For all things totaldac
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Are the separate driver boxes required for most of the Totaldac options, or are internal output stages available for most?
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Basically all totaldac stuff has an output stage outside the direct (and the twelve has a switchable output stage). I personally think it’s somewhat necessary to sound good with the direct (technically you don’t have to use it, but you need a system that is ok with that low of gain and that high of output impedance, not suggested imo), but with the other totaldac the drivers are not needed and will be just fine without one. You can still use the drivers with other totaldac if you want, although I have only tried the drivers on the direct myself, but others I know report improvements with other totaldac as well when using the drivers
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Also, just now finally stacked the twelve on the rack (I don’t have the space to stack all of them on top of each other, so I’ve just stacked the left driver and monoblock together and done the same on the right, and the middle is the reclocker/splitter and the other reclocker. The lower rack contains all the psu. I just barely have enough plugs on the powerplant for them so that’s a relief lol), now time to wire it together lol. Moving audio gear is more exhausting than I expect, I guess that’s what happens with big transformers and heavy chassis, although the stress of moving the stuff and hoping nothing happens might be the more exhausting part of things lol
Incredibly hyped to get things going
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Sending positive vibes your way in hopes that it sates the itch for a good long while. lol
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Well have things connected, redid my diagram, this is how I have it wired (too many boxes and cables for fundamentally one thing lol)
Have had it warming up now before I listen, so far operates just like all the other totaldac stuff, now I only have one remote to control all the totaldac products (when applicable) which is nice. Did a quick check to make sure I had sound and nothing was fucked, it’s real promising lol
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I am very excited for you. I sincerely hope it melts you a little bit.
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So… 12 block totaldac stack including live powers? Thats almost as impressive at the schiit stack i saw that guy who owns every schiit product post
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So far from a setting perspective, (pre warmup) it def sounds better using the direct out to the drivers vs bypassing the drivers and using the internal output stage, I don’t feel the need to use FIR even though there is some upper end roll off but it’s not enough to bother me, volume works as expected, and everything controls correctly.
Sound wise, it’s good, damn good, exactly what I liked from the direct but taken a step further, and actually leans a bit more neutral, but not exactly sure on that yet. Can’t say much more than that right now
So 7 full size chassis, the reclocker, the splitter/reclocker, the monoblock dacs, the monoblock drivers, and a live power box in a full size chassis with 5 outputs (I have the reclocker, splitter, and dacs connected to the single box, not using the 5th for now), and then 2 small chassis live power for the drivers, so really it’s more like a 7 stack with 2 tiny boxes off to the side (if I built up, which I can’t/honestly don’t want to lol). Hold on let me make a quick visual how I have it on my rack
Here
The tiny ones are the smaller size single live powers, assume the big live power box powers everything except the drivers. Fit best within the rack this way, and imo seemed logical to separate the channels
Already happy I don’t have to worry about what tubes I’m using lol
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I didnt realize there was a love power box with mulriple outputs
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You can specify to get a full size chassis box with multiple live power as an option
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Very very nice feature. Was a good idea by them given the number of boxes their whole system consists of
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Holy crap, just realized… if you like these, we all may need to carve out a few days off to read through your review in this thread. LOL
Been a few hours since your last post and I’m getting worried that your happiness about not worrying for tubes is turning into happiness chain sounds as complex as layers as your new diagram!
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Well I guess I’ll say something lol. It’s hard to comment on exactly what I’m hearing, but it’s quite good. This is likely the first dac I’ve heard that truly nails recreating the body of things in such a balanced and refined way without causing any issues whatsoever. I already thought the direct was really good at this but at times slightly too dense, but this is just the most precise weighting I’ve heard yet. It’s not overall weight to things, it’s the ability to represent different weighting in different locations, giving more to things that naturally have it while being able to portray a sense of leanness in a different location at the same time is incredibly impressive and convincing (to me), it’s able to shift weight around fairly quickly. And I skipped around, it’s not just in one frequency range or anything, it can happen with things in a similar range as well. It’s really able to truly shift it’s density in a very natural way that is hard to describe and not something I’ve heard executed this well until now. This only really comes through with pretty phenomenal recordings though, because the information just doesn’t seem to be there in some recordings and it’s not as stand out
One big advantage of the direct over the pacific was that the direct would not treat less than ideal recordings harshly (to some extent) where the pacific would more often than not, that same trait is thankfully carried over to the twelve while being a step forward. I should be clear here, it does not sweeten up that lesser recording nor sacrifice any technical ability while doing that, it sort of takes a step back in intensity rather than the more involved approach it takes when there’s more information to show, where the pacific would shove that forward either way. The direct could do this, but it didn’t keep the energy as well as the twelve does so far. But it’s not going to make something terrible sound all that much better lol, has to be at least to some extent decent quality
Messing with my current cabling situation the dac overall does lean warmer than neutral, but I have a feeling that with the right cable swaps it could be fairly neutral overall. But there’s a sense of cleanliness that is also very strange, because in my setup it does lean warm, but that doesn’t seem to affect any sense of clarity it has, didn’t get exactly this with the direct and is more noticeable here. That actually was affected by the clock cable, swapping the clock cable with a cheapo basic clock cable somewhat diminished that clarity aspect, but swapping in a nicer one returned that
Will comment on other things with more listening. I will be honest, in the first 2 hours of listening I wasn’t feeling it was that large of an upgrade from the direct or pacific, but it’s now started to hit me. Currently been running it acting as a preamp to the grandinote demone to the susvara
Something Stupid
I was told something I didn’t want to hear, there’s a special order only totaldac called the d1-24, 8 chassis, 4 dacs (one for negative and positive on each side so fully balanced), 3 reclockers, and then the option for 4 drivers to go along with it, and a whole lotta power supplies. I will now try and forget that is a possibility lol
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Haha… good luck.
Reading impressions past and current on the Totaldac line makes me a little curious about synergy with my Crayon. The weight/density and slam you describe, particularly in the bass region are things I’d like a little more of. The ability to continue adding boxes to enhance in chunks is kind of appealing too.
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So I’m not really sure, honestly when I used my crayon I did have a totaldac in house, but I never really used the two together as much. I think it could be pretty great, but you’d want to go for a truly balanced model if possible since that’s what the crayon prefers to take in
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Does that limit which models, or just make it that much more unlikely to find used?
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It does limit what options, only the d1-dual, d1-core, d1-six and d1-seven are balanced
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That’s awesome!
I remember not so long ago asking about the 12. I’m glad you decided on one. It sounds like an awesome DAC.
Looking forward to further impressions.
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I feel like at that point there is so much more involved and more to offset things. Like what if one of those dacs is warmer or cooler or something and it all doesnt match up timewise. I feel like then cables have to be all matched like car headers etc etc.
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