The battery version is one of them, but I actually think there’s another as well newer called the mkii or something, not heard that one though (and that’s a weird modular setup with 4 different dac module options, ULT 2, ULT 1, NOS, and HRZ)
Well, that would def lean more toward warmer and relaxed, I can see that potentially being laid a bit too thickly for some depending on the headphone, it would be potentially enjoyable though, I don’t think it would be full overboard as long as you are ok with a fairly warm lean
I’d just make sure you are reasonably committed, because I have a feeling if you did get one and find it’s not for you, might be a harder flip in general since it’s not as well known and documented
SO. Over the past many months, I have been amassing the dacs needed for the test. Had to buy some to get them, others were long term loaned from a few friend, one of them a hoarder of sub 5k dacs lol so that really helped. Here is what I have on hand
May KTE (borrowed from a friend)
La Voce S3 (had to grab on my own again)
Amber 3 (borrowed from a friend, was going to just buy a 4, but didn’t realize he already had one)
Morpheus (had to grab on my own)
Already had the terminator recently enough, not buying that thing again
TT2 (had to grab on my own)
Yggy A2 (borrowed from a friend)
SW1X DAC II Special (borrowed from a friend)
Rockna Wavelight (borrowed from a friend)
Still waiting on:
Bricasti M3 (had to grab on my own)
As much as I wanted to include used things that fit in budget, I am sticking to my currently made at or under 5k cap.
I have had some of these for many months now, and some just came in the past month. I have been listening to them infrequently, I have not had that much time to really get around it, and admittedly, I find it largely uninteresting to listen to these dacs at this point, so it hasn’t been a priority.
I will get to both listening and further compiling my notes, but first, I will actually convert my current dac comparison to article format and potentially try to rewrite/redo some sections for more clarity (although I might just be lazy and port it over as is, I will also be password protecting the article, so that only forum members can see this piece), and trying to rethink how I do things to make it a bit more reader friendly this time and not a random spew/collection of my notes. I will also make it more brief than before, try to really summarize things while maintaining a reasonable amount of information.
I said I was going to do this, so I’m going to try and get it done within the next month or so, not sure on the time frame
Here is a question for those still interested in the comparison, when it comes to digital signal chain before hitting the dac, should I mainly evaluate with my main digital chain or with more price/tier appropriate digital gear? As in is it fair for dacs to be fed with an antipodes k50 + many reclockers and whatnot, or just out of their native inputs or more price fair ddc/streamers? I ask this because I know some of these will absolutely take advantage of that more than others and I don’t want to unrealistically skew my comparisons for those that might use this info who wouldn’t be dropping easily 25-30 grand into a server/reclocker setup. I guess same concerns about using my powerplant?
I don’t have similar concerns for interconnects or amps because that’s going to treat things more fairly imo, that’s moreso just removing any potential bottlenecks than giving an advantage depending on design
Also, because of this dac comparison thing, I still am selling all the aforementioned stuff beforehand, but I am keeping around a few of the amps for a bit just so I can get more reference on this (then they are gone lol)
So… I should really hold off putting the order in for the Morpheus… OK, OK…
Also, I guess there was no Spring 3 KTE, oh well Maybe it is the May KTE I should consider…
I think a K50 or anything obscene, say more than a $1k reclocker would be not the norm. I think a lot of these DACS are bought used by people and it’s a stretch to begin with.
We know an improved signal will help them, but it wouldn’t be a real world scenario IMO. I’d love to see you talk about differences in input as I thought the BNC and AES inputs on the Amber sounded better to me. But then again that was before I’d tried a higher end USB cable.
I’m tripling the work load with that request, I know. lol
Another thought, in your experience does the improved upstream digital signal raise all ships equally or do some DAC benefit a lot more than others?
I know the May is supposed to have an insane USB input that’s impervious to noise and jitter so would that not be improved?
Ditto what @dB_Cooper just responded.
Yes, I know a better source to the DAC makes a difference but something that is over 50% the price of the DAC is not happening, at least for me in the early on stage of DAC ownership. Now 1-1.5K for something like an UltraRendu or a better than bargain basement DDC - is reasonable. But for your comparison even that may be a given with your audience (that we know a better source makes a difference - and would to any DAC we choose) and not needed.
Edit:My budget is tight - and I do know that others have more flexibility in their budget and may be interested in knowing the interactions with higher tier sources to the DACs. It was selfish of me to want to keep it at nice shit to oh shit level. You should do as you see fit, I’ll adapt/adjust down to my comfort zone.
I’d say 2k+ is unreasonable but under that is potentially plausible
In terms of reasonable digital sources around the house, all I have left is a berkeley alpha usb, sonore ultrarendu, a jcat usb isolator, and allo usbridge signature player. I might have another ddc laying around somewhere that isn’t overkill. But I’d likely use the sonore + nice psu as an example of a good usb source, and the berkeley alpha as a nice spdif or aes signal, and the allo as an example of a good budget streamer (I might as well buy a pi2aes as well to cover the spdif budget streamer)
That’s what I was thinking as well, but also to be fair some of these amps aren’t that much of a real world scenario either
I think the spdif vs usb on the amber is an interesting comparison, typically when fed with a good spdif type source the amber takes a more clenely and neutral approach at things (a bit less fun), where usb tends to lean warmer and more laid back in comparison, both equally can be good just depends on what digital source you have and your cabling for that digital source as well
Some benefit a lot more than others which is why I was more concerned about that. Some dacs are a lot more picky about what’s being fed into them than others, which is something to consider when deciding to purchase a dac at this level
With the may, from my experience using usb is preferred sound wise to using things like aes/spdif, although not tried i2s since I never really cared about that input. The may is nice in that it’s not that picky to the incoming digital signal so it can sound better than other dacs with lesser incoming signals, but that can become a problem since it doesn’t seem to scale as high as other dacs in the price range with incoming digital sources (but if that actually matters at this price point is debatable, the may’s ability to better handle worse signals is a positive more often than not)
Would agree
Yep
Makes sense
Nah I get that, which was why I asked because I figured it wouldn’t really be that valuable if I almost cheated rankings, it’d be like injecting an athlete with a shit ton of steroids and then competing, not fair and not something most people are willing to do lol
No, because turns out the person I was going to demo it from ended up selling it, since he thought the may was still a reasonable step up from it and that it was also close enough to the spring 2 kte that I didn’t need to hear it (fair enough). Also with the competition, honestly the may kte makes more sense to compare anyways imo. If the may kte is on a similar level with the la voce or amber, I don’t think the spring 3 is likely to compete any better lol
Closest reasonable might be using a shinai, but even then lol.
The collection of amps being used to judge will be:
Stella HP MK2
AIC-10
Studio T
Demone
2x Ultralinear
Egoista 845
394 II
OOR + Hypsos
Just basically what I have on hand at the moment. I apologize for not having more potentially realistic pairings but I think they are close enough to where there could potentially be value from those
In terms of just testing how things work as a dac, I will also be noting potential performance of the IO (different digital inputs and analog outputs), and also how well it acts as a preamp (although that’s a bit hard to do when I don’t really have any reasonable preamps in house anymore lol) since I would assume those are things that would be useful to know
Quote honestly, while maybe sometimes obscure, i thibk a lot of these are actualy reasonable expectations of what people may run. Especialy stuff like ferrum, 394, stella, and maybe even studio T/egoista
It’s also entirely different to put something on the endpoint as that DAC is shown as much as possible for what it is. Putting something super high end on the input signal of the DAC then we’re no longer hearing the DAC as it’s more native level.
So I think the logic is sound. Also if you don’t mind… can you do a single UL in the chain and not just dual? I’m being selfish in the request I know.
Sure lol, it’s more reasonable anyways. Although I mainly was only thinking of using it to test the preamp option, because LTA are somewhat picky on what pre they like and don’t like, expose that well
Ah! Hadn’t even considered the preamp needs. Wow… kinda sorta pretty massive undertaking when you start to lay it out based on needs. I guess if you are militant about the methodology and streamline what you’re actually going to write, it can help with taming it all from a time sink perspective.
Also, just a thought, might be a good thing to put on the front page as a writeup like that is likely to get the most amount of eyeballs ever here.
