Now I'm waiting for the arrival of my new DAC - Norma DA1 on two R2R 1704 chips. I will share my impressions.
Brief impressions of my new true balanced NOS DAC Norma HS-DA1 on PCM1704 chips in comparison with Chord Hugo 2.
1. Chord Hugo 2 is an excellent DAC, but in the context of use with STAX too sharp and bright. Less bright than the RME ADI 2, but still. To tame it a bit you should use a copper interconnect cable. Silver is contraindicated.
2. Direct comparison of Norma DA1 with Hugo 2 at the first listening revealed no differences. Well, that is, I did not hear them: both DACs sounded exactly the same. Once again, this is with direct listening and cycling the inputs back and forth.
3. BUT! Then for 10 days I listened to just Norma DA1 and this is what I got.
- It used to be unpleasant to listen to some music on the Hugo 2: in some places I cringed because of the harshness of the frequency range. With the Norma DA1 this problem disappeared completely, listening is not any discomfort at all.
- On the Hugo, the bass is tight and detailed. On Norma the bass is a bit relaxed, but it sets the scale.
- A wider and deeper scene.
- The overall musical presentation of the Norma DA1 is different. It is very difficult to describe. It's as if the sounds are all coupled together, flowing into each other. The style is neat, airy, graceful, intelligent.