I was smarter than those who went out and spend big $ on dacs and such, and that my dac was the best thing in the under 3K category. Well, two things happened. Mike brought his Lavry DA-10 over one day and shattered my perception. By comparison the Zhaolu was light, lacking in bass, and didn’t image as well. I came to covet the simple “authority” of instruments that the Lavry presented.
The Wavelenght brick- a wonderful dac. At first I thought it worse than the zhaolu since it wasn’t as clean, dynamic, fast and had a constrained soundstage in comparison. However, it did reveal to me how deep and impacting bass can go… and the zhaolu simply wasn’t able to match it on that count. Further, the dac had the best vocals that I’ve ever heard. Soon, however, it’s lack of treble and speed sent it out.
The Lite Dac 60 sonicraft modded- wow, it had the perfect soundstage, the perfect voicing, the deepest bass, and all that. However, it lacked in details, and got kind of “slurpy” in complicated orchestral pieces. Further the treble was recessed a bit. I didn’t buy it after trying it out.
The Lavry DA-10. the soundstage isn’t as wide as the Benchmark, Stello or Zhaolu. It is, however, clear, and layers string sections better than any other dac I heard. In fact, if it it wasn’t for the comparison with the Stello DP200, I wouldn’t have sold it. The dac’s images are so far the best I’ve heard, and so is it’s bass. I think the “problems” with it had to do with the “graininess,” width of soundstage, lack of treble brilliance (as in benchmark and stello), and a general “sawed-offness” that resembles the tone of the K701.
The Benchmark Dac-1. I heard this thing on several SS (Gilmore design) set ups in the past and had a strong prejudice against it (thinking it as edgy, light sounding, cold and sterile). Well, it actually had beautiful synergy with the Zana Deux. Now, there is a lot of prejudice against this dac on Head-fi, I myself have been part of that gang. There are things obvious problems that we can talk about till the cows come home, but it shouldn’t negate the things that this dac does right. First of all, it is clear, very clear. The soundstage is among the best I’ve ever heard, the speed is unmatched, and best of all, it is better detailed than any dac I’ve heard in this price range. Not only is it detail, but the sound of echos, the voices harmonizing in the treble, the cues from concert halls have never been so apparent as they have with this dac. I really do admire it. It wasn’t until I did an A/b with the lavry and realized that it doesn’t image as 3-D, or have the authority that the Lavry has… while the benchmark has more overall detail, it sounded veiled in comparison to the lavry.
The Stello DP200- I really wanted this thing to be perfect, I’ve always coveted the 220 line of dacs. And I actually think this is where I’m going, but I have to give you the reasons why I have concerns. First of all, it just doesn’t sound neutral, a little sweet I think. Secondly, it didn’t layer orchestras as well as the lavry, and finally it wasn’t as detailed as I would like. In fact, reading the forum, the detail of the Stello came as the biggest surprise, I never would have thought that this dac had any less detail than the lavry/benchmark. Oh, but there are good things- it has more impact, a wider soundstage, more vivacity/musicality, far better dynamics, and a beautifully clear treble.
I welcome you all to post up your adventures with various sources and all that.
my story:
I spent about two months trying out different amps and settled on the might Zana Deux from Eddie Current. It’s been a good amp, powerful, fast, with a beautiful soundstage and perfect synergy with my beloved HD650. However, bringing the Zana Deux into my set up caused me to start looking for a new source.
I realize what I’m doing. I’m taking the best attributes of each dac and adding them onto what the “perfect” source would sound like to me. I know it’s asking for a lot, but I guess it does serve to compare where dacs stand. I also realize that I’m a negative reviewer... some try out things and tell you only the good side of it, or don’t’ give you information on the things they don’t’ like. I actually shut up about things I like and talk endlessly about what I don’t like, so manufactures probably won’t like me for this.
Also in listening, the Zhaolu/benchmark and brick overlapped, the brick and Dac 60 overlapped, the DA10, stello and the benchmark also overlapped. The VDA-2 has no overlapping ones, but will have a Benchmark and a stello. My memories are driving the differences between the VDA-2 and the benchmark at this moment… but I have a pretty clear picture right now of what my lavry sounded like.
The Zhaolu Dac. I absolutely loved this dac, I really did. It improved with every modification I made. I sent it into ori and got amazing results. For less than $400 I had a fast, clear, dac with a beautifully large soundstage and an amazing midrange. I thought I was smarter than those who went out and spend big $ on dacs and such, and that my dac was the best thing in the under 3K category. Well, two things happened. Mike brought his Lavry DA-10 over one day and shattered my perception. By comparison the Zhaolu was light, lacking in bass, and didn’t image as well. I came to covet the simple “authority” of instruments that the Lavry presented.
The Wavelenght brick- a wonderful dac. At first I thought it worse than the zhaolu since it wasn’t as clean, dynamic, fast and had a constrained soundstage in comparison. However, it did reveal to me how deep and impacting bass can go… and the zhaolu simply wasn’t able to match it on that count. Further, the dac had the best vocals that I’ve ever heard. Soon, however, it’s lack of treble and speed sent it out.
The Lite Dac 60 sonicraft modded- wow, it had the perfect soundstage, the perfect voicing, the deepest bass, and all that. However, it lacked in details, and got kind of “slurpy” in complicated orchestral pieces. Further the treble was recessed a bit. I didn’t buy it after trying it out.
The Lavry DA-10. the soundstage isn’t as wide as the Benchmark, Stello or Zhaolu. It is, however, clear, and layers string sections better than any other dac I heard. In fact, if it it wasn’t for the comparison with the Stello DP200, I wouldn’t have sold it. The dac’s images are so far the best I’ve heard, and so is it’s bass. I think the “problems” with it had to do with the “graininess,” width of soundstage, lack of treble brilliance (as in benchmark and stello), and a general “sawed-offness” that resembles the tone of the K701.
The Benchmark Dac-1. I heard this thing on several SS (Gilmore design) set ups in the past and had a strong prejudice against it (thinking it as edgy, light sounding, cold and sterile). Well, it actually had beautiful synergy with the Zana Deux. Now, there is a lot of prejudice against this dac on Head-fi, I myself have been part of that gang. There are things obvious problems that we can talk about till the cows come home, but it shouldn’t negate the things that this dac does right. First of all, it is clear, very clear. The soundstage is among the best I’ve ever heard, the speed is unmatched, and best of all, it is better detailed than any dac I’ve heard in this price range. Not only is it detail, but the sound of echos, the voices harmonizing in the treble, the cues from concert halls have never been so apparent as they have with this dac. I really do admire it. It wasn’t until I did an A/b with the lavry and realized that it doesn’t image as 3-D, or have the authority that the Lavry has… while the benchmark has more overall detail, it sounded veiled in comparison to the lavry.
The Stello DP200- I really wanted this thing to be perfect, I’ve always coveted the 220 line of dacs. And I actually think this is where I’m going, but I have to give you the reasons why I have concerns. First of all, it just doesn’t sound neutral, a little sweet I think. Secondly, it didn’t layer orchestras as well as the lavry, and finally it wasn’t as detailed as I would like. In fact, reading the forum, the detail of the Stello came as the biggest surprise, I never would have thought that this dac had any less detail than the lavry/benchmark. Oh, but there are good things- it has more impact, a wider soundstage, more vivacity/musicality, far better dynamics, and a beautifully clear treble.
E M M LABS DUDE! 
