Aqua dac thread, La Voce / La Scala / Formula xHD / LinQ

It’s not really a fair comparison, the LaVoce S3 is a $4K+ DAC, the closest thing in the Chord range would be the Hugo TT2, (Chord used prices tend to be inflated), even there they’re really not trying to emphasize the same things.
All the chord DAC’s tend to emphasize resolution and dynamics, but present on the thin side.
I still have my LaVoce, and I think M0N pretty much covered it, it’s a relatively neutral sounding DAC with good technicalities for the price point.
I should note it is an NOS DAC, and NOS DAC’s can be something that people like or don’t.

I kept mine over an Amber 3, but I’d have been happy with either.

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Your initial post and the way you described both is what turned my eye on these DAC’s. I think if both popped up maybe I would go for Amber but actually the La Voce fits my needs in terms of connectivity much better so its the sensible choice.

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I picked up a La Voce yesterday, waiting on some cables before it can replace my BF2 in my 2-channel so I have it on my desk now. Did some listening yesterday, chain is probably low-fi for you guys, Asgard 3 and DT1990 with Dekoni Hybrid pads, but its already showing some magic on that chain. Initial impressions are more and better extended bass, there seems to be a warm glow coming from the music (could also be just pride of ownership glow, time will tell :slight_smile: ) , detail retrieval, space between instruments, placing of instruments. It will take some time to wrap my head around everything but there’s definitely a wow factor with some passages in the music. For reference, I was comparing with my old desk DAC, a Pro-ject Pre Box S2 Digital, an MQA DAC that was quite on par with Bifrost 2 when it was doing MQA, not so much on non-MQA content. Comparing this with La Voce is not a fair comparison to say the least. Source was Pro-ject Stream Box S2 Ultra.

Today I’m stuck in conference calls all day with La Voce sitting next to me, a bit of a mental torture to be honest…

Also want to add I’m impressed with the build quality: the quality of the front plate, the minimalistic look, the subtle details on the finish. The Italians sure know how to make beautiful things, it is much nicer in reality than it looks on the pictures.

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@esmse get any more time with the aqua?

Yes, its in my 2 channel now. I’ll try to put some of my thoughts in wording but we warned, I’m not as eloquent as @M0N in the Lingua Audiophila and my critical listening skills are … yeah, well, I don’t know where they are. My listening is via Roon, local flac on a NAS, Tidal and Qobuz on dedicated streamers.

So on Project Stream Box S2 Ultra → WW Starlight 8 USB → La Voce S3-> WW Silver Eclipse 7 -RCA → Asgard 3 → DT1990 Dekoni Hybrid Pads.
Compared with the DAC it was replacing, Project Pre Box S2 Digital, its an improvement in everything I guess. First impression was the bass, it was more in presence, better extended, clearly defined, good bass is always welcome. What really stood out after a while is the depth and the accuracy in creating that depth and the image with it. Not every song does this as good but I was listening to some Beastie Boys, Brass Monkey I think, and they were positioned in a triangle, 1 front, 2 back. It was so real, like the front was 3-4m and the back 2 a few m behind, each on left and right, you could hear that distance and the image was so clearly painted that it was really lifelike. Soundstage was very wide on my DT1990, I’ve never experienced a soundstage this wide and deep on these headphones. I’ve read they soundstage pretty well and owning them I was like, ok, I get it, there is a bit of width to them, as far as headphones can do this. But now, with La Voce, wow, wide AND deep, I think only now I really understand what they are capable of, I’m pretty happy with how they scaled but now I want better headphones. One upgraditis cured, another in the making :slight_smile: Also the Asgard 3, I’ve read it scales pretty well but for the money I really got a lot out of this pairing with the Aqua DAC and I’m really happy I got this depth thing going so well on the A3 + DT1990 combo.
Also worth mentioning is when I put the Bifrost 2 in the chain with Asgard 3, where it belongs. The initial impression was again with bass, there was immediately the impression of added bass. The Bifrost 2 has more slam to it, more meat on the bones and just more bass presence. It does not have the detail and definition from La Voce but the BF2 certainly has something going for it as well. My initial thought here was like damn, I will be losing some bass when I move this to the 2 channel… On soundstage and image, they don’t come close to La Voce I think but you can hear the BF2 making a good attempt in trying. There are hints of depth and the images are a bit hazy, you need some imagination to paint the picture. On La Voce it was sometimes so well defined that they could almost be there. BF2 is also pretty wide but I didn’t hear pops and little noise from far left and right like I did on La Voce. For the record, on the Project Pre Box S2 Digital its not worth talking about intangibles so I’m not comparing a lot there.

Then off to the 2-channel. There it replaced the Bifrost 2, my trustworthy knight in silver armor. The chain here was Ether Regen → Supra Cat 8+ → Sotm Ultra Neo + SPS500 → WW Starlight 8 USB → Aqua La Voce → Van den Hul The Rock RCA → Rega Aethos → Buchardt S400 MK2.
The changes on 2-channel are more subtle in most ways. Bass is a bit different, BF2 had a bit more slam maybe but La Voce seems to get more out of the recording in a way and gets more, well defined, bass from there if that makes sense. On the midrange, what stood out was the placement of the vocals. I didn’t really notice this on headphone, there it was mainly depth, depth, depth I noticed but On Englishman in New York for example it was like, hey, how come Sting is standing way over there now. I guess this is a DAC that puts you a few seats back, its also something that is more on some and less on others but it can certainly change the presentation compared to what you’re accustomed to. In my case it actually cured some forwardness in the upper mids I had in the speakers. By placing the stage a little further away, the forwardness was balanced out a bit. I miss a bit of the depth on speakers, I’m still/always playing with positioning but my room/setup is compromised in many ways so I’m not expecting any grand spectacles. Depth is there but not as clearly defined, not as deep as on headphones. Image is very sharp, no rough edges around instruments and soundstage is wide. There was also a noticeable improvement in dynamics with La Voce, on Jack Sparrow by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and with sections that had big changes in dynamics, it felt more as if there was an energy when the sound dropped or exploded. Also the little nuances in the play and separation of low and highs in the busy parts were from a different level then before on BF2.

On a general note I would describe this as a pretty neutral DAC, slightly tilted to the dark side maybe, with a smooth, laid back presentation. Tonality and timbre are natural, vocals have texture, soundstage is wide and deep, not front row but in the middle rows maybe. It impresses me especially with its accuracy in painting the image, the depth and then placement of sounds in that wide and deep soundstage.

On a more general note, this is my first DAC of this range in my house and I would have mixed feelings should I have payed 4k new for this. Diminishing returns and maybe even preference certainly come to mind when comparing with Bifrost 2. My respect for BF2 has grown and this little sucker punches way above its price level if you see some prices going these days. That being said, the small gap that La Voce closes brings you in awesome territory. You feel as if you have arrived at destination, the smoked glass is replaced with see through glass and you can finally see the painting now, especially on headphones. In that sense it gives you what you hoped for in every previous DAC but never quite got.

Now the warning, the experience with La Voce on headphone is sort of intoxicating/addictive, even on my very modest setup it brought me a lot of joy. I’ve resisted the headphone game, although being on this forum doesn’t help, and kept it modest. But putting this DAC on my desk has showed what my DT1990 can do, I’m already missing it and browsing the used markets again for DAC’s so that’s not a good sign. I’m also wondering a lot what a better headphone, let’s say ZMF Auteur, would add to the experience. I’m enjoying my BF2 but as the old saying goes, you can’t unhear what you have heard and I want it again. For my mental health I might just have to give in but my wallet has already tried to make a run for it. I need to act fast when something pops up, before conscience kicks in :grin:

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Does anybody know if the inputs on the back are easily swappable (ie. optical to aes) by the user? Or do you have to send it all the way to aqua?

As far as I know you have to send it to aqua and it is rather expensive.

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Dear all,

I’d would had a chance to get a pretty good price for an Aqua Formula xhd rev2 (€8k/1y old).
Any owner here to say something, is it in the league of Lampizator/Audio Note/EMM Labs/Meitner or my favorite Totaldac … ?

Thanks a lot!
Gerald

I used to own one, and to be honest I didn’t like it in my system. But I think that was due to a strong synergy and preference mismatch, it was a good dac in it’s own right and did have some characteristics at it’s price point, but it just wasn’t really for me or my system. I think it definitely competes with some of the aforementioned brands, I’d put it against something like a lampizator golden gate as an example (I did prefer the golden gate greatly but again I think that was due to my system)

For that price, honestly I’d strongly consider it because most of the competition isn’t going to drop that low used as the aqua has, it might be hard to beat for that price when it comes to some technical aspects. I would say it would probably be easy to sell if you didn’t like it, but given the nature of the product you’d probably have to wait and find the right buyer. I would be more hopeful when it comes to synergy in your system if you find the Merason to be working well, because I think it’s in a similar vein as that signature wise although more relaxed with a stronger micro focus (and of course much better technical ability)

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Long time since this post but could you please elaborate on the synergy mismatch here with the formula?

I have a formula xhd r2 with Linq streamer. Network into the Linq is via an antipodes k30 and I am using the riviera aic10 (brimar 13d5 for the moment) as an amp.

I’ve had the dac for 4 months and the AIC for nearly 2 now and the first couple of tracks each day wow me but after that I loose interest and feel fatigued; eventually switching off. From memory this wasnt an issue with my previous amp but that thing had weird noise issues that I was always tryng to chase rather than getting a chance to enjoy the music.

I’ve fiddled with different cables, taking the Linq out all together (usb direct from the K30) and to me running the bifrost 2 into the AIC sounds better than the formula.

The formula sounds very much in my face/immediate/direct and not what I expect from a R2R design.

Thankyou

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So that’s pretty interesting, my experience with the formula is actually the opposite, I found it to be way too smooth and soft, and really lacked engagement in most of my setups. I actually would expect high directness and immediacy from an r2r in this caliber (but shouldn’t be fatiguing), but it didn’t really have it from my experience.

I didn’t have my aic at the time I had the aqua so I wasn’t really able to test that pairup unfortunately. What amp were you running beforehand that the pairing ended up working out well?

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It was an amps and sound nautilus before hand; I got to home demo the aqua stack with the naut before committing but I was always fighting noise gremlins wiith that amplifier.

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Ah makes sense, the a&s amps have issues with noise generally, I haven’t heard the nautilus, but most a&s amps I’ve heard have issues with some random hum or buzz or being very sensitive to that, and others I’ve talked to as well have similar issues.

I’d assume this is mainly with headphones? What headphones are you running? If you find the bifrost to be a lot more listenable, perhaps ditching the aqua and looking for a better match along those lines might be advantageous? That is really strange the aqua is fatiguing, wonder if it’s due to something in the midrange that’s over prominent or something

Also, have you tried a few different tubes in the amp and seen if that solves anything?

I am sensitive to mid range so that’s what I’m thinking also.

At the moment susvara and stealth with d8kple on way.

Up to now I haven’t played with any of the hqplayer settings on the linq but I’m going to dabble tomorrow and see if there’s a setting that helps and go from there.

Off topic but any suggestions for dac’s to consider?

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:+1: nice cans

Wonder how that will go, I’ve not tried upsampling with the aqua dacs

At this point, generally what would you say your prirorities are for the new dac? As in what aspects would you mainly want to focus on?

You have a lot of options for sure, are you generally looking toward something in a similar performance tier as the xhd or a step lower or higher?

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Will report back - through the Linq hqcore module I get access to the hqplayer filters. Problem is if this is a solution it will only apply to digital streaming/playback not my cd transport. Still worth experimenting with.

Stay around the same or drop down - ideal would be something with good preamp capabilities as I could do with a bit more usable volume range with the AIC.

Priorities would be something with a good sense space, not mid forward or aggressive but not soft/mush at the same time; music is a mix of electronic through to rock to folk (no classical). Rather open to ideas.

I’m not chasing detail overload.

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:+1:

Well the preamp aspect knocked out a few things I was going to suggest lol (a mojo mystique evo since if you like the bf2 and what that does, while not a direct upgrade, it sort of goes for similar things), or a lampizator baltic 3 (think it would be a nice balance of everything and a good pairing if you wanted to step back a bit).

I would say the totaldac d1-single-mk2 with the live power upgrade would be a pretty solid upgrade without going overboard, although if you could go for a d1-six that would really be worthwhile as well. I’d describe them as a warmer slightly more relaxed focus, but very organic, great space, not mid forward or aggressive but nice directness and immediacy, and plays a wide range of music pretty well imo. Would say it’s on the richer side of things, but not soft nor overbearing. Solid preamp capability despite having a digital volume control.

Another solid fairly balanced option would be the bricasti m1se, that’s a more neutral and clean yet slightly relaxed and slightly smooth option that’s a great general all rounder and pretty refined as well. Solid preamp capability to boot as well. I will note though that while space is very accurate it’s not the most spatially involving option imo.

I might also suggest a rockna wavedream signature single ended, but it is a bit on the aggressive side of things at times, but I thought the pairup with the aic 10 didn’t really show that. It’s a bit more forward and wow factor but not exaggerated, great space, and also reasonably well rounded too, but perhaps not the most organic overall. The volume on the rockna is good but I wouldn’t say it’s the best implementation of volume control in a dac I’ve heard

If you could consider something like a lampizator golden gate, I think that would be a pretty appealing option as well, although I only do have the concern it might be on the soft side for what you might be looking for

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Thankyou

One local dealer carries lampizator + total so Ill see what they have available for demo.

They do have a big 7 mk2 in stock/ex demo but its sadly too deep for my rack.

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Just reporting back here, I’ve managed to get a demo La Scala unit (only has 20 hours on it) to compare against the formula.

Still early days but initial thoughts are the La Scala has a slightly richer tonality and a more intimate soundstage than the Formula. Really hard to pick the differences between them.

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