@robert1976 That recording (and most all of them) of Red Hot Chilly Peppers sounds compressed. It’s the stuff you listen to in the car, in the gym with headphones or as background music at home. Unless I’m missing something myself I never heard the RHCPs sound good on any version of the system I had over the years. That’s just not a good benchmark and your system is basically telling you that.
Just my $0.02
Which DACs are known to be sweet/rich/relaxed?
Problem
System is nicely transparant and detailed, but tends to get bright and harsh with certain (rock) recordings and at higher volume levels.
Objective
Nudge the system towards a sweeter, richer, more relaxed presentation.
Proposed solution / first step
Upgrade to a (tube based) DAC, budget $25-40k.
Current chain
- ROON Nucleus
- Mola Mola Tambaqui
- Gryphon Essence pre amp
- Gryphon Essence monoblocks
- Focal Stella Utopia EVO
- Full loom of Triode Wire Labs cables
- Dedicated power line straight into Puritan PSM156 mains filter
- System resides in the living room with some diffusors but no absorption other than sofas, chairs, and some rugs.
On my radar
Lampizator Pacific (or Golden Gate 2 since I heard it's more "tube-like")
Aries Cerat Kassandra 2 Ref or Sig
— What other DACs should I consider?
— Do you think upgrading to another (tube based) DAC will achieve that sweeter, richer, more relaxed presentation?
Showing 4 responses by audphile1
@robert1976 yes the TWL Obsession are good cables with excellent connectors. |
@robert1976 Rob, I think you’re on the right track - addressing room acoustics is extremely important and without getting that done you’ll be chasing ghosts by swapping your components. I just started paying more attention to it as well and it is already paying off. Also, once your room is more or less tuned consider experimenting with network switches and filters. Depends on how sensitive the Tambaqui is to the quality of the incoming Ethernet signal, you may further improve the sound of your system as you run your Ethernet cable directly into the Tambaqui. I know it’s somewhat a controversial subject and I’m potentially opening a can of worms here by bringing it up, but it can help further improve the presentation and let your digital components do what they need to do much easier without having to deal with the electrical noise, RFI, EMI, etc. You may be surprised by the improvements. Again, depends on how your digital components deal with noise and how noisy your router is. |