Millennia Media imersiv D1

@dpac996 I doubt it will be an apples-to-apples comparison. I have purchased something so that I have great fibre optic streaming with the gear I will bring. I think everyone else will stream from an iPad or computer. 

The plan sometime back was to purchase the MPD-8. I even purchased the PBD STREAM-IF to motivate me to continue on a second job that I was doing to earn some audio funds. However, I get sidetracked by the Schitt Yggi+ OG and decided that that DAC was good enough and used the audio funds elsewhere.

The Allnic D-15000 Signature OTL/OCL is likely more like the mpd-8. Andreas has cooked up some great FPGA code on the digital side of the MPD-8. I used to own the Sony SCD-1 that he was involved with. I forgot the Allnic designers name, he seems to be equally an audio genius. The OTL/OCL analog is so good. 

I am just guessing here but I think the D-1 sounds different from the MPD-8 and the Allnic (which I know all about). I think I said it in an earlier post the D-1 is not really an audiophile sounding DAC. The Allnic definitely is. The MPD-8 is also described by many in these terms. My now sold R2R Schiit Yggi+ OG is also somewhat described in glowing audiophile language.

The D-1 is more of an analytical sound, but I do not mean that in a negative way. I think you hear everything in the source but without harshness. I can understand the glowing comments by the studio engineers (see Imersiv web site). My feelings on the sound of the DAC mirrors, those descriptions.  I am not audio person, but I know what sounds great to me. If I can only have 1 DAC it would be the D-1. 

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My friend Danny loves the Allnic DAC, and it is his fav. It was mine also until I burrowed the D-1. It just sounds correct to me.

My greatest compliment is that I am listening to music that I was just so--so about and finding that music now sounds great. Example, Lana Del Ray. I was never a huge fan but, on the D-1 I was listening to a couple of her albums from start to finish and loving it.

Another album I liked even more on the D-1 was "Capriconia" by Midnight Oil. In the past I liked the first 4 or 5 tracks but, on the D-1, the whole album was great. The Oils are great musicians, and I could really appreciate that in the D-1. Same goes for Jeff Beck, never been a huge fan but on the D-1 I am very impressed. I could go on about many more instances. Actually, more fun to talk about the music.

I am going to ask Danny to do a comparison of the MPD-8 and the Allnic D15000 using his RAAL 1995 Immanis phones. The headphone amp will likely be the top-of-the-line Allnic.

His hearing is crazy good. So good that I sometimes tell him not to tell me his opinion of music that I like. :) 

He will include the D-1 in the comparision.

BTW - someone may do a write up on TAS about the meet. 

@yyzsantabarbara “Actually, more fun to talk about the music”

awesome place to be!

I now have my most difficult system sounding the best I ever heard. It is the RAAL SR1a earphones. There are bright phones but are my all-time fav headphones. I sold them once thinking I would buy the 4x more expensive RAAL 1995 Immanis but after doing a home demo I was drawn back to the 2-channel sound of the SR1a, and I repurchased it. The Immanis is right at the top of the headphone space, but I like the SR1a the best.

I have done 2-channel amp rolling with the SR1a along with DAC rolling. A lot more painful $$ wise than simple tube rolling, but at one time the SR1a needed 100 watts of 2-channel amp power (not anymore with a new adapter). These potentially could be my second-best system but were not until today. 

The D-1 seems to have nicely broken-in, and I have now set the Harmonic Distortion filter to B and Level 2. Just a tiny bit of distortion that I use the same on all 3 systems.

In the past I used the following warm DACs to tame the top end of the SR1a,

- Musetec 005

- Audio Mirror Tubadour

- Schiit Yggi+ LIM

- Schiit Yggi+ MIB

- Gustard X26 Pro

- ROON Convolution filters by Mitch Barnett of AccurateSounds.ca. Specifically designed for the SR1a and I used occasionally but not with the D-1.

With the best being the Schiit Yggi+ MIB. The Schitt Yggi+ OG, my second fav DAC of all-time, while good with the SR1a, there was still a bit of unwanted energy on top with the OG.

Today, the "analytical" D-1 is the very best DAC on the SR1a. The highs are tamed nicely, and the uber resolution of the D-1 comes across in this uber resolving earphone. No fatigue whatsoever.

I am using the Schiit Mjolnir v3 headphone amp as my amp. I think the Schitt Aegir v1 2-channel amp (20-watt Class A) is even better, but I can only use RCA with the single stereo amp, and the D-1 has RCA, but I do not think it works. The manual says to not use RCA. I am waiting on the development of the passive switch box to get my tuners and Aegir v1 into the mix.

I sold the $7k RAAL VM-1a a few days ago, this tube headphone amp is universally considered the best amp on the SR1a. I liked the used $400 Aegir more with the D-1. With all other DACs the VM-1a was the king of the hill.

Maybe I need to stop the tunes on the SR1a and go to sleep. Only thing bad about the SR1a is that it does not work well with your head on a pillow.

I mentioned the Allnic D-15000 as an amazing DAC. Today, Allnic announced a cheaper version of this DAC. Not sure it will be as good.

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