Millennia Media imersiv D1

@mitch2 

Based on what I have heard and read so far, and on my previous experience owning the Mola Mola Tambaqui (another DAC known for clarity and detail), I suspect the Imersiv D-1 may not be a slam-dunk for me and so, as you say, I need to hear it for myself.  

Fellow from Bulgaria says it sounds "different sound than the Tambaqui" but doesn’t elaborate, and then says he could keep either of them as end-game- he owns them both. I must say Chris gave the Immersiv designer/owner JohnL quite a grilling, but John is still posting. 

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/69850-imersiv-d1-multi-path-dac/page/4/#comments

"It’s so hard to describe audio in words, but this unit adds just the right amount of vibrance, clarity and detail to the audio that, in most cases, is really pleasing to the ear and complements the music. Again, I use it to feed my analog mastering chain, not for monitoring at the end of my chain.

On the other hand, occasionally I'll be mastering something that is either intentionally (or unintentionally) lo-fi or not great-sounding, and fortunately or unfortunately, the D-1 DAC can highlight those unattractive things a bit too much."

This resembles the debate of someone having "studio monitors" for home speakers. 

https://www.recordingmag.com/imersiv-d-1-dac/

I did not read the review except the last part. Not sure if the reviewer mentioned the 50 permutations of 2nd Order Harmonic Distortion settings on the DAC. Not including the 6 or 7 filter settings that some other DACs have. The first time I really felt (not heard) the filter settings was with the D-1. With other DACs I neither heard for felt the filter settings. I wrote about it somewhere, maybe here or on head-fi D-1 thread (I was asked to create that thread by the guys on head-fi).

I am using 2nd HD setting of B and level 4. Not sure what that does frequency wise but it adds a bit of warmth to my bright RAAL SR1a phones and I started to like it for my 2-channel.

When I met the designer, John La Grou, at the January Denver headphone meetup I asked if he could explain the 2HD settings on their web site. He said that was in the plans.

This thread, and @yyzsantabarbara ’s enthusiasm especially, has driven me get a demo model of the D-1 to test out for a week or so. It should arrive around April 30th.

I am besotted by the sound of my LTA Aero with both the TungSol black glass round plates and also a pair of 12 volt GEC B36s recommended to me by @chickenoregg , but I just have to see how that compares to the D-1.  (I’m sure a week will not be enough time to try more than a couple of the filters and 2dHarmonic settings, but I hope to give a few of them a try.)

Sadly, I don’t have @mitch2 ’s breadth of experience, descriptive talent or patience, but I will try to report back on how it fares in my 2 systems that currently use LTA Aeros.

@kirkwallace If the unit is broken in you may not even want to use the 2HD filter. Kind of depends on the speakers and amp. Try going direct into your XLR inputs on your amp. Going through a preamp was not optimal except via a passive transformer-based preamp/switch. I think John La Grou is coming out with one.

My friend Danny made one and let me try it out. I was able to go into an RCA only amp with the switch. I ended up selling my $7k RAAL VM-1a tube amp after I heard the D-1 DAC via RCA into my $400 (used) Schiit Aegir v1 amp. The Aegir only does RCA in stereo mode. I did not like the D-1 with the XLR based VM-1a. I think the tubes were a little overwhelmed. I had a bit of fatigue in that setup.

The Townshend Audio passive preamp is another one that I think would work with the D-1, though the truly balanced version is coming out in the future. 

Allegri Reference - Townshendaudio