[shadowlord]

Hi all!

i want to upgrade my paradisea in my main rig and move the paradisea to my second rig.

the paradisea is fed with a esi maya 44 soundcard out of a pc.
the paradiesa sounds good but compared to my cambridge audio azur 640C v2 cd-player i miss some impact and drive in the music.

i could not listen to any dac in my area so ordering online is my only option.

i'm looking to spend around 500 euros (625 $). should i wait for a CA dacmagic or are there any other options. will the dacmagic even sound as good as my 640c?

i listen mostly with my elac 244 speakers fed by the CA 640A v2 amp.

any suggestions ?

 

[shadowlord]

i searched the net a bit and think that i might want an upsampling dac this time.

would i notice an improvement with the stello DA100 ?

 

[XXII]

I think for $625 you won't find a DAC that's clearly better than the Paradisea. If you want bang for buck you should try the Oritek OMZ DAC.

 

[Ricey20]

Yea, either the Oritek or a modded zero I think. The DA100 is a good choice too, but I think it won't be much of an improvement over the Paradisea, maybe just a different taste ie more of a side step upgrade.

 

[LarryK2]

. . . the problem is the DAC? If I understand correctly, you are comparing the sound of your stand alone CDP to the PC/DAC combo. There are many ways in which the SQ could be degraded before the data ever reaches the DAC. The upsampling in the DacMagic might help with SQ vs. the Paradisea if you are not getting good data from the PC - otherwise, most likely a sideways move.

I'm pretty new at computer audio, but you might want to check out the "PC Audio" section at Audio Asylum or "Computer as Source" here.

Cheers,
Larry

 

[shadowlord]

i don't think that the pc is the problem. when i connect the cdp to the paradisea and switch between the inputs there is little to none difference.

but i have a stock zero dac in my pc setup.
do you think that i should order the hdam and compare the modded zero to the paradisea? is the zero an oversampling dac?
and which hdam should i get, earth, moon or sun.?

 

[XXII]

btw have you rolled any tubes in your paradisea? You say you are missing drive and impact. With the right tube, these were exactly what I thought were the strengths of the paradisea.

 

[shadowlord]

i was using a 60's WE 369A for a year or so and now i'm using a Bendix 2c51. I'm still searching for a 50's WE JW 2c51/369A.

what tube do you recommend, XXII?

btw, could i replace the output opamp in the paradisea with a hdam to?
if so i maybe order one and see where it works best, in the zero or in the paradisea.

 

[BigTony]

You most certainly want to replace the zero opamp with a HDAM. I'm loving Earth atm, but I have Sun and Moon to play with as my fancy takes me.

 

[shadowlord]

i just placed the order for the EARTH.
let's see how well and if it work in the paradisea.

 

[shadowlord]

i have a little update here.

i'm now using a western electric jw2c51 tube in the paradisea which sounds even better than the bendix jan2c51 i used before.

i tried the earth in the paradisea to, but there only was a small difference.
but the difference from stock zero to earth was night and day.
maybe the opamp in the paradisea is nearly as good as the earth.
i just placed the order for the opa sun and will compare that next week.

 

[shadowlord]

oops. double post