[Rhamnetin]

Unfortunately, I wouldnt be able to audition any good DAC... But thanks for the suggestion... Would R2R dacs go well with SR 007A?

The two R2R DACs I've used (Holo Audio Spring DAC level 3 and Denafrips Venus) sound too laid back to me. It makes me wonder if R2R by nature is weak in treble, but I don't have enough experience to know for sure.

 

[rattler]

OK... So, in general, would Delta Sigma DACs be well suited to 007A?

 

[Whitigir]

The two R2R DACs I've used (Holo Audio Spring DAC level 3 and Denafrips Venus) sound too laid back to me. It makes me wonder if R2R by nature is weak in treble, but I don't have enough experience to know for sure.

R2R is not weak in trebles. It is just different. I have both lks004 and R2R7 and they are very different. I prefer r2R7 more, due to how natural and realistic the timbres and details are being presented, while 004 is excellent to pick the music a part as everything is more or less over-saturated, and that is the typical ofersampling of Delta sigma DAC

 

[Rhamnetin]

OK... So, in general, would Delta Sigma DACs be well suited to 007A?

Too much of a general statement. I think a neutral, transparent DAC opposed to a laid back one is well suited to the SR-007A since it'd be easy to make it sound too laid back. I personally haven't been impressed by standard chip based DACs either, only Chord has done it for me but opinions here will vary wildly.

Would be really cool if someone did a huge DAC comparison between all the major players. Due to DACs being rather hard to audition, with many interesting high end models being boutique and not having many retailers, people usually don't try more than a few different brands of very high end DACs.

R2R is not weak in trebles. It is just different. I have both lks004 and R2R7 and they are very different. I prefer r2R7 more, due to how natural and realistic the timbres and details are being presented, while 004 is excellent to pick the music a part as everything is more or less over-saturated, and that is the typical ofersampling of Delta sigma DAC

By weak, I really only meant lower (weaker) response in the higher frequencies. Which would be to a lot of peoples' liking.

 

[rattler]

Thanks much! Sorry for the generalization

 

[mulveling]

Yeah the lines get blurred easily with DACs. I have an ECP Audio DAC with a Delta-Sigma Wolfson chip that sounds warmer and more analog (also a little less detailed) than the R2R Yggdrasil (1st version). The excellent transformer-coupled output stage of the ECP is possibly where it gets this advantage. I am so happy with vinyl & Stax, though - else I would probably have to buy a very expensive DAC to fully satisfy

 

[AthenaZephyrian]

I bet you guys really hate Z-Review's "DACs above $200 aren't really much better at all" rant... I've certainly found that, in that range, crap has massive variations...but I've never had the money to spend on a really good one, because I'd rather get headphones that hit the point of similarly diminishing returns. I think I've finally done that...so now it's time to roll DACs

 

[Whitigir]

I bet you guys really hate Z-Review's "DACs above $200 aren't really much better at all" rant... I've certainly found that, in that range, **** has massive variations...but I've never had the money to spend on a really good one, because I'd rather get headphones that hit the point of similarly diminishing returns. I think I've finally done that...so now it's time to roll DACs

People who believes, or states such statement, has no clues, and has never experienced high-fidelity sound performances.

 

[AthenaZephyrian]

People who believes, or states such statement, has no clues, and has never experienced high-fidelity sound performances.

I think our friend Zeos just can't hear particularly well from how loudly he listens to his Stax/HE6's/HD800s' lol

 

[Rhamnetin]

I bet you guys really hate Z-Review's "DACs above $200 aren't really much better at all" rant... I've certainly found that, in that range, **** has massive variations...but I've never had the money to spend on a really good one, because I'd rather get headphones that hit the point of similarly diminishing returns. I think I've finally done that...so now it's time to roll DACs

Me to zeos

 

[Whitigir]

I think our friend Zeos just can't hear particularly well from how loudly he listens to his Stax/HE6's/HD800s' lol

In Asia, people has a favorite term for this “wooden ears” or “Ox-ears”.

Simply because neither the wood nor the Ox will care or know what the hell is music anyways ...though, I am not sure if dog or cat can actually hear and enjoy music LOL

 

[AthenaZephyrian]

In Asia, people has a favorite term for this “wooden ears” or “Ox-ears”.

Simply because neither the wood nor the Ox will care or know what the hell is music anyways ...though, I am not sure if dog or cat can actually hear and enjoy music LOL

I love that. Imma use that for my sister. I offered to buy her a pair of M50X's or decent IEMs if she'd just stop blasting music on Amazon Alexa...she refused. She also refused, for years on end, to try my headphones, and only uses Beats and apple earbuds.

 

[VRacer-111]

I bet you guys really hate Z-Review's "DACs above $200 aren't really much better at all" rant... I've certainly found that, in that range, **** has massive variations...but I've never had the money to spend on a really good one, because I'd rather get headphones that hit the point of similarly diminishing returns. I think I've finally done that...so now it's time to roll DACs

I'm not too hard on Z like many here, but absolutely disagree with his view on DACs. Every DAC I have had brings something different, no matter the cost. From Schiit Bifrost, to Audioquest Dragonfly Red, to JDS Labs EL DAC, to Gustard X20U, to RME ADI-2 DAC, and to the Shanling M0 DAP - they are all different sounding when it come to the details of their presentation.

While differences may not be huge, they are there and the Bifrost is by far the least favorite I've heard in my setups... too harsh and sterile sounding. The JDS EL DAC has the worst USB implementation I've heard from a DAC, but the Coaxial SPDIF is REALLY good - on par with the Gustard X20U at least. The Shanling M0 and Gustard X20U are my overall favorites for my dynamic setup with my modded Gustard H10 amp - they have excellent clarity and detail with nice body and low end presentation. The RME ADI-2 works great for my STAX L300 Limited setup with really precise detail and clarity and extremely punchy lowend, though I do slightly prefer the Gustard X20U for its smoother and more fuller presentation with the STAX.

Though I may slightly prefer the smoothness and fullness from Gustard X20U, the RME ADI-2 has a cleaner, clearer sound with more punchy lowend and crazy amount of features that line up well for pairing with my STAX setup - especially since I'm using the very nice NAD C275BEE stereo amp. The most important features for me being: extremely clean and black noise floor from USB, fully customizeable 5-channel EQ (ability to EQ L and R channels separately as well), Bass and treble adjustment (further 2 channels of fully customizeable EQ), balance adjustment, adjustable crossfeed setting, and ability to know what exact signal type, bit rate, and frequency you are receiving from your sources. Plus also has dedicated headphone and IEM jacks and nice graphic analyzer to make it a fully rounded out unit.

Also perfect size match for stacking with the Mjolnir SRD-7:

 

[weasel1979]

Compared to headphones first and then amps, I don't hear much of difference between DACs. Also, it kind of proofs to others that your hearing is very good, when you talk about HUGE differences between DACs, so maybe some of these differences are a little bit exaggerated? Just maybe, really. To me, the following things are more important soundqualitywise than the DAC:

1. the headphone (the better the better)
2. the amp (same)
3. the recording, mixing and mastering quality of the song
4. your own mood / form / daytime
5. Dac (?)

So before spending 4000 Dollars on a DAc, I would always upgrade 1 and 2 first. Everything I said was just My opinion.

 

[mulveling]

Yes @weasel1979 (that your birth year? mine too!) I totally agree - the sounds of various DACs seems to run much MUCH closer together than when comparing electrostatic amps and headphones. I should've qualified my earlier DAC opinions by noting that I find the differences fairly subtle. Exacerbating the problem is that often digital master of albums are of very poor quality, and there's only so much you can do with that. But then I'm a hardcore vinyl junkie, so you have to discount my opinions appropriately on this. In vinyl, things like changing cartridges definitely makes a BIG difference.

Yeah I don't like the Z-reviews guy, but not for that particular opinion