Totaldac thread, d1 core / single / tube / six / unity / direct / twelve / digital / streamer

Sovrce Gear
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Just got the d1-unity yesterday evening so thought I’ll post some very early impressions. I got the streamer card installed and currently using the Curious USB cable with RCA outs but Vincent tells me that he mostly uses RCA so I am assuming there shouldn’t be too much difference between RCA and XLR.

I paired it with the demo V4 Stratus and Utopia OG (Lazuli ref) and the synergy was quite phenomenal. I always start on new gear with Coltrane’s Blue Train and the first thing I noticed was the immediacy in the music that I haven’t heard before in this song. It just sounded more energetic and lively but not distracting. It was engaging to the point where I didn’t want the song to end and just repeated it a couple times.

I haven’t had Utopias for very long but their stage has always been described small. Now I’ve had the Stratus for a week and it definitely does expand the stage but the combination of this dac with Stratus on Utopia is even more spatially refined and immersive. The bass texture was very noticeable, I am not saying better because it was just very textured and if you play or sit in front of a double bass being played, you know what I mean by highly textured bass. I just didn’t want to skip any track. I listened to some Mingus and then some metal with similar results.

These are just preliminary impressions with 3-4 hours of listening with one headphone and amp. I need to listen with my Studio B and CFA3 and other headphones but that’ll have to wait since I’m out of town for a few days.

Now I know the source could be better, adding the d1-driver could potentially improve things but if this is the starting point, I’m in no rush.

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This is actualy something I am currious about. The driver seems to be a requirement with a direct, but I wonder if the impact would be less on the dacs with the new output stage.

Either way though, I’m seriously looking forward to further impressions.

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Seems like we can expect not only @karangovil’s impressions of the Unity but Twittering Machines has one for review as well. Looking forward to both!

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I just bought a D1 Unity, with Streamer board, live-power and DSD.
I hope I’ll have it next week, but we’ll see.

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Yooooo glad to see more people with TD here lol

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nice! was that the one posted here yesterday?

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Yes It’s a US return, I purchased it from Vincent (TotalDAC), and the OG purchaser is shipping it to me from NewYork. Discount was reasonable and apparently the unit is only about a week old.

Honestly I wouldn’t have had the streamer board if I’d ordered it, but it will be an interesting comparison, I know his stand alone streamer is supposed to be very good.

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yeah I was close to snagging it before you lol but I’m glad it’s coming to the community, you’ll have better use of it than me. Looking forward to your impressions. The Unity is high on my watchlist for this year, probably top 3 in my DAC upgrade candidates.

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That’s awesome! Looking forward to your impressions.

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Oh wow congratulations! That’s most likely mine. Pretty cool that it’s staying in the community.

I ended up deciding to return it yesterday for various reasons. There was nothing wrong with the unit but I decided to audition a few more dacs at this price point before making a decision. My system is also going through some changes with likely addition of some 2ch in near future.

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Makes me a bit less nervous that some random person I’ve never communicated with shipping it.

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I’m actually super surprised that a dealer would allow that type of exchange to happen on this caliber a product. So many things can go wrong, cosmetic issues, missing parts, something not working. If something like that were to happen it would be a bad experience for all involved, so chance it. I’m glad that it’s not that way given it’s a family exchange but I can’t help think it’s bad business long term for a dealer to chance it this way.

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It’s to avoid the cost of shipping it back/whatever customs decides to do with it, it doesn’t really surprise me. The fact that he has a no questions asked trial period and ships internationally is the strange part to me.

The odd thing in the transaction, is that I paid Vincent, I could see him facilitating a sale between the OG owner and someone else. But by me paying him it’s the same as him selling an open box unit, except that he can’t see the condition and the OG purchaser is in charge of shipping.

I suspect he’s just overly trusting.

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He probably knows most units never return to him and takes the chance. It’s a good competitive advantage on some other manufacturers for sure. He’s definitely on the trusting side of sellers lol

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I picked up the budget option D1 core a couple weeks ago. Moved on from a Holo May.

Ive been impressed by it so far.

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Interested in a comparison when you have time.

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I second this request. May wasn’t exactly my favorite, but it was a long time between heating it and getting my td so I’m currious to hear impressions of someone who had them closer together

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May Level 2 v TD D1 Core (no live power upgrade) so basically as entry level as t you can get with TD Dacs.

Both comparison are NOS v NOS. TD does have that treble FIR which does add a bit of air (my ears aren’t as young as they used to be so others might notice more) but I do feel it added a slight veil so I dont use it at the moment.

Rest of the chain is DNA Stellaris and the better Focal Utopia. Basically a dac swap with no other changes.

Some thoughts:
TD is the more linear and balanced of the two. May emphasized certain elements and everything was very forward in staging, all the time. TD staging is generally more pushed back but but can be forward if the recording calls for it. I think TD is more reflective of recordings whereas the May would try to bend them to its signature.

TD being more linear is very welcome as the May has this weird upper mid/lower treble grain/glare/ringing that would rear its head more often than not. Especially troublesome given my propensity towards classical music. May has more bass quantity and rumble but textural nuances go to the TD. Mids go the TD, more natural and allows for more subtlety to come to the fore. Treble to the TD as well, much more contextually appropriate than the May.

A thing I noted within the treble was how one note the May could sound. The TD allows for so much more tonal variation. I was listening to a piece and there a was a part where I expected a certain kind of treble presentation and when I didnt get it I started to wonder if the TD was recessed in the upper registers but a few seconds later there was this wonderfully done sharp, piercing tone that stretched right up there. This was the good kind of sharp piercing treble. I started noticing this a lot as I listened to more with the TD, that treble really is a range. I guess the glare of the May didnt allow this tonal variation to shine through.

Overall staging is a bit of a toss up. May might be wider and have more height but TD may have more depth. Im not someone who needs a big stage so I could accept either. I run a Utopia so no big wide stage going on there anyways.

Timbre Id have to give to the TD.

Detail retrieval goes to the TD. This may be simply a reflection of the TD being more linear and thus allowing more components of the mix to present themselves but I do think the TD pulls out things form deeper within the music. Related, I actually think the TD does have a blacker background, its ability to generate a sense of the recording space is better. I was kind of surprised by this as I felt the May was pretty black.

Transient wise I think the TD has a quicker leading edge, with more of a vertical upslope, and also a more tasteful decay. Again, the May’s tonal emphasis would make certain trailing edges drag on which at times would meld into each other, the leading edge was also a little slurred/humped.

Macro dynamics are interesting. May hits harder, easy to discern; however, the bloody thing could be too dynamic, a cymbal crash or tympani could often be overwrought and made me cringe. TD is not as dynamic but again, does feel more balanced within the context of the music. Truth be told the TD could be a little more dynamic for my taste but Its not limp.

Microdynamics are an easy win for the TD IMO. Little flutters on the violin strings are so much easier to appreciate. In general, volume changes across the board are better with the TD. A lot more gradation is heard with the TD. May was either quiet, medium or loud whereas the TD plays a lot more with the missing range in between.

Id also give the edge to the TD for imaging. Not by a huge amount but its overall nature allows me to better pick out where things are in space.

This is disorganized and Ive probably failed to cover something obvious. I kind of developed a dislike for the May gradually and when doing the rounds the TD signature seemed more appropriate for my preferences. I basically got what I expected.

Truthfully Im a little surprised that the May was second best in the amount of technical areas as it is/was. I got the TD looking for a more linear NOS sound and was willing to give up some things to get it, but I dont feel like I really gave up anything outside of being a little less macro than I might like. Overall, I think its a big win for me. I will be getting the Live power upgrade at some point.

If you like or need bold and brash within the NOS family than try a May, if you want something more refined and controlled than try a TD.

And just to put out a really generic audiophile term: the TD is more musical than the May.

I have written longer posts if you can believe it.

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Awesome comparison, would totally agree from my experience as well :+1:

I feel like the more I hear, the more I have a distaste for holo stuff lol (some of it justified, some not lol)

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D1 Unity showed up late yesterday afternoon.

Took me a few minutes to realize that in order to use the internal streamer I needed to run a USB cable from one of it’s USB B ports to the USB A port, but after that and the fact the one USB A to B cable I could quickly find turned out to be defective. Setup was simple enough. It did ship with the Ground on the device floating, which introduced some noise on my system, but toggling that in the menu resolved the slight hum

Initial impressions, it’s a really good DAC, I’d take it 7 days out of 7 over a Chord Dave which is at a similar price point.

It’s surprisingly very detailed, resolution is exceptional, with excellent micro dynamics, and good macro dynamics, especially in the Bass/lower midrange regions.

Last night I was struggling a little with the combination of a somewhat relaxed presentation, that seemed to still have excellent leading edge, seemed a bit contradictory, that led to what I’ll describe as a really rythmic sound, that seemed to be lacking something in the timbre of some things.
It having been on over night and probably just me adjusting to it, has removed a lot of my questioning the Timbre, it’ll be interesting to see if it continues to open up in the coming days.
I also still need to play with the FIR filter which is supposed to compensate somewhat for the natural treble roll of you tend to get with NOS DAC’s.

Stage is obviously smaller than the Pacific, but pretty much everything is, but has excellent depth, good definition and weight, and really shines on live acoustic music. You can very much hear the room something was recorded in.

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