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Worlds best DAC

Went to CES this year to work on my transition to high Rez digital. I've heard many of the highly regarded players in my room or in others systems in the past. I'm actually very happy with my current cd based sound. As I listened to various DACS playing CD then high Rez, I was not bowled over. High rez was better, but only slightly so. The best (and most different) sound I heard happened to have one similarity. They were 2 non oversampling DACS with tube analog stages(Zanden and Ypsilon). These were without question the most natural sounding digital systems I heard at the show. They made CDsound miles ahead of high Rez. What gives?

PS: I understand the limitations of show auditions.

Bflowers (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

01-22-12

Responses (1-57 of 57)

Click title to read one, or click date to read all below it.

01-22-12 not only limitations of show auditions but the rest of the c ... Marakanetz

01-22-12 Non-oversampling dacs have one thing in common: they dont u ... Audioengr

01-22-12 The metrum octave uses no digital filtering and also uses a ... Stanwal

01-22-12 I have the metrum octave nos dac. very natural and organic. ... Devilboy

01-22-12 Hi, i know your speakers and cabling well. have heard the bo ... Jfrech

01-22-12 The yspsilon does 24/196 and is non-oversampling. i heard no ... Bflowers

01-22-12 Give me an old tda1541 system with 176khz oversampling, any ... Magfan

01-23-12 Hi, i was wondering if you had a chance while at ces to hear ... Babybear

01-23-12 The new ps audio perfectwave dac performs best in non- upsam ... Edorr

01-23-12 I have about 275 hours on the perfect wave dac mkii upgrade. ... Fiddler

01-23-12 The advantage of a tubed dac is the ability to alter the sou ... Mrtennis

01-23-12 Arnie, i was in the room with that dac while a friend was l ... Bflowers

01-23-12 It was in the musical artisans room with magico q3 speakers ... Babybear

01-23-12 Glad to see that the price has been kept low so that we may ... Tom6897

05-20-12 Hi arnie/babybear, any updates on the ch precision? i own ... Lloydelee21

05-20-12 Hi lloyd, i would say this about the ch precision. i have h ... Babybear

05-20-12 Arnie, thank you! that is really good to know. i love my ... Lloydelee21

05-20-12 Hi lloyd, you're welcome. i have not heard the zanden so i ... Babybear

05-20-12 Other than the non oversampling school such as zanden, check ... Dover

05-20-12 And further to the above, the other digital system which i c ... Dover

05-21-12 Thanks, dover! very helpful. since i bought my zanden 2nd ... Lloydelee21

05-21-12 Hi arnie, thanks for that...yes, i have just picked up the ... Lloydelee21

05-21-12 Dac's have improved greatly over the last few years, it's mo ... Tmsorosk

05-21-12 Everything else in the system being the same... same room, s ... Audiofreak32

05-21-12 I agree with bflowers assessment of the zanden, but in its o ... Mrtennis

05-22-12 I would suggest finding a dac that allows for opamp swapping ... Sibelius

05-22-12 I have been invited to listen tothe metronome kalista ref se ... Lloydelee21

05-24-12 So i was (very kindly) invited to the introduction of the ne ... Lloydelee21

05-24-12 I don't know how the original question could be answered. 1. ... Rja

05-24-12 I don't know about best, but i can say this: i have yet to ... Joncourage

05-25-12 Hi jon, good to know...just read your post. how have you f ... Lloydelee21

05-25-12 I'm not sure digitsl transports i've been exposed to qualify ... Joncourage

05-25-12 I should add that if anyone wants to swing by with a $20k tr ... Joncourage

05-25-12: Joncourage
Oh yeah, another one that stood out to me was a MacBook pro feeding an ayre qb-9. That sounded incredibly good. Might actually be my favorite front end after mine. Of course, that's also computer files.

I really want to stress that I am by no means an audiophile expert, just another amateur listening to as many things as I can conveniently come across. And as I've said the circles I run in don't include front ends costing upwards of 10, 20k, etc.

So, all in context.
Joncourage (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

05-25-12 I think we are too hung up on the merits of "computer f ... Edorr

05-26-12 What might be worth doing is to compare a "hi rez" ... Mrtennis

05-27-12 Hi mr. tennis, i have been reading your posts for years...e ... Lloydelee21

06-05-12 Orpheus heritage.- Argyro

06-05-12 Thanks argyro, i have not heard the orpheus but have read a ... Lloydelee21

06-05-12 I have heard the vekian, not the zanden, bare in mind i do n ... Argyro

06-05-12 Weiss medea plus will put most of the above to shame. the ... Chadeffect

06-05-12 Or a linn akurate ds with no usb or firewire connection to d ... Audiofreak32

06-05-12 Thanks, argyro! good to know! chad - i have heard the or ... Lloydelee21

06-05-12 Hi chadeffect: it's not possible to audition all dacs that ... Mrtennis

06-05-12 World's best,huh? Tpreaves

06-06-12 Chadeffect although the new weiss medea plus is an amazing p ... Argyro

06-06-12 Mike, thanks for that...good to know. Lloydelee21

06-06-12 Hi mrtennis, i agree. personally i only ever used the mede ... Chadeffect

06-09-12 Has anyone auditioned the totaldac and if so is it considere ... Vicks7

08-25-12 Has anyone auditioned the totaldac and if so is it considere ... Dallasjustice

08-25-12 The zanden gets a very good rating on the hificritic perform ... Stanwal

08-25-12 My jadis js1 mk3 put the zanden 5000 sign and the metronome ... Roccl007

08-26-12 Stanwal, i did not even know audio note came out with a new ... Lloydelee21

08-26-12 It was reviewed in hificritic, i will locate it and post. in ... Stanwal

08-26-12 It is the cdt-six disc playing unit , which weighs 36 kg and ... Stanwal

08-26-12 Thanks! good luck with the move...will try to do some homew ... Lloydelee21

08-27-12 I read sonic revolutions about the world's best dac - or dig ... Syntax