Sonica's BS

Well you can check out what I wrote on the OPPO Sonica if you like. Not a lot of responses. Probably not appropriate for discussion on this thread. Its quite good
at 800 bucks. You can check out EVS tweak shop and look at Rics mod and read what he has to say. The DAC is ridiculously good after his mods. He says it should better most anything out there between 2K to 5 or maybe 6K dollars. Check it out if its in your price range.

Good Luck..are you thinking bought the ZDT jr? Sounds pretty good...id buy one but saving up for and EVS F3 etc. clone. Ric's spin on the Pass Amps.

EDIT FROM MODERATOR: PLEASE DO NOT SPEND $1600 ON A SOUPED UP SONICA.

 

Sure, will check it out. I want to get a good multibit dac. Would probably get a Gungnir Multibit once I have saved enough money, or if something more affordable comes up. I am okay with waiting for some time to get a good dac.

Ya, I have placed an order. I've not seen this much enthusiasm across the board for a product since the time I started lurking here (may be around 6-9 months) and I also own a HD6xx, so had to spend some of the money I've been saving up for my Gungnir Multibit. I also think this would be a nice intro to tube amps for me .

 

If it pairs well with my HE560 I will be thrilled. Looking at the reports of poor compatibility with low sensitivity planars I'm not hopeful.

 

Unfortunately, this monster (Ric Schultz) doesn't stop at mid-fi. He even published dangerous Yggdrasil mods: http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/Schiit_mod.html.

He's a real "tweaky deaky" guy (his words, not mine). (source)

 

Respectfully you dont know what your talking about. The proof is in the hearing and the engineering. If you bothered to look at the mod on his page or talk to him about the philosophy behind it. I trust my ears. The mod transforms the sonica from quite good to quite spectacular. Nuff said. Go look at the price of the modwrigt version ever one raves about thats heard it. Rics I imagine would hold its own at a lot fairer price. As we say to the inmates "Go kick rocks"! I am more than happy with the mod.

Just my 2 cents FWIW!

Thats all. Nuff said.

Will be no more comments on my part.

Happy Listening!

 

Good, because you're spewing total garbabge. Some copper foil and stickers can't turn an already overpriced $800 DAC into some sort of giant killer.

 

Can't argue about 'hearing' part.
Covering heatsinks with insulator and adding stickers on top of capacitors is engineering now?
I wouldn't be in total disbelief is someone said that fuse can make a difference in high power dynamically switching load,
like class A-B or class D amp, not in dac that has shunt psu-s (constant load).

 

"4. Bypass the fuse or use an audiophile fuse. Way, way better sound."

This one line invalidates everything he says.

He might be correct that some of the mods improve things, but something something broken clock is right twice a day.

I claim that fuses can make a sonic difference, but "way way" better is bullcrap.

More importantly, bypassing the fuse is inviting the complete destruction of your DAC. It's sheer idiocy on the level of lifting vital safety grounds for sonic improvements.

 

Haven't heard the mods to which you refer, but the fact that you think the Sonica is "quite good" stock tells me our tastes are so different that your sq opinions are probably useless to me (and I am the only person for whom I can speak), as I was not impressed at all with its sound. I appreciate the effort though, and am certainly certainly glad you like it. I would guess there are very few things, especially in audio, that can't be improved by someone with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to do so. Especially without any cost limitations such as those placed on engineers in the context of a company the size of Oppo. I try to buy products that meet my needs and expectations out of the box, rather than doubling the cost and octupling (?) the effort by changing components, especially things like cables (gasp!), wire, connections, etc. Starting down that path with the ZDT Jr. seems like a fools errand. But I've been wrong before, which my ex wil confirm-enthusiastically.

 

Found the "tweaky deaky" guy apparently