Hey guys, back again with even more impressions.
Status quo as of now:
Music Fidelity MX-DAC + Music Fidelity MX-HPA is the winning Setup for now.
As mentioned in my earlier post, I compared it to the T+A DAC8 (with its integrated headphone amp).
Sound wise the T+A is a real pleaser. Warm, detailed, nice soundstage. Even though the MFs do not reproduce a sound as warm, they just play much more “to the point”. Better separation, therefore a wider soundstage, just more “airy”. Furthermore they just seem quicker, faster, less decay. Sure, that might be a personal taste thing, but I prefer it to the cuddly sound of the T+A.
And to pin point what component has the bigger effect on the sound, I connected the MX-HPA to the T+A DAC. Sound got a tiny bit warmer with the MX-HPA, but that might be my mind tricking me. So the headamp is responsible - for the most part - for the sound signature (DUH
Witch led me to the conclusion that a less expensive DAC feeding the MF MX-HPA might do the trick too. So I ordered the Ifi Micro DSD for testing… yeah, more testing!
Another thing bothering me a little bit was the T+A Windows driver. It just doesn’t feel as smooth working as the Musical Fidelity driver does. Switching devices in Foobar or TIDAL took longer, sometimes - after device changes - sound play stopped altogether. Only restarting the player helped. In addition, most of the time the T+A just clipped the first 0.5sec of a new track (especially in TIDAL).
Also, changing the volume resulted in some white noise. Not always, but often enough.
Lastly, and that is a personal thing again: the T+A has just too much customization options. I counted six combinations of Filters one could apply. Moreover, they actually sound quite different. Therefore, if you would want the best sound, you have to play around and find the best filter for each album or genre. Even though there is one configuration, which seemed to be the lowest common denominator, I always would feel the urge to play around with that configuration.
Anyway, I have a feeling my journey to my personal Hi-Fi summit might come to a close soon. At least one Musical Fidelity Device will be there with me.
@gnomen (aka Robert) Actually, i would have tried the Hugo. However, getting one in these parts for auditioning might just be too big an annoyance.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers
Pumpe19