My experience with DACS and Logans

[bonzo]

Auditioned the Rega, Naim, Bryston, and Musical Fidelity Dacs with Martin Logan EM ESL, using a Bryston amp, and laptop as source, flac lossless.

All dacs sounded good, not much to choose from, though obviously there are differences in sound. The MF dac had a very bright sound, that made the acoustic guitar a bit aggressive, but was good for drums relative to the others. That was the only sound that would not be to everyone's taste.

I also tried combining the dacs with a bel canto ulink, but didn't make a difference. I enjoyed them all. Bryston was a bit weak on the drums but rich on the acoustic guitar and vocals.

Finally played a Bryston CD player, which used to cost 3k pounds to compare, and again could not make out the difference.

In a separate setting tried the devialet amp and it's dac with a Wilson benesch expensive speaker, a speaker which I really don't like. The CD player was an expensive audio research CD9 which costs 12k pounds. Taking the CD player out did make a change to the sound but the devialet dac did very well. When we added the bel canto 3.5 dac there was a noticeable drop in quality, but note we are comparing it to a CD player almost 6 times the cost. The devialet did well though.

Next weekend I hope to compare the devialet on Martin Logans with AR on an amp basis and naim on a dac basis, and with a CD player

 

[twich54]

I'm about to make a move into computer / digital audio.......I know......those that actually know me won't believe it. I just purchased that little Meridian DAC (size of a Pez dispenser), my oldest son is coming over tomorrow with various goodies loaded on an old laptop, wish me luck !

If I get frustrated and it dose'nt work out there will be a DAC up sale shortly ! .....or maybe I'll take it sporting clay shooting !!

 

[slowGEEZR]

Who says you can't teach old dogs new tricks?

 

[Rich]

I'm about to make a move into computer / digital audio.......I know......those that actually know me won't believe it. I just purchased that little Meridian DAC (size of a Pez dispenser), my oldest son is coming over tomorrow with various goodies loaded on an old laptop, wish me luck !

If I get frustrated and it dose'nt work out there will be a DAC up sale shortly ! .....or maybe I'll take it sporting clay shooting !!

Interesting, Dave. I have been considering going the server route and using meridian controls and DAC. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on it.

 

[amey01]

I'm about to make a move into computer / digital audio.......I know......those that actually know me won't believe it. I just purchased that little Meridian DAC (size of a Pez dispenser), my oldest son is coming over tomorrow with various goodies loaded on an old laptop, wish me luck !

If I get frustrated and it dose'nt work out there will be a DAC up sale shortly ! .....or maybe I'll take it sporting clay shooting !!

Wow - big step for you!

I think we should start taking bets on whether the VPI will be up for sale!

 

[roberto]

Hola Bonzo. You must be doing something wrong when testing the ulink. Here is the white paper that shows what exactly it is doing to the USB signal...http://belcantodesign.com/pdfs/WP_clocks_measure.pdf Happy listening!

 

[bonzo]

HI Roberto, I connected the ulink via USB to my laptop, and via coaxial to the DAC. For Rega Dac and for Bryston DAC tested with and without it, and couldn't make out a difference in effect. We just tried it one well-recorded flac lossless song and on one low quality ripped song, just to check for the difference. It's possible that on a longer test we might notice some improvement.

Next week I hope to try it with Devialet Dac and MLs and will let you know

 

[JonFo]

Dave, good to see you heading towards a digital platform, keep us posted.

Interesting, Dave. I have been considering going the server route and using meridian controls and DAC. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on it.

Rich, very cool, look forward to your reports on the Meridian DAC, I've been temped to get an Explorer for my laptop as a DAC/Headphone amp.

 

[roberto]

Bonzo, just go to Youtube.com and listen with and without the ulink. The difference will be amazing. Good quality recordings, is very difficult to listen a big difference. Bad quality is where you find this product really good. Listen for the ambiance, the natural decay of the instruments, the size of the room where the event is. Also, the stage. It offers more open, wide, air between instruments, not just bass, mids and highs. Happy listening!

 

[bonzo]

Ok will try with YouTube

 

[roberto]

Also the noise garbage is gone with the ulink. No more digital noise. Happy listening!

 

[twich54]

I think we should start taking bets on whether the VPI will be up for sale!

Never...............well unless I win the lottery, then perhaps a SME 30/12 !

 

[Bernard]

Never...............well unless I win the lottery, then perhaps a SME 30/12 !

Dave, why not a Kronos? It would give you an excuse to go to Montreal to pick it up.

 

[twich54]

Dave, why not a Kronos?

nah, For me my dream table has been the SME

It would give you an excuse to go to Montreal to pick it up.

Bernard, you know me, I ready to come to Montreal for dinner @ De Cheval !

 

[Bernard]

nah, For me my dream table has been the SME

I thought the Kronos was expensive, but the SME is almost twice the price.

Bernard, you know me, I ready to come to Montreal for dinner @ De Cheval !

I've never eaten there. You need to win that lottery and come here to buy me dinner!

 

[User211]

In a separate setting tried the devialet amp and it's dac with a Wilson benesch expensive speaker, a speaker which I really don't like. The CD player was an expensive audio research CD9 which costs 12k pounds. Taking the CD player out did make a change to the sound but the devialet dac did very well. When we added the bel canto 3.5 dac there was a noticeable drop in quality, but note we are comparing it to a CD player almost 6 times the cost. The devialet did well though.

Great post BTW you really are listening to some good kit.

If you liked CD 9, more so than the Devialet, then maybe a tube/valve effort is the way to go. A few people at a get together reckoned a CD 7 (half upgraged to 8 status) was easily beaten by an Audio Note DAC (the 4.1). Cheaper and better and noticeably so.

Lampizator stuff is way off the beaten path, so for something that really does sound different, try one of his offerings on a home demo. Google GPoint Audio for that and talk to Greg.

That said I think you'll be happy. You are trying a good few combos yourself. Have some faith in what your hearing and make a choice!

 

[hifinutt]

having tried loads of dacs I currently use a bel canto 3.5 vbs with external psu , its rather good and for the money its brilliant and so easy to use . I recently had the opportunity to buy a very very high end dac but chose to stay with my bc

 

[sleepysurf]

having tried loads of dacs I currently use a bel canto 3.5 vbs with external psu , its rather good and for the money its brilliant and so easy to use . I recently had the opportunity to buy a very very high end dac but chose to stay with my bc

I, too, use the Bel Canto DAC 3.5VB with their Reference power supply umbilical. It sounds even more amazing direct to amp but I still use my C-J preamp, in order to switch between multiple sources (Squeezebox Touch/Bel Canto, Oppo SACD, and Home Theater bypass). If feasible, try it direct to amp, if just for a quick listen (just make sure the variable volume is switched on).

 

[TDIMike]

Does anyone have any experience with the Sonos system? The chunk of my music is all FLAC that I'd like to play from multiple rooms. I was curious as the sound quality from the Sonos networks.

 

[bonzo]

I haven't heard it, but it's supposed to be compressed, so while it has a lot of fans for ease of multi room networking, purists who want to stick to uncompressed prefer other stuff. If you choose you can have an uncompressed streamer for your main hifi and Sonos for the rest of the rooms