Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Dragon Vibe,

We are also an Aqua Dealer, and will be testing a Forumla some time later this year. What I will say based on having a La Scala MK II in the shop and if you read the Six Moons review of the Formula, Serjan, found that the Forumla was better in terms of spatiality, resolution and smoothness, but didn’t blow the La Scala away in every area and in a few areas macrodynamics and image density pefered the older Lascala MK II.

In our shop the Davinc decimates the La Scala and so it should considering the price difference.

What I will say is the Aqua digital is a wonderful sounding, very musical sound with a huge soundstage and very propulsive bass. It is very involving. The La Scala is a buy for its amazingly musical sound and its fantastic build quality for a $7k dac for the La Scala and $13k for the Formula.

You would love the Davinci which expands on everything the Forumla does. The Davinci is incredibily musical and sounds like a good vinyl front end but unlike Lampis and other very tubey sounding products the Davinci is very airy and extended in the top end without calling attention to itself.

The Davinci Dual Dac MK II also can handle any DSD file up to 512 and has a pure PCM Ladder Dac stage just like the Aqua.

Don’t get me wrong the Aqua stuff is fantastic and for the money is very hard to beat. If you are on the East Coast come in for a demo.

If you ever want to talk digital we have one of the best selections around including: Emm Labs, Aqua, Aurender, Baetis, Lumin, Naim, Cary, T+A

So far we have tested the Davinci Dual Dac MK I vs the DCD Rosini, Berkley, EMM Labs Dacs, and the Aqua and all the other dacs in the shop and so far nothing has come close.

Troy
Audio Doctor

I too am impressed with EnKlein cables, I own their lower price Taurus PC, AND LOVE IT. CANT afford David.

Audio Doctor,

Thank you for the info, after my experiences with other Super expensive Dacs, I am now trying too stick to Dacs which are under 15K. Simply because in the next 2-3 years we will have another breakthrough with DACs and set up a higher standards for others to follow.

After putting up my MSB for sale new lessons were learnt :-)

The Aqua at this present moment seems to fit the bill. I am very fond of my Playback Design Dac. I feel its the most underated product.

Thanks Audio_Troy. Your opinion and experience are welcome. Please curb the sales pitch part of the posts though. All are welcome, but no one wants to hear a dealer advertise here. I put a HUGE good word in for you guys and it’s well deserved. Let your customers speak for you; and I did. :)

Dragonvibe- Awesome to have you here!!!! You bring experience with DAC’s I have either heard but not in my room, or not heard yet. Thank you for that. I have had MSB in my room, not for me. I have heard DCS and PD in other rooms but not mine. I have not heard the Golden Gate in my room but it has sounded great elsewhere.

I have practically no experience with Playback Designs other then a show room. The Golden Gates I have heard sounded musical and engaging but where all tube bases systems and had so much flavor it was hard to tell where the seasoning was added. DCS are unique in my mind as it’s the only digital that needs to be selected first and then a system built around it. If you do DCS that way, you can create an amazing system; I’ve heard them. But you can’t put DCS into an existing system and expect to get the most out of it. DCS will ALWAYS sound lifeless and analytical if added into a system last....

I have arranged for a TotalDAC 12 audition this summer. I look forward to it!

Please keep contributing everyone!!!

The Playback Design to my opinion for DSD has not be toppled by the GG DAC in my listening room. I find the Playback design more transparent and quieter back grounds. The GG just seemed noisy. Both are very Musical DACs but for me the Merlot Dac just did everthing better and still remained natural sounding. For the GG Dac I assume the tubes are working hard to mask the Digital flaws within the unit.

Having a MP-1 and Atma Sphere OTL amps the system is very transparent already. When using the GG dac i could hear noise even after constantly changing over to different tubes.

I think the Playback Design Merlot Dac should be on your list to try out if you do find the time for it. After all Andreas Koch is hired by many top Audio companies to design their Digital products. Even EMM Labs use Andreas.