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Six DAC Comparison

I am in the middle of comparing the sound of six different DACs in my system. I own them all (I know weird) but one of them is still within a trial/return timeframe.

Not to share specific comparisons today, but a couple of observations so far are that first, they all definitely sound different from each other. On one hand, they all sound pretty good and play what is fed to them without significant flaws but on the other hand there are definite sonic differences that make it easy to understand how a person might like the sound of some of them while not liking others.

Second, raises the observation that most of them must be doing something to shape the sound in the manner the designer intended since one of the DACs, a Benchmark DAC3 HGA, was described by John Atkinson of Stereophile as providing "state-of-the-art measured performance." In the review, JA closed the measurements section by writing, "All I can say is "Wow!" I have also owned the Tambaqui (not in my current comparison), which also measured well ("The Mola Mola Tambaqui offers state-of-the-digital-art measured performance." - JA). The Benchmark reminds me sonically of the Tambaqui, both of which are excellent sounding DACs.

My point is that if the Benchmark is providing "state-of-the-art measured performance," then one could reasonably presume that the other five DACs, which sound different from the Benchmark, do not share similar ’state-of-the-art" measurements and are doing something to subtly or not so subtly alter the sound. Whether a person likes what they hear is a different issue.

mitch2
johnny2bad's avatar
johnny2bad
1 posts
 

Tim is correct, we’ve stashed away some of the rarest of the rare vintages of the PCM63 DAC chips and we’re planning on a new DAC using those chips. 

It's good to see this confirmation of what's been kicking around the rumor mill. On the below quote though, no passive attenuator nor any other type of preamplification is ever going to win over a true preamplifier guy. if you're an R2R fan, IMO you're also a true preamplifier guy. 

So if you’re considering our next gen DAC, don’t upgrade your preamp, you won’t need it :^)

tksteingraber's avatar
tksteingraber
784 posts
 

@mitch2 @fuzzbutt17 Thanks for the great thread, amazingly detailed reviews and updates.  I am really enjoying my Mystique X’25 NC but with all this hype I am getting weak knee’d for a other step up.  Maybe a Z demo or return down the road as the Q’s get the best of folks.  Darn you guys!  Just say no, just say no 🤣.  Ben you make one heck of a nice DAC line.  Many Thanks!

no_regrets
573 posts
 

@mitch2   Thanks for the detailed write-up on the Mystique Z NC yes

Just a fun thought that came to mind.... I think it would be fun for us, at least for those of us who have been following this thread, if you were to make a casual youtube video of both the Mystique Z NC and the Aries Cerat Helene playing the same song or two in your system, so we might be able to have a glimpse of what you are hearing and so that we might be able to have a better idea of how they might compare or differ for that matter smiley

Best wishes,

Don

brbrock's avatar
brbrock
166 posts
 

@mitch2 Thank you Mitch for the review.  I appreciate all the time you have put into  reviewing these DAC's 

mitch2 OP
4,733 posts
 

@no_regrets - Interesting idea but I am not confident in my ability to create a YouTube video that would accurately exhibit what I am hearing.  I have listened to some of those YouTube audio equipment review videos and I doubt what I heard was close to how it sounded in the poster’s room.

The other thing is, the units I have here now certainly do not sound night and day different from each other (IMO) and, particularly with the three Mojo Audio models, the differences I hear are nuanced rather than overtly obvious.  They are all good sounding DACs but, at least in the price range of the DACs I have been listening to, the state of digital audio industry seems to be progressing more incrementally than monumentally.  It is sort of like stepping half the distance to a wall, the closer you get to the wall, the smaller the steps.  The steps involved in improving digital audio seemed to have been bigger ten years ago.

The Aries Cerat Helene brings some attributes to the party that I like hearing, and that I might describe as the Mojo Audio house sound on steroids, taking the good stuff I hear from Benjamin’s latest DACs and adding just a little bit more.  I have no idea of what specific design choices result in what I am hearing from the Helene but the suspects might include the multiple DAC chips, tube rectified power supply, double re-clocking Super Clock technology, tube output stage, expensive transformers, general overbuilt construction, or all of it together.  In this case, paying a lot more seems to bring an improvement but, the additional cost is high considering you can get close with one of the Mojo Audio DACs, including the Z NC that, with the current sale pricing, is just over half the list price of the Helene.  I have no idea what further improvements beyond the Helene could be heard from DACs at even higher prices of $30K+ like the dCS Rossini APEX, EMM Labs DV2i, Totaldac d1-sublime, MSB Premier, or others, because I haven’t heard any of them.

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