So continuing my thoughts from here
NOTE: This listening so far has been done exclusively with SACDs, this isn’t fair to evaluate on, so keep in mind this is best case for this DAC, just initial thoughts
Yesterday and today have been basically exclusively SACD ripping (didn’t have motivation to continue ripping my collection with only totaldac) and listening, and that means a lot of classical, a lot of classic rock, and a lot of jazz lol (although with some notable outliers that I ripped yesterday, one being a live kraftwerk album and another being rage against the machine). But I think this really is the one if you are a DSD fan in the slightest, easily the best I’ve ever heard these SACD hands down. Really just incredible performance with this format.
To actually give some other sonic notes, this is the most forgiving dac I’ve heard. But it’s also one of the best technically performing as well. I don’t know how this was achieved, but so far literally every sacd I’ve run though this sounds it’s best, can’t say that for other dacs I’ve tried. I don’t even think I’d call it embellishment either, it’s just emphasizing what’s good of everything lol. I really don’t know how it can make everything this good while offering this level of performance, I’ve found that my living room setup can end up quite ruthless at times, and I really don’t find it here, this either must be doing something really special or have great synergy with this system, I’m going to guess both lol. To be clear, it DOES NOT mask anything, all the flaws/shortcomings/meh aspects of the music are still present and obvious, but the big differentiator is that they aren’t painfully obvious or distracting. It gives you everything, but unlike other dacs of this caliber it’s able to take the best out of what you are listening to AND make you not really care about the less than desirable aspects. Really impressive
I will say though, that I am only listening to sacd which typically have a higher quality of production, so that could be skewing what I think, but don’t worry, I’ll make sure to run some proper garbage through it to see how low it can go (like some of the stuff in my most recent post in the music thread for example lol, need a break from old stuff anyways)
A really interesting characteristic so far is almost a sense of delicacy and sweetness throughout the entire range, but I only noticed this when switching back to the totaldac, it just has a really (and I genuinely hate to say this so I almost never do, but I’m using it to describe sonic characteristic, not use it in the way some others do, so it’s fine this one time) analog sound. By that I mean it really does sound like a proper reel to reel playing a master tape, although without the technical limitations that sometimes come along with analog tape to my ears. I had a friend say it sounded like vinyl, and to be honest I don’t really hear that, but that’s also because I think I’ve just found vinyl to vary wildly in sound characteristics from setup to setup but most reel to reel setups I’ve heard sound more consistent so I’m comfortable saying that.
Well that’s all fine and good, but what does that actually mean for the sound? It’s the most sweet yet well balanced dac I’ve heard, what I’m trying to say is that it strikes the best balance between sweetness and roundness with realism, it manages to make everything sound fairly fleshed out without calling any attention to the fact that it’s doing so, it doesn’t really sound colored until you compare with something else.
I did say this was a sweeter and more rounded/slightly soft sounding dac, but it never feels like it’s overly thick or rich either, it’s never artificially weighty or light, it’s fairly well weighted and it’s very consistent in it’s weight too. Makes you forget what it’s doing in a really positive way. I do think that there are times where it’s roundness and bloom are noticeable, and while that’s not ideal for all music I put through it so far, I didn’t really find it to detract from my experience much at all
Coherency and liquidity is top notch, and another stand out strength, everything is blended so damn well in a good way, and feels so organic and realistic.
Spatially, it’s strange. It’s very very black and excellent depth, fantastic separation, but it doesn’t recreate space as traditionally as I’d expect. This will make no sense, but it’s like being put in a room with high humidity if that make sense, everything feels more dense and thick and contrast is exaggerated, and I already mentioned the very vacant background so I don’t think I’m hearing a noisy background, it’s just like there’s a sense of more compactness and colored stage and space. I need more time to understand this one, and it’s also not really as stand out, it does feel a bit more flat and no nonsense than other dacs in this range, I think it’s blackness and separation really sorta save it from sounding unengaging or lacking in this regard, evening space out to be “average”
I do think that currently directness and incisiveness is a bit restrained, in the sense that all the information is there and very organic and sweet, but feels a bit more, hmmmm, not restrained but not really as tangible. It’s very enveloping but isn’t exactly gripping for me, like it’s not as “I’m there” as some others that I’ve heard. This doesn’t exactly take away from the experience, but I’d say the priority of this dac is to more take the best from the source and make it a very organic and pleasing experience and little drawback, and is less concerned with creating a more realistic and “there”. I don’t want this to sound like a knock, it’s just a very specific sonic goal it has and nails, but it’s not the most realistic/uncolored dac I’ve heard because of that, but again that’s totally fine for what it goes with and what it achieves.
Really those aspects have been what I’ve been focusing on right now, Further impressions and comparisons to come