Watching europe/france forums here for totaldac, very rarely you see used ones. Also not very common offered here in Germany, as Vincent is not really selling through distris.
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@M0N Thoughts on direct + driver vs twelve with no driver? Not like im close to making the jump to either, just currious since twelves seem to be a lot more common on the used market than directs are, and that also opens up being able to upgrade even further with drivers later that the direct doesnt realy allow for anothe rjump.
Honestly, kinda close. Still edge to the twelve, but the direct + driver is a better value. The gap widens with the twelve + drivers. Then again I was only able to compare on my headphone setups, to truly tell the difference Iād have to use the speaker setup I have now, which I didnāt have at the time where I had both the direct and twelve
Likely because directs are newer, but not sure actually. Also the fact that itās a monoblock dac is probably a bigger selling point, and Iād assume people that might look at the direct just go fuck it and go for the top
My thinking is basicaly that upgrade costs from my setup to digital-mk2 + direct + one driver is about the same that i have been seeing twelve mk2 go for with no driver so I figured ti was worth a consideration if they are still similar money once i get it together.
good news there for me then 
This is kind of my assumption to what is happening as well. Especially when you consider that you need 2 drivers to get balanced out of the direct and the twelve comes with a reclocker already, that makes the price delta between direct and twelve basically negligible (if you arent getting drivers for the 12, which most seem to skip)
Hello Sonus members, this is my first post here (couldnāt find a new members thread to introduce myself). I joined the forum here a couple months here when Rhodey introduced me to this community and I had been lurking since but didnāt have a chance yet to interact. I am fairly active in the headphones.com forum and I see some overlap here.
I recently sold my Holo May KTE and am looking for a new dac to upgrade (sidegrade?). I am looking for something more natural and balanced as the May sounded a bit artificial at times. I think I also prefer the dac to be relatively neutral but not very digital or clinical, and add any coloration from the amp/transducers.
Right now totaldac d1-single-mk2, d1-tube, d1-tube-mk2 (possibly) are my frontrunners (along with Mojo Mystique X and perhaps Lampizator Atlantic). I have exchanged a few emails with Vincent and since people here have first hand experience with totaldacs, I thought of asking some more questions here.
- I didnāt see a lot of talk about the d1-tube here, is that not considered a good model? One of the things I wanted to try was tube dacs but not overly colored so I thought a tube output stage might be a happy medium.
- Has anyone tried the streamer card upgrade? I recently got the opticalRendu but I since Vincent uses the same streamer card as in d1-streamer-mk2, I was wondering if it would have better integration.
- Any comparisons to Mojo would be extremely helpful as well (I did see Monās comparison to Evo earlier).
- The upgradability of totaldac is a big attraction to me. Has anyone upgraded theirs yet? How was the experience?
The rest of my chain has an EC Studio B 300B and a CFA3. I primarily use the following headphones - 1266 TC, OG Utopia, LCD-4, Atrium. I am currently using an i7 SonicTransporter running Roon with a small local library and primarily running streaming Qobuz to opticalRendu.
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I would not be much help but wanted to sayā¦ Welcome to a great place to be!
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Welcome, There are several TotalDAC owners here (Iām not one of them yet), I know @M0N loves his and I believe @Draaly bought one relatively recently.
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Welcome! Hope you get some good info here. Iām sure you will.
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If you havenāt yet, read through as much as you can here. And read all three parts of the DAC comparisons.
Given what youāve written and knowing peopleās use words can vary, Iād throw in a Berkley Alpha reference 1 or maybe even 2 depending on your budget. I wouldnāt describe Lampi and certainly not the Mojo as relatively neutral and not adding coloration. A lot of great DAC compared for you to read through.
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Welcome!
As db said the Berkeley should be a possible fit and Iāll throw the Rockna Wavedream into the mix as well. Probably more neutral than both Lampizator and Mojo.
At the level youāre talking about, itās a lot about preference and how you hear it. They will all be very good.
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Thanks, I have been going through that thread and the DAC comparison articles. Iāve read the articles before but theyāre fairly dense so Iāve been re-reading them. Lot of great info in both!
I didnāt mention a budget in the original post as I am a bit flexible depending on new vs used, things like upgradability, returnability etc.
Lampi was mostly in the mix due to tube curiosity with still being not too colored and I hadnāt realized how colored Mojo was till I spent more time on this and the Mojo thread so I am second guessing those 2 choices now and reinforcing totaldac. Berkeley is on my radar from afar but (without any first hand experience) it comes off as too clinical and although I donāt have that much experience, I think I like the R2R sound.
Since youāre a member you do have access to m0nās list which can be found below. Itās also a useful resource to check out (itās still unfinished for now though)ā¦
(Itās unlisted so maybe you missed this)
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Itās all going to come down to taste, at this level theyāre all good and they all do a lot of things well, youāre just buying the one that fits your tastes.
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Fysa, Berkeley is NOT clinical. Itās simply more brutal or said differently, technically capable, in its ability to let you hear whatās going on from the source and associated chain. My Alpha Reference does not color the sound in any way i can tell, but does allow me to tailor the sound based on what i have connected to it and for that reason i love it.
When i say it is NOT clinical, what i mean is that it has no digital glare, it is the best implementation of MQA i have experience with, it does not over-emphasize or push any frequencies at me and as long as the album or track is a quality production i have no issues. It absolutely allows for fine detail to shine through in a recording and it only gets better as your associated gear is alllowed to shine through in my OPINION.
What it does do is let me know when iām listening to a poor Album that was not mixed particularly well, was over-emphasized/produced/mixed for use in lower tier gear like vehicles, bluetooth speakers, and earbuds. For old original recordings that have been re-mastered over and over for decades and have all sorts of noise, crackles, pops and hiss in them it does not smooth anything over and they are hard to listen to. (Especially pre-1940āS and older music).
Tubes are a whole different level of work. You are looking for extremely difficult to describe and experience results from tube based DACās when rolling and it gets very expensive, time consuming, and turns into āfine detailā work tuning a dac w/ tubes. (Or you can simply stick w/ what was provided and enjoy a piece for what it is)
Re-read M0Nās post a few times over and think hard about what you want and how the dac will sysnergize with the rest of your equipment. If you have one single chain and this is a single use piece, understand the strengths and weakness of the rest of your gear and focus your search best you can using this knowledge. Multiple various pieces will work for you, at the price point you are targeting there is no bad gear, it is simply a matter of how close can you get to your desired results in various fine nuances. 
Just something to think about, i wonāt recommend or direct in any other manner, Iām not experienced enough to push one item over another. Happy listening and good luck 
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After reading the pt1 of M0Nās comparison more carefully (and a couple times), I think my choice of words was perhaps poor when I said clinical for Berkeley, but then as @dB_Cooper pointed, people sometimes use similar words with slightly different meaning in this hobby as the definitions are not very precise. Perhaps, analytical and accurate would have been better words than clinical for Berkeley (and Bricasti) as far as my limited understanding goes. I tend to shy from those because I listen to a lot of metal and some of the older albums tend not to be very well produced so having slightly forgiving gear is helpful for me.
Another dac that wasnāt on my radar is Aries (perhaps the Helene) that seems to fit my criteria well based on M0Nās decription, except that it doesnāt seem to pop up often used and itās out of my budget at this time. Another reason I like totaldac as I can upgrade it over time as my system evolves.
This is whatās kind of turning me off of Lampizators. I enjoy tube rolling and searching for old tubes but most of my energy/budget for tubes lately goes in 300Bs for my Studio B lately 
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For the most part with a DHT lampizator, you just pick a tube set, they have much the same character with any of the options, youāre just trading off some midrange weight and stage against dynamics.
If youāre unsure Iād go PX25ās, or whatever lampizator is suggesting as a starting point.
For the 6SN7/EL34/KT?? Lampizators I might try a couple of tube sets, but Iād rely on others for recommendations.
I personally hate tube rolling, I do it if I happen to have tubes, or I think there is a significant step up to be had, but otherwise, I usually donāt worry about it.
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Reading is fundamental. Glad youāve gotten through the M0N writeups, theyāre intense and I always had to digest them in small portions to get through a lot of the detail. Some of the writeups go pretty far back now and I wonder what Iād get from re-reading them myself now that Iāve got more experience. Anyway, completely sidetracked here.
Getting back to the DAC topic, again you say something thatās pretty important and you should focus on YOUR wants/needs and decide whatās negotiable and whatās non negotiable.
I told you before that the Mojo does add color, again thatās subjective and IMO it does, but one thing the higher end Mojo DACs do is they allow you to listen to music, any kind of music and you absolutely will not hit the next button. Itās one of the things that Iām finding more and more remarkable about my EVO B4B as I settle into its ownership. It will play songs and myke them enjoyable to listen to that are unplayable in other DACs. Not that the Mojos are the DAC for you, I still donāt think so but I write this to show how important it is to really know what you want and ALL of the benefits of a DAC.
The other DAC that Iād put on your radar given your clarification is the Weiss 50X. Itās a very correct DAC, precide timbre while still being organic, not microscopic of detail but still ample detail, with a bit of hint of sweetness on the high end that I think would suit metal andā¦ hereās the important thing. The DSP functionality is something you you may really leverage given your musical preference. You can set up dedicated presets that will at the touch of a button, get you through those rough metal cuts.
I sold my Weiss to fund my Mojo and dive deeper into digital. I loved the Weiss it but I wanted to go in a different direction but it may be worth putting it on your short list, they do come up for sale often enough as well.
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Similar to what @Polygonhell said, I was more of an aggressive roller, but I only ended up switching my tubes 3x and would have been quite happy with any of the setups. They all sound good and swapping tubes just edged one in a direction that you may want.
I was quite happy with the PX25 pair.
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Well I missed all of this lol, congrats on the unity @karangovil will be very curious what you think of it. Given what you say youāre after I think itās a solid match with your system and goals (at least based on my experience with other totaldac lol)
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Thanks @M0N, your lists were quite helpful in an otherwise painful decision that occupied majority of my holidays. Also thanks to @Polygonhell, @dB_Cooper, @NickMimi, @hifiDJ, @orrman, @Veritas and others for helping.
I tried to get more details from Vincent about the unity architecture but he has been tight lipped beyond what he shared on the website so I am quite curious as well. Given his experience, however, I am optimistic.
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