Marvey's DAC Chart of Awesomeness

PM me. We were gonna (actually we did) do a group buy, and I have sources. And a spare one, also. Depending on your setup, the Berkeley Audio USB or the Mutec 3+USB definitely will improve the sound, but your mileage will vary. And the Berkeley is $900 more, roughly.

Also, can we move this discussion back to Dacs, and move the mutec flash impressions to the mutec thread? Just saying, so its all in one place.

 

I was a fan but warmth/bloom into the lower mids of AK4490 implementations I heard convinced me that while the chip has better staging and maybe better treble timbre sometimes, the "inner tone" or sound of the chip is worse than the previous AK439X generation of chips despite the better specs. The AKM "Velvet Sound" audiofoolery philosophy is ridiculous.

I'll take the AK4396/4399, very well done Sabres like Audio GD NFB-9, or the good old AD1955 (Apogee MiniDac and Emotiva DC-1) over the 4490's inner bloom gumming up guitar fundamentals.

 

Here's the story behind the AKM Velvet Sound, it seems that they have listened to their customer's feedback to design the sound:

http://www.absolutesound.com.sg/news-updates/why-did-teac-use-the-ak4490-dac-in-the-ud-503/

 

Good find! Groupthink of customer is always right leading to more bass for people that can't afford great speakers and whine about headphone and subwoofer bass! Audiofoolery in Action!

 

I think it's the classic case of too many cooks spoil the broth. The house sound of the past AKM(4396) has been ruined in this new generation.

Although it's common practice for DAC designers to get listener feedback for their sound, even for Schiit* and Esstech# does it. It seems that AKM is seriously getting the wrong feedback given how bloomy the dac has become. The sound reminded me alot of chi-fi(chinese hifi sound) tuning.

* http://www.head-fi.org/t/701900/sch...s-most-improbable-start-up/7635#post_11904537

# http://www.teddigital.com/ESS_Es9008s_en.htm


Here's why I think Schiit dacs sound so good as they are:

 

Thank all the people building chains to "complement" the broken disasters that pass for audiophile/TOTL headphones these days.

T90? HD800? It's the recording, not the headphone. Mm hm.

 

Though as the alluded to counterpoint, doesn't it cost an obscene amount of money to put hdmi on a product? I think the licensing itself is $10k plus extra fiddly bits per unit, and the testing/certifications part is even higher running tens of thousands for the various tests etc. That's peanuts for the juggernauts like Sony to absorb, but on a boutique manufacturer that's going to get piled up on the consumer fast.

Set up an account with FedEx and give the shipper your account number. They'll charge you taxes only, and non of the brokerage BS that ups does.

If UPS is the only option, then you can try to intercept the shipment and tell UPS that you will broker the parcel yourself. Tell them to forward you all the paperwork etc (they'll put up a fuss because they don't like people doing it themselves) and then contact the customs office yourself and follow their instructions. It might be a pain and a couple trips back and forth from the UPS depot to the customs office, but it'll save you the hundred+ bucks that UPS charges.

 

Thank you.

 

I'm sure that's a factor, yes, and one I hadn't really thought about!

Thinking about it, a bit, now, I know Linn manages a much more comprehensive feature set (full-on streamer, space optimization, A/D and D/A converters, analog and digital inputs, phono input w/ digital RIAA EQ, custom FPGA filtering and multiple HDMI inputs) for a similar price, and does so with a more impressive end audio result, so I still think there's a bit too much "badge" going on with the Bryston ... but yes, I can see where HDMI support would upset the normal pricing expectations on small-volume products.

 

I'm assuming this is only available when you purchase the license because when I tried the free trial the driver was no where to be found.

 

So I finally got a chance to hear a Yggdrasil today with my HE-6, feeding single ended into my Bryston 2B in meet conditions. I was expecting to listen for a while to hear the subtle differences yadda yadda.

It took me half a second.

Literally the first note as I jumped into the middle of a song (Hotel California -- I know, I know) to immediately notice the difference. There was a drum hit, just that "thump" and I knew. Bloody hell.

 

This might seem silly and a point too ordinary, but I need to ask once again. Is there a measurable difference with say a Modi and the Yggdrasil?

The measurements of recent budget DACs seem to look very flat and distortion free, maybe there is something I'm not hearing? Maybe I'm too skeptical? Are DACs really that big of a deal in grand scheme of things? Do measurements even matter with DACs?

I bet this point has been brought up before, I mean no offense - just trying to learn stuff.

 

Done. To. Death. You won't get the answer you are hoping for here.

 

Yeah, I bet this has come up lots. Maybe a SBAF science forum is in order?

 

Using the forum search feature is a better idea

 

Ok, I get your point. I'm done with the topic here.

 

the chinese compared the yggdrasil to the vega:
http://www.headphoneclub.com/thread-467371-1-1.html

Google translated:

 

All of them?

 

@bazelio