Soekris "dac1541": DAC/Amp - Stream of Consciousness Impressions

Maybe instead of dry/round, you could use tight/loose. I think that'd be easier to understand for people here.

 

Well, I guess you are right. First thing that comes into my mind with tight is sterile, however (but this is just me). I'll update my post.

You could describe a champagne being dry. It can be seriously nuanced at the same time.

 

Also makes sense to me with wine in mind, but I'm part of the tiny French minority here. The vast majority will likely get it better with "screws" in mind

 

To be honest I also found it difficult to follow your review. Seemed like you were making contradictory statements and at times I had difficulty following which DAC you were talking about.

As someone relatively new to the hobby, I found the stereophile glossary a good starting point for me. It helped me understand what some of the commonly used terms mean and also what to listen for.
If posting the glossary is frowned upon I hope people let me know and I'll remove it.

http://www.integracoustics.com/MUG/MUG/bbs/stereophile_audio-glossary.html


In regards to your comparison with the MSB Diamond, which DAC did you find more resolving? I was interested to read this in your impressions but I think you glossed over it in the "microdynamics" section.

Thanks for this. Added to my original post.

 

I just re-read my post, but couldn't really detect any mumblings like this (but this is of course me, the mumbler). Could you point out which parts I need to clarify ?

Thanks, I will check it out!

MSB Diamond V is more resolving. It has noticeably tighter sound and blacker background. Notes start and stop instantly (when required). It also has less lean overall balance, which in turn (and in my opinion) makes it easier to pick up small details everywhere.

MSB certainly boasts a bigger soundstage, which could be described as holographic ( sorry, but this term is not in the glossary ).

Soekris sounds somewhat more condensed, but not cramped. It is perfectly OK for a device at this price range.

 

You can get to the "official" glossary of terms from the Resources link at the top of every page.

 

A quick A-B comparison between the DAC1541 in pure DAC mode with the ZDS (line out at 0dB, minimum phase filter) and the Pavane with the ZDS + Utopias:

- Bass: Pavane is minimally more impactful, but is mildly more tighter (the latter is the more noticeable thing),
- Resolution: Pavane is mildly but noticeably more resolving,
- Tonality: Both are coloured by the ZDS' forward mids, working well with the Utopias,
- Body: Pavane still has more body in the bass and mids, but the difference is smaller with the ZDS than DAC1541 alone,
- Treble: The DAC1541 is a bit more extended (as expected with an oversampling DAC when compared with the Pavane's NOS), but interestingly the Pavane is slightly more detailed - cymbal brushes are more distinct, clappers have clearer distinct notes,
- Instrument separation: Excellent on both, very hard to tell the difference,
- Soundstage: Both have perceptible width and depth, with width > depth, but the Pavane has greater depth in the soundstage, with the instruments having a firmer position,
- Speed/decay: Excellent on both, with the Pavane pulling slighter ahead with more natural decay on piano notes,
- Dynamics: I tried very hard to balance the volumes between the two DACs, and within these limits, the Pavane has greater micro and macrodynamics.

TL;DR = The DAC1541 benefits from the euphoric nature of the ZDS, with the combination slightly more musical than the stock sound, but nonetheless the Pavane still bests the DAC1541 when paired with the ZDS in all respects but more noticeably in bass, dynamics, resolution, body and soundstage depth.

The result is unsurprising as @Torq draw a similar conclusion when comparing the DAC1541 with the Yggdrasil, though I have retired my own Yggdrasil in favour of the Pavane.

Again, this is not meant as a criticism of the DAC1541 as it provides a great sound in a relatively portable package for my work situation, where I cannot use a heavy tube amplifier - put it another way, I don't miss the ZDS or Stratus too much at work listening to the DAC1541 with the Utopias, unlike with, say, the Utopias and the CDM or Mojo.

 

I just moved Soekris to my home theater setup. I am listening via Genelec 1032s and using Macbook Pro with Tidal as a source. The computer is connected to the dac with a toslink cable.

Incidentally I think that sonically the older and bit warmer sounding Genelec 1032s are a much better mach for the Soekris. This is interesting, since I thought the MSB Diamond V I demoed earlier worked better with my Genelec 8030s. Soekris is in my opinion too lean sounding for the newer Genelec 8030s.

Since Soekris a bit out of place at the home theater setup ( meaning it would be hard to integrate it there ), I am probably going to sell it. It is a shame, since I thought it sounded rather nice with my headphones ( AKG K702 ), but I just prefer to listen via speakers.

 

TL;DR: if the Soekris is just a bit lean but not glarey or sibilant it would seem to be an option to EQ it for a bit of warmth with the Genelec 8030s. Any thoughts on tackling it that way?

I'm running 8030/7050 and am in the market for a DAC/Amp/Pre. Functionally the DAC1541 exactly fits my needs: headamp at my desk with pre outs to the Genelecs which flank the TV (same room) and optical out of the TV to the Soekris for movies. The remote makes it very functional.

I'd need a rather more expensive pile of Schiit (Gungnir Multibit, source splitter, Freya and Jotunheim) to get better performance and still not be able to select the DAC source with the remote. The length of the cable runs makes balanced a practical necessity so Modi Multibit/Saga/Jot won't do.

 

It certainly doesn't sound sibilant or grainy; it sounds pristine like Torq said in his review.

I find it hard to describe how Soekris sounds with SBAF terminology alone; it is not lacking bass (lean). It isn't lacking lower midrange either. Maybe it is slightly shouty somewhere in the upper midrange and it has small emphasis (not fatiguing) in treble.

FYI, I just lowered my 8030s treble by -2db with the dip switch. The effect starts at 5kHz. I think it is more acceptable this way (for me at least).

I'll test Soekris with my 1032s again. They have a treble tilt too, but the effect starts at 2kHz and there is a -4db setting too. This will pretty much confirm (or not) my findings about the frequency balance.

I too thought about bying Gungnir MB and a Jotunheim... but it would be an another step of faith for me.

 

I changed cables. Cordial XLR cables gave room to Monster Silver RCA cables ( with RCA-XLR adapters at the other end ). Also, since these are RCA cables I switched to RCA outputs.

The difference is huge.

What was earlier almost untenable bright sound, is now much more even and "wet" due to increased amount of midrange. Don't know if this is because of the cables or the different outputs. Have to investigate further...

 

Those Genelecs must be seriously f'ing bright then.

 

I tried the bigger ones some years back, they were seriously f'ing bright, bought Dynaudios instead. Problem solved.

 

I don't really regard them as bright - no emphasis on any frequency range IMO. I would describe them very tight sounding. Need to be system matched carefully.

 

Received dac1541. Connected it to my power amplifier (via balanced interconnects), turned the dac1541 on and heard noise (from high frequency digital-processing-type noise to low frequency humming-like noise) from my speakers, and this is without any music playing; the same noise is heard even without any digital input into the dac1541. Tried my dac1541 into another amplifier and speaker system and the same noise can be heard. The noise is loud enough to be heard from my listening position 3 meters away from the speakers. I have two other DACs with digital volume control (such DACs are meant to be connected direct to power amplifiers) and they make no such noise at such levels.

I really hope I got a faulty dac1541. Frankly I am very disappointed as I was looking very forward to the dac1541, and it cost quite a bit to ship it to Singapore :-(

I had emailed Soekris Europe, with a recording of the noise, and hope to get troubleshooting help and a replacement if my dac1541 is just faulty.

Anyone here had connected the dac1541 to power amplifier and speakers?

 

I tried it with my speaker setup and did not experience any problem like you've described. I did connect it to a preamplifier at unity volume, rather than direct to an amplifier, but that shouldn't make a difference. I also used the balanced outputs.

 

I use active speakers but I haven't encountered similar problems. My unit is dead silent.

Have you tried the other outputs (rca & headphone) ?

 

RCA output into my power amp produces the same noise, just not as loud compared to balanced output (expected since it is 2v versus 4v output). But the noise signature is the same, just softer.

Headphone output into headphones is silent. Which was why didn't suspect anything when I tested my dac1541 the day I received it. The next day, after I heard the noise from my amplifier/speaker system, I did test the headphone out by connecting it to an Objective2 Headphone Amplifier (yes I know this is an unfair double amplification of noise) and at high gain and max volume I can hear the same noise on headphones.

Like I said, I suspected nothing was amiss when I tested using headphones direct from headphone out of dac1541 (tested HD600 and HD800). In fact I was very happy with the sound signature of dac1541! But I got a big and disappointing shock when I connected the dac1541 to my power amplifier (a Classe CA-2300) and heard the noise from my speakers...

I hope members and potential buyers are not turned away by my post. I am just feeling disappointed and anxious, as I really wanted to hear the dac1541 in its full glory from my main audio system, and that I am located in Singapore so support from Soekris Europe is going to be challenging and likely costly. I am glad other members who have the dac1541 are reporting not hearing such noise. Hopefully I hear back Soekris Europe soon.

I am familiar with thermal static noise in audio system, but what I am hearing is very different.

@Collusion, were your active speakers dead silent even at max volume with no music playing?

 

Initial impressions on the Soekris dac1541:

Background:

I have had a couple of mid-fi mini dacs, like a Concero HD Sabre, a Styleaudio Carat-Sapphire PCM1792 and the Modi multibit + the inbuilt dac of my tube CD player.
My comments will be relative to my limited experience.

Setup:

My headphone amplifier is a push-pull tube amplifier; the Trafomatic Head II with NOS tubes. I listen mostly through both my closed headphones: a heavily modified ATH-W3000anv LINK (nominal impedance 40) and a ZMF Eikon (nominal impedance 300). Both have upgrade balanced cables.

Unpacking the Soekris dac:

I have received a dac1541 with serial nr. 54. It took over a week after ordering before getting a shipping notice. It arrived with UPS in simple but sufficient packaging.
The Soekris does not look like anything high end. It would blend in better at my dentist´s place... The volume knob feels light and slightly scrapes the sides of the hole in the front panel. The dac is small and light but rather sturdy. So all in all it is a bit of an understatement. No fancy fat alu front plate and all that. I´m O.K. with it. This is still a small company with low quantity runs. I don´t like mainstream stuff.

Initial listening impressions of the Soekris Dac+inbuilt headphone amp (soft minimum phase/soft "Butterworth" filter):

I would definitely recommend a little burn in. Cold and new out of the box it sounded a little disjointed and etched. This improved already after 1-2 hours. I now leave the dac on or I switch it on together with my tube amp and give it some time to warm up.
There sometimes are slight clicking noises when turning the volume knob fast.
What stands out right away is the lows and the highs which call for some extra attention. It reminds me of applying some shadow / highlight adjustment in Photoshop to bring more definition in the bright and deep shadow parts of a picture. So I don´t mean necesseraly that the frequency extremes are louder; they just grab a little more attention than with the other dacs I have heard.
The stage is not overly big, but very nicely organised and layered. The complexity of the music is laid bare and it is easy to focus on certain instruments within the sound landscape.
The sound is slightly on the analytical side of things. Resolution is better than anything I have had until now. There is a little less body and organic musicality than what I am used to.
I will not be commenting on rightness of timbre, as I still feel too unexperieced to do so.
The Crossfeed filter is a real boon. It does perfectly what it is meant to do. The choice of three simple and effective settings of crossfeed suits me perfectly as I don´t want to fiddle around too long. SQ and feeling of pristine overview on the music suffers only slightly. With hard panned music the benefits outweigh this slight loss by far.

Initial listening impressions of the Soekris Dac + Trafomatic Head II:

The sound becomes clearly more dynamic and more organic. The soundstage expands and becomes a touch more 3D. All becomes really to my liking! The Eikons profit the most. They become a little svelte with less slam and body out of the Soekris alone. Especially bass quantity and slam suffer noticably. The gain with the Audio Technica woodies is less, but also clearly there.
The ZMF Eikons were always a touch too dark for me with the Modi Multibit. With the Soekris the balance is just right.
No shame the Trafomatic outperforms the Soekris´ built in amp. The Head II is a 2.700 € amp + the money for some nice NOS tubes...

Compared to the Soekris the Concero HD is like a medium resolution 8 bits/channel picture with rather coarse sharpening with a large radius applied, creating halos, and slightly elevated saturation and contrast.
The Soekris is like a 16 bit and higher resolution picture with finer sharpening so you don´t get halos, very slightly undersaturated and with shadows + highlights accentuated.

Wishes and aftertoughts:

- I wished so dearly the crossfeed filter would also be able to be activated on the line out.
- I keep wondering about the choice of power supply. It kept me hesitating for a while if I should get the Soekris. But I am not in a position to really judge this. Of couse it keeps the Soekris small and light.
- After getting this taste of a higher class of dacs I would really like to hear a Gungnir Multibit or one of the beloved SBAF TOTL dacs..
- The Soekris unit makes for a great transportable desktop amp! In fact, with not too power hungry and analytical or bright headphones which are not particularly lacking in dynamics I could live just with the Soekris. I payed the introduction price and feel this has been money well spent. I like the possibility to easily take the Soekris around, when not listening to my complete setup.
- I will allow now for a more music enjoyment approach and see how the Soekris fares over the next weeks, but I will also be looking forward to other members´ impressions.

EDIT: still very happy with this dac so far!
EDIT nov. 2107: heard quite a few more dacs by now and am still very satisfied with my choice.

 

Is your phone or any other transmitting device in close proximity to the 1541 or its cables? Sounds like there might be some interference from someplace, especially given the "digital-processing-type" noise. That has to come from somewhere...