2. digital
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Little Giant NOS DAC mini review

I bought this dac a few months ago from Aliexpress. It is a 47 Labs clone with a Philips TD1387 chip in non-oversampling mode.

It also employs a variant of the Pass output buffer, and utilizes a sole S/PDIF coaxial input.

When using this dac with my computer, differing levels of digital distortion were clearly present, with the best digital files having the least. The results were good to terrible.

But when I use my Carver MV5 cd player as a transport, I get much different and improved results.

Not only is the distortion reduced to a tolerable level, the sound is warmer and smoother, with a good soundstage and imaging.

I would also say that it is closer to analog than my old Micromega Stage 3, while providing more air and apparent resolution.

soundmann
soundmann OP
17 posts
 

To add to my observations regarding this dac, I find it to be an accurate one which appears to neither add nor subtract anything from the signal it recieves.

 

I normally don’t champion accuracy in audio components as I prefer those that smooth and sweeten the rough parts of most recordings. But this dac appears to be refined enough to keep things civil and listenable.

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,063 posts
 

@soundmann 

I suggest that you use a better streamer with this DAC. Look into iFI Zen streamer. Something like that or Node 2 would net you better sound than using a laptop or PC. Glad to hear you’re enjoying the DAC. 

soundmann OP
17 posts
 

I forgot to mention that I don’t really stream, and that I have a good soundcard.

 

Vinyl and cd’s are my main source of listening.

melm
1,057 posts
 

I find it to be an accurate one which appears to neither add nor subtract anything from the signal it receives.

And how do you know this?  What is your reference?

soundmann OP
17 posts
 

In absolute terms, digital is not, and cannot be truly accurate to the original performance in its present form.

 

But, an astute listener can thru years of listening experience gain the knowlege and ability to fairly accurately judge whether or not a particular component is lossy, colored or inaccurate to the format source in general.

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