Decware ZDAC1


At the risk of sounding like the predictably dim Matt Lauer; WOW....Cool..... Steve Deckert's new DAC is remarkably good. Vocals simply appear out of darkness, separation of instruments is solid, acoustic bass is tight and one is able to easily hear the characteristics of each player's instrument. The timbre of Ray Brown's bass sounds completely different from Charnett Moffett's.

I recieved the unit Friday morning, committed the Cardinal sin of hooking it up and listening cold. It still cleanly took out my modified Audio Zone DAC (hey, it's respectable). Then as the unit warmed up each day predictably gave more open sound, more impact, deeper bass and wider sound stage.

I'm sure there are pieces out there that will best it, however for the money spent I'm not sure anything will match. Enjoy if you get one.

Current system (I know a lot of you have bigger dogs on the porch):

Sugden CD21SE player as transport with Alto Extremo isolation discs
Sugden A21 SE integrated with rectifier upgrades 30 wpc Class A
Ridgestreet Poiema III digital cable
MAC Mystics ICs
Decware ZDAC1
Analysis Plus Oval 9 speaker cable
Shunyata Dark Field thick cable risers
Merlin TSM MME monitors
Sound Organization 24" spiked massed stands (lead shot/sand)
Duck poster putty applied to stands/speakers
Furman Elite 15 Power Factor conditioner
Analysis Plus Power Oval 2 PCs
VH Audio Flavor 4 (power conditioner to amp)
Target stand and Bedini Clarifier to rid us of "The Grunge"


celtic66
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I've always been intrigued by Steve's modded Teac modded CDP (I think Pacific Valve is selling it now) and this DAC looks very promising.

Steve has always been gracious with his time and I have enjoyed my dealings with him. I'd love to try a set of his speakers some day. Great value for the money with all his products.
Thanks for the review. wonder why no one take notice about Decware. In any case, I still cannot find any info on their implementation of the USB. Does it play high res through USB 24/96?
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