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Aqua La Scala Optologic Mk2 on the cheap, used and sub $3000?

I’ve had a great time with a borrowed Aqua La Scala Optologic in my system. Played with the Antipodes CX / Ex combo (also borrowed) the sound was sublime, palpable and emotionally connected me to the music. Given the evolution of digital and the significant depreciation involved, I’m a real fan of used at the moment.

I picked up a good deal on a 1TB Innuos Zen MKiii. With my current Ayre Codex, it’s decent, but nowhere in the same league as the Aqua. The Aqua design appeals for a couple of other reasons:

1) I believe R2R is a better way forward on PCM, it just sounds right!
2) I’m heavily invested in high Rez (SACD) and I require that ability
3) I firmly believe the more you transform the bits, the more damage you can do the the SQ. Therefore I don’t want to have Roon convert DSD to PCM on the fly. For me, The DAC needs to handle DSD natively.

If it wasn’t for the DSD, a MHDT Orchid modded by Grannyring, or the Tubadour iii SE are highly regarded music makers and easy choices. What then with R2R and native DSD at a more economical used price point? (The La Scala sells for approximately $4k)

Sure there is the Aqua La Voice S3, for the $1000 less used, I’m told the La Scala is the better value in spite of the cost differential. Part of the cost of the Aqua line is on the ability of the boards to be upgraded, the other is labor costs in Italy verses the Orient. Too bad these other guys don’t offer DSD!

I’ve heard the Lampi Amber 3 might be a good choice, though I’ve also heard it’s a little more forward particularly with PCM. Getting the overall timbre color and tonality correct (the meat on the bones if you will) is really important to me, if the DAC gets this right, usually lesser recordings are more listenable. So what else is there?


ianderson
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,436 posts
 
The Mojo will play DSD recordings is my point and you know it. No, not in DSD format, but will play them and beautifully. Yes my quote is correct. The Amber was too vivid for me and while great HiFi, it lacks the realism and top to bottom coherence of the Mojo. Not even close.  Over time the vividness, especially DSD, was not enjoyable. Sure it could do all the Aphile sonic gymnastics and impress for a week, but over time I simply could not enjoy my music as much. I found myself not listening to music as much.

The longer I own the Mojo the more I like it and I find myself listening to more music! 

Not a good idea to pull out one sentence and try and suggest something when it clearly lacks the completeness of my combined posts and time with the Amber. 
nquery
103 posts
 
With all due respect, the Mojo does not play DSD format and thus DSD recordings. For it to play DSD recordings, they need to be converted to PCM first by some external process, like Roon. To somehow keep suggesting that the Mojo does in fact play DSD recordings is twisting semantics beyond recognition.

Maybe you didn’t read the entire opening post, but it says "Therefore I don’t want to have Roon convert DSD to PCM on the fly. For me, The DAC needs to handle DSD natively.". The Mojo does not handle DSD natively. Why would the OP accumulate a large SACD collection just so they can convert it back to PCM for playback? It’s nonsensical.

As for quoting the other thread, I did read the thread and understand that you like the Mojo’s presentation better. No problem. But that quote was just to get to the point that you do already know that the Mojo does not play DSD. And I explicitly gave that context.

The Mojo may in fact sound 10x better than the Amber. That wasn’t my point. The point is that the OP specifically wants a DAC that supports DSD playback and you keep misleadingly suggesting that the Mojo does.
mrkoven
93 posts
 
Check out the new Rockna Wavelight
hudsonhawk
137 posts
 
I firmly believe the more you transform the bits, the more damage you can do the the SQ. Therefore I don’t want to have Roon convert DSD to PCM on the fly. For me, The DAC needs to handle DSD natively.
While this is accurate, to my understanding no DAC can truly handle both PCM and DSD natively. So if you have a delta-sigma DAC, it will usually be preceded by a CMOS chip that’s converting PCM to DSD or some equivalent native bitstream. So for example for me, I have a Doge 7 DAC that has an ESS Sabre ES9018. Its CMOS chip will transcode any PCM coming in, so for me there are pretty big gains by transcoding everything in Roon to DSD.

Just pointing out that what you lay out is absolutely a noble goal but the best performance for you is going to be highly dependent on the architecture of the DAC that you end up getting and what the format of the music is that you most often play.
nquery
103 posts
 
@hudsonhawk You are right that most (delta sigma) chip based solutions would  converge pcm/DSD to a single bitstream at some point internally. And you are right that at the end of they day it's more about overall execution than technology. I used to be a stickler for the purity of R2R (chip or discrete ladder) but have since realized that there is more to it than that.

That said, there are some R2R dacs with separate paths for PCM vs native DSD that might meet the OP's goals. Lampi became first known with their dedicated DSD R2R dacs I believe. Some of the Denafrips R2R ladder Dacs do both PCM and DSD.  And the Holo Dacs most definitely have separate R2R ladder circuits for PCM vs DSD. I think this is one of their perceived values. And they allow for OS vs NOS modes as well - most prefer NOS. A discrete NOS R2R ladder DSD process would be as close to the pure DSD playback the OP is looking for. The new Holo May looks intriguing but starts at $3800.


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