PrimaLuna EVO 100 DAC


I read several members have one. Would like to find out what do you think about it now that you have had it for awhile?

Thank you

sabrejet
About the clock tube, might be easiest to get the answer by calling Kevin Deal @ Upscale Audio, Prima Luna is his baby
About not being any personal experience! Do you think it is because of all the tubes ? A Dac is something many people probably just want to setup and forget, but with tubes you will have to turn it of after use, and tubes after hitting their peak will start to deteriorate, so some people not use to tubes will just worry too much about things like this ? Maybe tube dac’s are more of a specially product !
i have not heard this dac, nor will i pursue hearing it, based on what i have read from the commercial reviews

seems to me it is a poor value for the performance -- furthermore, that is just whole lot of metal, glass, and just plain ol' stuff to do decent sounding D/A conversion... so many others have gotten as good or superior results with so much less it seems

not knocking primaluna as a brand, i actually have and really like their power amp... maybe this dac was made to sell to folks who want a full matching primaluna kit from source on through

i doubt they have sold many of these, maybe i am wrong
I have one and have been testing it against the PS audio stream DAC which is almost twice as expensive.  I’m very happy with the sound.  There is definitely a warmth, brightness and detail that makes it much more pleasing to listen to than the PS Stream (which is cold and clinical by comparison).  I hear more detail with the Prima Luna as well.  It is a big improvement over the DACs I had before (built ins from my Marantz SACD player and Node is).  The Prima Luna is very quiet background, beautiful detailed mods highs and bass.  Sound stage not as wide as the Stream but so far no comparison as to which I enjoy listening to (the Prima Luna).  One thing that surprised me is a red book Beatles mono CD - it’s always sounded dry and sterile through other DACs but sounds beautiful detailed and warm on the Prima Luna.
I Java a PL Evo100 Dax and am quite happy with it. After having a few solid state Dax’s of which neither did much for me, closed in soundstage, dry dynamically, nothing to make me want to play digital at all. I would rather play CD’s or vinyl as nothing I had tried in the digital platform made me want to listen for very long at all.
   Well after seeing a positive review in the Absolute Sound on the Evo 100, I found a used one cheap in perfect condition and hardly used at all. I believe that is one of the issues with this dac is break in time and warmup before playing. It was rather bland when I first put it in my system which I use with an Audible Illusions Modulus preamp. Well ill tell you what, after about 50-100 hrs of break in, the sound suddenly bloomed in every direction, wide soundstage, deep with well placed images and warm sounding which I like as opposed to clinical. Warmup time makes a difference to I have found with about a 45 minute wait before it shines in my system.
   Using a Krell KSA150 amp, the AI Modulus preamp and either Martin Logan CLS or Quad 63 speakers with subwoofer to fill in the bottom end. Anyway, I’m very happy with the Evo 100 and plan on keeping it for many years.