Continuing this conversation, I wanted to ask a little more about the d1-core! If I were to pick one up, what are the extra costs around it that I’d need to factor in?
I assume that I’d want the upgraded power supply, and there was also some mention of totaldacs being sensitive to the digital input, so maybe I’d want a nicer DDC than my current SU-2 KTE. Would I want both of these immediately, or could I buy just the base DAC and upgrade the power supply and DDC later on down the road?
There are a lot of ways to option these out, so yeah, is there anything else I should be accounting for?
Anyone know if the live powers can be converted between 240V and 120V? Ima email total dac to ask after work but figured i would ask here as well incase someone has tried
Looks like conversion is possible but may be only at the factory. He said he would give me more info after munic
One last question before I dive in. I think @M0N is the only one who has heard the d1-Dual, but can I expect the D1-dual to be a similar wholistic level as the weiss/meitner MA3? Those two are serious front runners for me right now and I dont think I realy want to step below that on a general technical level. Also, is the D1-dual voiced like the direct? or are there any differences I should know about since the direct explanation in the dac round up seems super up my alley sound wise.
TBH I didnt realize avoiding the live power was even an option. And good to know going off of the V2. Speaking with EMM directly they basicaly said MA1 <<< Ma3 < 2X V2 << DA2 and all voiced the same. Just get a bit more resolution, separation, and other classical technicalities when stepping up. I think the MA3 is probably a small technical step below the weiss FWIW, but id like to hear them side by side to say for sure. If the dual is in a similar ballpark as the step up from what I heard ill be totaly fine.
Quite frankly, thats more to my tastes anyways. Realy all I want to avoid with a more fun tuning is a rounded sound like yggy/bf2 have and from your previous descriptions it seems I should be good to go in this area. tyvm for the help.
Does either one fall apart with certain kinds of music like yggy can? I wouldnt expect so but figured i would ask. Also, if the single is roughly on par with the vo pro would you expect the dual to he a tier above? Or would you expect the singal → dual jump to be less than a legit tier change?
Not from my experience no, although I think it depends on what you consider falling apart
I haven’t really spent that much time with a dual to say, I will say though I didn’t think the dual was all that better than the single, consider them similar tier, but again I didn’t have much time with the dual and wouldn’t feel comfortable trying to place it’s performance
Mostly talking about how with super conplex music the yggy gets kinda over whellemed and stage flattens a fair bit
Thats already plenty. Most was just checking it wasnt one of those “oh yah, dual is way the hell better” or someting. Esentialy making sure single → dual wasnt a nahra classic → hd situation
I don’t think that’s the case with the totaldac or mojo, although the more entry level totaldacs might not handle massive dynamic swings or scale and might come off as a bit muted (but still acceptable tradeoff for the price point, my theory as to why could be the output stage?), the mojo will handle those larger changes better butttt might come off as a bit disorganized in the process. But really neither have too much issue with that. Side note, with the totaldacs generally I tend that when moving up their line, while technicalities improve on what they already do well, I find that each step is the next level of energy and incisiveness/directness and a closer step toward neutral, all while still having the great characteristics/voicing their dacs have
Yeahhhhhhhhhh the classic is really ehhhhhh unless you have the right system + better power supply lol, hd was more consistently impressive
Speaking of which, I noticed the single is generally what gets recommended even though the tube-mk1 is the same price. Have you gotten to hear either of the d1-tube versions, do you have any thoughts on how they compare to the single?
So I can confidently say that describing difference in DACs is the hardest thing for me to do. With that said I can hear a difference between totaldac and aqua so here is what is my perception of such a difference thus far.
What I wanted to achieve with this upgrade was to add a bit more substance and vividness to the way my chain presents music. While I do enjoy aqua + Paltauf combination it can be sometimes very polite and laid back to me especially when using Susvara.
Swapping to totaldac did just that for me. I have to honestly say that it is not night and day difference to my ears but overall change addressed the aspects mentioned above. Notes have a bit more weight to them things are better separated and much easier to pick up which caused me to think that overall resolution of d1 is just step up from aqua.
Macrodynamcs also improved quite a bit, bass has more texture and overall presentation feels a bit more forward. It is not aggressive in any way, it just feels like some aspects of the music came out of the shadow to light.
With that said listening to Susvara became more enjoyable to the extent I decided to keep them for the time being.
With Mysphere, all that I like about them on aqua + Paltauf remains but just took another step up in some areas.
I still need much more time to digest what I hear and will see how fast aqua will sell eventually but d1 is here to stay and it is my last DAC upgrade for a very long time.
I think I just finally got to the point where it is good enough. But I felt the same about aqua.
I’m looking into the Totaldac d1-core since that kind of seems to fit what I’m looking for based on @M0N 's recommendation. I’m not sure who might know but thought I’d ask anyway.
I’m considering just picking up the live power option and the core but it does leave me wondering if it’s worth bumping up to the single for the HP output and the class A output stage. If I do, I can just use the HP output whenever I rarely use headphones and will use the totaldac as a preamp for my speaker/subwoofer.
So my question is, does the HP even sound good or work well? Has anyone used their totaldac as a preamp or do they have a separate one? Has anyone been able to compare the core and single? I’m assuming they’re basically the same except for the output stage. One thing I noticed though is the core says the XLR is balanced and for the single, XLR is not.
I think the single is worth it if you can swing it, imo it’s just a better sounding dac with similar characteristics than the core, it’s overall more technical, more balanced, and refined, slightly more neutral lean imo. I think both the dac and output stage are different but I think there’s been larger reworking on the output stage than dac/digital. The headphone output I never really got to test for the single, but it’s not really worth caring about given what I have heard others say. None of my current totaldacs have had headphone outs so I can’t test on my own
Live powers are worth the extra cost as an upgrade as well if you can swing that too
So I think the direct and twelve are fantastic as a preamp, specifically with the d1-drivers, but on their own they aren’t as strong. When I did spend time with a single the volume control was good for the price class but I don’t think it would replace a proper similar tiered preamp, better than serviceable though so it’s pretty good
Would you say it’s worth going for single w/o live power instead of core w/ live power? If I compare like that, they’re close but if I have to add live power to the single, then it gives me more pause. Thanks for the feedback!
I think so yes, it might not be as drastic of an upgrade that way but still an upgrade nonetheless imo. I will say that while I’ve heard the core with both stock and live power upgrade compared, I’ve only heard the single with live power, and not both of them side by side. So I’m sort of guesstimating a bit here by going off the differences of the core with and without, and then trying to apply that to the single
Makes sense. I guess another benefit if you do go single is later on if you feel the desire you can always grab one down the line
Edit: I actually could see someone preferring the tonal balance of the core more if they like a more laid back, smoother, and warmer sound, and their amp also greatly preferred balanced input, but I do think the overall technical improvements of the single negate this warmer signature for me even if that’s what I was going for (both are a bit more on the warmer and relaxed side of things, but the single a bit less so). I would also say I find the core lacking some extension in the treble where the single I don’t feel as much this way
Sorry, last question. If I do consider the Single, shouldn’t I just pick up this? Single and dual are roughly around the same tier correct? This one would also include a reclocker and live power for each.
That I don’t really know since I haven’t spent that much time with a dual, it’s also a decent bit older, so I’m not confident of which one I’d personally go for, sorry I can’t say much here it’s just been awhile lol