I’ve now had this in my second system since Sept 2023. Can stop listening to it, absolutely a steal in the sub $10K category. Using an oppo 205 to play SACD’s through it, the SQ equals my Esoteric Grandioso stack and as a DAC being feed from the Aurender its a engrossing digital from end. There is zero digital fatigue and you can easily listen for 3/4 hours and never feel you are missing anything.
John, I have this one ( DirectStream DAC MK2 ). This is top-of-the-line. With trade-in, it is $6K and worth every penny. This one ( StellarGold DAC ) gets good reviews, but I have not heard it. With trade-in, it is $3K.
That DSD MK2 looks sweet! I've read great things about it. I'm in Denver so PS Audio is right down the street!
The DS MK Is can be had cheaply now that everyone wants the MK IIs. Yes, the MK IIs are certainly better. But the MK Is are still fantastic.
Rega Dac R. I would describe the sound as analog-like. No listening fatigue , good voices and deep bass. Plenty of details for my liking.
Thank you! It does sound so much more natural and smooth that the previous one! That Gustard DAC X16 is one that measures good, but its internal power supply wreaked havoc with creating hum on my previous phono amp, the Musical Surroundings Phenomena II+. Now that both are replaced with high quality, well- insulated Luxman components the purity of sound from both my analog and digital systems is just SO clean it's unreal!
I have to say I’m using my Benchmark DAC3 more than my Marantz now that I redesigned my crossovers on my speakers , which is quite interesting. the Marantz still sounds awesome tho. just being transparent since I’ve hearalded the Marantz DAC so much here. but the crazy star of the show is the Intona galvanic isolator. lol I know crazy but true
Galvanic isolation is used to reduce noise. The first time I heard the effect of galvanic isolation I was shocked at how much it improved the SQ, but I did not think it was crazy. Both my PS Audio transport and DAC use galvanic isolation.
No it’s not crazy in itself. Maybe I didn’t articulate it well. yes, I measured my Marantz DAC with and without the Intona. And there is a definite measurable difference in noice and jitter. With more modern DAC like my benchmark DAC3 there is almost no difference at all because the DAC3 is so quiet the Intona measurably does nothing almost. Same with jitter. Although it does improve there a bit. so the Marantz has a 20% measurable diff with noise and jitter. That is definitely audible and would be assumed to be so. In the benchmark DAC there is no measurable improvement in noise since the DAC3 is already super low noise, and with jitter again the benchmark performs so well there is maybe a 5% improvement. However there is still an audible improvement in the sound with the benchmark DAC3 and Intona. Which shouldn’t be audible. But it is hope that made more sense
Just got an Audio Note Kit DAC 2.1 Version "c" (as best as I can determine.) Very similar to their 3.1 DAC with output transformers and 5687 tube board. Replaced a Parasound D/AC 1000
I am using the internal DAC in my Cyrus i7XR Integrated Amp . Sounds excellent, I find myself listening to my 2nd system a lot lately.
Sorry for the crappy pictures--they're taken from the seller's listing because I don't feel like pulling it out of my system. And thanks for "getting" my user name!
Nice! That's a serious piece of kit! BTW, I believed you bought it I was just messin' with your forum name... In other words bemessin'
The one in my Esoteric K-01XD CD/SACD player. It’s fantastic! Very detailed but not fatiguing. I think a lot of the realism and musicality comes from the R-2R circuitry.
Mojo Audio Mystique EVO Pro. It does everything I want a DAC to do and it's the current place given a journey that started pre covid. The thing with DACs is that the more of them you get to hear long term, the more capable of knowing what you want and what you don't want in your next DAC. A lot of times it's the Goldilocks search process, and I'm of the opinion that after a certain level there are no "bad" DACs really, you just have to find the right chain for them where you can leverage the most synergy. The EVO Pro is detailed, yet not fatiguing, it's fun, dynamic and leans not warm but a more meat on the bones kind of sound. It's not in your face forward but not recessed at all. It also does something with the spacial presentation where it cocoons you in a crescent shaped bowl of sound. the difference of having instruments in the room with you versus you being in the room where the instruments are playing. It's very adept at giving you dimensional queues about the recording and that's it's special allure for me. Higher end DACs in my past, Yggy, Amber 3, Weiss 502, EVO B4B and now the EVO Pro.
I had so many DACs in the last 30 years. The first one was Sony’s DAS-R1, later followed by Krell, dCS, EMM Labs and MSB Technology. My current and last DAC is from the Swiss company CH Precision. C1.2 Mono DAC (3 cases) with external power supply, T1 Time Reference (Master Clock) and D1.5 SACD/CD drive. They need a lot of space, but the system sounds gorgeous.
- Had: Audiolab 8000DAC Audio Alchemy DITB Musical Fidelity X-Dac Audio Alchemy DDE v3.0 Musical Fidelity M1 DAC Teac UD-501 Morch Minuet Chord Qutest - Currently have: Denafrips Pontus II Parasound D/AC1100HD Opera Consonance DAC16 Sonic Frontiers SFD-2 MKII… one of the main stars of the system - Would like to try: Audial DAC S5 LAB12 Dac1 Reference
Hello! I have the Merason Frerót with POW1 power supply. I like it so much that I ve been considering getting the Merason DAC 1 MKII. Can you share your experience with these dacs and how much of an improvement the Dac 1 would be. Thanks you
