Curious as to how many Wilson Benesch speakers you have listened to critically. I have upgraded to my third pair and regard all of them as uncolored and accurate. No sizzle, boom or other anomalies with the best midrange this side of an electrostatic. Perhaps you perceive the lack of coloration as sterile.
DAC upgrade
Looking to take my digital side of things to the next level.
L-shaped new room. Sloped ceiling. Big space.
D’Agostino HD Preamp, M400 amps, Aurender W20 with their Master Clock. Wislson Benesch Resolutions with two REL 32 subs. Great interconnects.
Have a Chord DAVE DAC. It sounds good. Still a little clinical and sterile. Haven’t gone into the world of tubes. I’m an amateur for sure but read a lot of what you all say and am trying to elevate my game. Truly enjoy this hobby and the happiness that music brings. Just learning what the next step might be.
Thank you for your input.
- ...
- 68 posts total
Want a great DAC with an optional built-in streamer for a reasonable price? Here is one option.
The Modified PS Audio Directstream DAC is a great option. This is one of the best sounding DAC's that does not sound digital. The Limited Edition Signature Series PLUS with the all the new bridge II upgrade Streamer network card option. It's a DSD / FPGA / Audio Transformer based DAC. No DAC chip! To make it even better I would recommend using a pair of fiber media converters to connect it to your network. |
The best DAC I ever heard in my house (for 4 days) is the brand new (for 2025) Allnic D-15000 Signature OTL/OCL DAC. Initially this thing had 2 things going against it from my own prejudices. It is a tube DAC, and it also uses the top end Delta-Sigma ESS chip. I heard this with my RAAL SR1a phones, Yamaha NS5000 speakers, and the Magnepan Mini speakers. Now this DAC upended all my thinking because it is both the most detailed DAC I ever heard and it also incredibly holographic. Now I do not attribute the level of detail to the ESS chip but to the OTL/OCL design. This got me thinking what if someone like PlayBack designs with their FPGA based design also used an OTL/OCL design. I never used to think that a $25k was going to be that much better than my Schitt Yggi+ OG DAC. The Allnic was. If someone gave me $25k and said I could not buy the Allnic. I would easily get the Yggi+ OG DAC I listed above. Other DACs are somewhat better but nothing close to 10x. The Allnic is another matter. I also heard the new Allnic $33k Signature OTL/OCL preamp in my house. I listened with both the Yggi+ and the Allnic DACs. Wow, that was an experience. The all Allnic setup was better, but the Yggi+ and Allnic was amazing too. My current and long-term preamp is the Benchmark HPA4. The Allnic was more detailed than the uber detailed HPA4 preamp, however it was also holographic. BTW - Schitt Audo has the new Delta Sigma Byggi DAC (via FPGA I think) being sent out to the wild now. I am in the queue to convert my Schitt Yggi+ MIB to the Byggi ($1500)i. I hope to get this done in a few weeks. My friend who sells the Allnic gear will get a visit from me with the Byggi DAC to do a head-to-head with the Allnic. We will use the best headphone in the world the RAAL 1995 Immanis (+ new silver RAAL cable) with the new Woo amp which has direct RAAL connectivity. Easiest way to hear DAC differences,
|
- 68 posts total