For all Merason gear
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@gerihifi saw you have a DAC-1 in for demo, would be very curious on our thoughts on it, it’s a great dac but little discussion around it
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Will do! Have it here for 1 week…
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MERASON DAC1 - Feedback after 1 week of testing and listening ~20h (yes, had some time listening, due Covid infection)
- This review is from an music-enthusiastic person, not an audiophiliac with ton’s of DAC experience!
Model: Merason DAC 1 (with USB, I2S-interface optional)
Current EU price: €4.9k
Vendor: Merason – Passion for music - Interesting owner story
Real reviews: Testfazit: Merason DAC-1 – D/A-Wandler | fairaudio (only German)
Curated playlist - I use as reference: AudioEnthusiasticTesting on TIDAL
Demo gear: CM-Audio (if you are from Germany, ask them they are very professional & helpful, offer many demo-set’s, like Merason & Antipodes!)
How it sounds?
- Very musical & emotional listening
- Also very balanced, no matter what kind of genres I played
- Bass is very nice defined - not “hardcore” like my AKM DSP in the Rotel Michi X5
- Vocals, live music, very harmonic-detailed
- Also when I listening to less volume, still details and soundstage was there, better then with Michi DSP
- I’d call it: longtime-listening-qualified
Cables fitted best in my setup?
Output: XLR Curious Cables
Input: AES/EBU NBS Omega 2
How it is built?
- Needless to say, but it’s a swiss product, you see it on every screw, perfect!
- Connectors look all very high quality, not just average
How it looks (white panel in white-glas, silver cover)?
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Gerihifi…
I have an opportunity to get a Dac 1 used for a good price. Is it better than Lampizator Amber 4 or Baltic 3? (comparisons). Your review makes it sound like what I’m looking for, even though it is not a r2r dac.
Any thoughts…
Tks
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Hans “dry toast” Beekhuyzen just reviewed the Frérot, short take, he like it and put it near the bottom of his system 1 but you have to get the matching external power supply for it to really do its thing.
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Good morning, I’ve only listened to an Amber 3 in HiFi store and was okay for me. I’d would say the Merason goes in this direction, but my listening test at home with Merason was a different league.
If i would search in the €4-5k range/sigma-delta & multibit, would immediate go for MERASON DAC1. Ferrot is sure a good start, but way under the DAC1.
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Trying to read between the lines, you feel thr R2R dacs are better sounding and more musical than the Merason Dac 1?
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R2R may sound differntely and tube rolling another story (never owened something with tubes).
I personally think the MERASON DAC1 sounds very musical (warmer, but still detailed) and will be in the direcion of an R2R DAC. I am very confident you are happy with it.
I’ll go for a tubed based DAC ar the end of the year, used Lampizator (Horizon) or from Abbas. But NOT to replace my Weiss DAC 501, only to have somethint different.
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Oh shit, that’s a massive jump, not sure it would even be a comparison with the weiss or merason lol, if you do end up with one, let me know how it is, still considering one
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How do you receive something from Abbas? Do they ship from Ukraine? Do they have US distributors? Sounds interesting, good reviews but kinda of risky.
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Write him an email, he is very responsive - he sends you than the list he is currently building and whats available to purchase. Unfortunately you need to do some homework first (gear details he send me, was very detailed of part numbers 
Its getting a bit better, at least in Kiew and postal services still working, so thats for me not a high risk.
In my last Email to him, he said quite confident that he is sending out gear all over the place. Of course he has challenge with components as everyone else.
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Correction here!: talking about pacific, sorry (too enthusiastic typing)!
My personal christmas present, just chasing someone to get a chance to listen first in my chain…so i’ll not rush until i’ve heard it some days in my chain
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Just fwiw, there are a lot of used pacifics for sale by lampi poland at some damn good prices right now
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Thx, saw them already;-)
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I’m sure every used Pacific they’re selling is a new Horizon they’ve sold.
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Ok… About ready to pull the cord on Merason Dac 1. The big question in my mind … will I regret not having DSD capabilities? When I look at DSD it is mainly classical music and I’m not a big fan. So did I answer my own question?
I wouldn’t worry about it if you aren’t already heavily invested in DSD. You could always convert dsd to pcm if you did have a sacd/dsd album you wanted to play back. But yes there’s not much on dsd outside of classical, jazz, world music, and then classic hits. Don’t really think you’d be missing out on anything
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as @M0N says, you can still play DSD, just converted to PCM, I wouldn’t sweat it.
My personal view: never, ever I care about DSD.
Why? If you don’t buy original recorded DSD or you own a large SACD collection, makes for me no sense. From an audible prospective, I prefer PCM .
If you wanna dive deeper in, recommend this page: DSD vs PCM [Myth Debunking, Read Definitive Guide 2022]
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