[Rhamnetin]

DACs don't make nearly as big a difference with non-electrostatic systems, but once you get to KGSSHV Carbon/BHSE tier amps and SR-009 tier headphones, DAC can make or break the system. For reference, switching between a Chord Hugo 2 and Denafrips Venus DAC changes the sound far more than going between a KGSSHV Carbon amp and a BHSE.

Chord Mojo vs Chord Hugo 2 wasn't too big of a difference with my previous Mjolnir Audio Pure BiPolar + Audeze LCD-4 or LFF Code-6 setup. I could easily live with a Mojo on that. But the Mojo destroys my current Stax system, makes it sound awful.

 

[mulveling]

And that's true too - Stax systems can become so resolving that even subtle changes are pushed more into the limelight. Glad I'm no longer messing with DACs, either way. You'll also notice more differences on high-end speaker setups, because the ability to render a large 3D sound-field becomes crucial there, and usually only high end sources are really good at that.

 

[weasel1979]

DACs don't make nearly as big a difference with non-electrostatic systems, but once you get to KGSSHV Carbon/BHSE tier amps and SR-009 tier headphones, DAC can make or break the system. For reference, switching between a Chord Hugo 2 and Denafrips Venus DAC changes the sound far more than going between a KGSSHV Carbon amp and a BHSE.

Chord Mojo vs Chord Hugo 2 wasn't too big of a difference with my previous Mjolnir Audio Pure BiPolar + Audeze LCD-4 or LFF Code-6 setup. I could easily live with a Mojo on that. But the Mojo destroys my current Stax system, makes it sound awful.

So when you listen to vinyl or a CD, your system sounds awful?

 

[Rhamnetin]

So when you listen to vinyl or a CD, your system sounds awful?

No idea. I only use digital systems. I'm curious about it, but my music selection leaves me with digital as my only choice.

 

[weasel1979]

The way you describe your system, it seems that it can provide much better sound quality than a middle tier DAC (=CD quality) ever could, so I conclude that a CD would make your system sound awful, just as a Chord Mojo would, as you said.

 

[HoloSpice]

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

I think he needs a better amp and dac.

 

[weasel1979]

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

Oh give me a break

 

[SeaWo|f]

I'm pretty hard on z reviews because while I don't care about crazy subjective opinions, they are just that opinions. He gets objective facts very wrong then passes judgement on things because of it.

 

[AthenaZephyrian]

Or one of the Teac DACS

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.

I've only dealt with four DACs. 1) SMSL M3 (been too long to characterize) 2)SMSL M6 (clean, clear, pretty detailed, tied for best I've heard) 3)HRT MS II (grainy, textured, warm--fairly different than SMSL M6) FiiO X3II line-out (very, very transparent, detailed, but slow transient response).

I agree that cans, mastering, and amps make more of a difference. It was a bit exaggerated, but compare to codec/bitrate/op-amp, the differences are a fair bit more notable.

I've just upgraded 1&2...which is why I'm now examining DACs.

 

[AthenaZephyrian]

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

I've only listened to a single vinyl album...it sounded a fair bit worse, and a spectrogram showed visible distortion.

 

[AthenaZephyrian]

I'm pretty hard on z reviews because while I don't care about crazy subjective opinions, they are just that opinions. He gets objective facts very wrong then passes judgement on things because of it.

"Tubes just **** up the sound, and you need to have an SS amp before you can have a tube amp"

That's just uh....like, your opinion, man. SS can and will **** things up more... it just depends on the particular unit. Yes, they add some harmonics, and yes, SS is capable of better fidelity, but there are some awful SS amps out there.

 

[QueueCumber]

Anytime I think I’ve heard a difference between two well-engineered DACs, when I switch back and forth, I then notice the same thing I thought I noticed on one DAC that was different on the other one... lol

That goes for well-engineered solid state amps as well.

So, I focus mostly on the transducers now, and buy other gear based on engineering, utility, and aesthetics. If the consensus is it’s a great piece, chances are better it won’t lose as much value down the road.

 

[AthenaZephyrian]

DACs don't make nearly as big a difference with non-electrostatic systems, but once you get to KGSSHV Carbon/BHSE tier amps and SR-009 tier headphones, DAC can make or break the system. For reference, switching between a Chord Hugo 2 and Denafrips Venus DAC changes the sound far more than going between a KGSSHV Carbon amp and a BHSE.

Chord Mojo vs Chord Hugo 2 wasn't too big of a difference with my previous Mjolnir Audio Pure BiPolar + Audeze LCD-4 or LFF Code-6 setup. I could easily live with a Mojo on that. But the Mojo destroys my current Stax system, makes it sound awful.

You think I'll need to upgrade to get the proper Stax experience, or can I hold off a bit till I have more to spend?

 

[Rhamnetin]

The way you describe your system, it seems that it can provide much better sound quality than a middle tier DAC (=CD quality) ever could, so I conclude that a CD would make your system sound awful, just as a Chord Mojo would, as you said.

Makes sense about CD quality, so you are probably right about that.

You think I'll need to upgrade to get the proper Stax experience, or can I hold off a bit till I have more to spend?

I think it largely depends on what you're used to listening to. Back when I was using the AKG K7xx and Beyerdynamic DT 880, the little electret Stax SR-30 sounded noticeably more transparent than those (but not a huge difference and its drawbacks made it worse). I have no idea how a Stax Lambda sounds, but I was very pleased with my SR-007 + KGSS + Chord Mojo setup when I had it. But that was before I was accustomed to my current system.

 

[AthenaZephyrian]

Makes sense about CD quality, so you are probably right about that.



I think it largely depends on what you're used to listening to. Back when I was using the AKG K7xx and Beyerdynamic DT 880, the little electret Stax SR-30 sounded noticeably more transparent than those (but not a huge difference and its drawbacks made it worse). I have no idea how a Stax Lambda sounds, but I was very pleased with my SR-007 + KGSS + Chord Mojo setup when I had it. But that was before I was accustomed to my current system.

Ok, so I'll probably be ok with what I have until I have time to sell my 2 ipod nanos and a few cans to finance a $300-600 DAC. Awesome