Sonic Frontiers SFD-1mk2 Vintage DAC for $750 That Stomps Most Modern DACs

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by purr1n, Nov 9, 2015.

  1. JoeDoe

    JoeDoe Acquaintance

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    Very interesting on the BP DAC... Will read up.
     
  2. Peti

    Peti Facebook Friend

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    So I wasn't sure but my HDCD rips can be played back from my Fiio X3 DAP hooked up to the SFD-1 Mk2 and the HDCD led got lit up. Happiness here. I only have tried 2 HDCDs from my collection but each time the front display indicated of this dac that it is being fed with HDCD material. I've tried these albums:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    And the DAC in action:

    [​IMG]
     
  3. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    Is that the SFD-1 MKII that was on eBay for an excellent price recently? I nearly bought it but managed to stay my hand. Barely.
     
  4. Peti

    Peti Facebook Friend

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    Thank God you did man! :) I got other plans on the DAC front but when I saw this offer on eBay, I could not resist.

    So yes, it was from eBay. Also, just to put it out here, this DAC can play back 24/48, with ease. I was struggling to find any useful info on this dac save for this site so I just put it out here. Oh, and it's a 8x upsample dac.

    I've asked the seller what tube it has in it and he said "universal". Is it a brand or he meant the stock one? I know, I have a lot of catching up to do on tubes.

    Edit: What is the 0 - 180 switch for on the left side?
     
  5. JimL

    JimL Tongues KG's hairy starfish for fun

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    It uses two 6DJ8/6922 tubes.

    The 0-180 switch is most likely the absolute polarity switch.
     
  6. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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  7. Peti

    Peti Facebook Friend

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    I have recently picked up a Sennhesier HDVA600 for my SFD-1 MK2 to evaluate this DAC until the Aficionado arrives and I must say I am in awe of this dac (I only use Hd800SDR). Detailed, rich sound with insane depth and width presentation. Also, I am extremely positively surprised by the Sennheiser amp, too. I wish I still had the Stratus here to do side by side comparisons but what I'm hearing now makes me fully content. From memory I can tell that there's some detail missing, but that was an altogether different rig (Gungnir Multibit, Stratus). Last night I was up until 3am listening to music.

    I remember it had only happened before with the Gungnir Multibit but this dac is even more special to my ears. So I just want to say THANK YOU for this website and its participants bringing my attention to this wonderful DAC!

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  8. richard51

    richard51 Mr. Sorbothane

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    These impressions graphically expressed are very interesting....I listen only computer files flac with a good but inexpensive dac, a Beresford Bushmaster, in near- field listening mostly in a small sonically treated room,and my imaging is 3-d, my soundstage is like the vinyl ellipse of this drawing and the sound is not between the speakers,rather my head is immersed in the atmospherical sound image...The first reason for my experience is not my bushmaster dac , only an honest dac, but the different improving methods of control and treatment i have devise...

    This thread and some other thread here with other dacs confirm all my thinking that the most important upgrade is not to pay for expansive gear, while unsatified, but to explore and experiment with other avenues, eliminating EMI, eliminating vibrations, treatment of the room is IMPERATIVE...Without room treatment,nor EMI and vibrations control measures, in the beginning of my audio journey,my dac sound was like the Gungnir Multibit in this drawing with the sound between the speakers only...
    People here or on other forums sometimes think only to buy gear, not to make what they already own better first....The systems i listen to now , all in all cost me,dac+amp, headphone included, 500 bucks and his sound is astounding but with room treatment first and control of vibrations and EMI....In the next week i will try an inexpensive 2-2r dac, i will experiment with it because Alas! i cannot try the more expansive but unanimously loved Sonic Frontiers for the moment... Interesting reflexions of Bazelio, thanks
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2017
  9. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    Any time I hear a Sonic Frontiers, Theta, or other high end '90s DAC, I'm astonished at how far we haven't come in 20 years.

    I'm on SFD-1 MKII #3 for me (had a gold face normal unit, gold face SE+, and now black face normal).

    It sounds--stock apart from tubes--better than 96.3% of modern DACs that I've owned or heard.

    I'll be doing some shootout comparisons with the MHDT Labs Orchid (fully modded) after I do some volume matching tonight.

    I'll probably provide a bit of commentary, but it's really just for me. Last time I sold my SE+ version was partly because I was nervous about its lifespan and the modded MHDT Atlantis was almost as good (better in some ways, worse in others).
     
  10. Xecuter

    Xecuter Brush and floss your amp twice a day

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    You are very right, modern DACs seem to measure better objectively but are voiced far worse than a lot of these 90s DACs and just haven't impressed me enough to bother upgrading. I would honestly take my sfd-1mkii over a Dave and other very expensive modern options..

    One DAC I heard recently though, reminded me of SFD. It was the Forsell Air Reference DAC, I heard in Singapore. It was slightly cleaner in the midrange but still had the amazing stage, attack and realistic sounding transients. I think this DAC is very special, however it was in an unfamiliar system and I'm not 100% sure.

    The are incredibly difficult to come by, however one came up for sale yesterday.
    https://www.audiogon.com/listings/da-converters-d-a-converter-2017-09-27-digital
     
  11. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    @Marvey did you mod this yourself back in the day?

    I've been looking inside to determine if I should mod my own if I don't manage to get the one @shotgunshane is selling. There are a couple of pieces that I'm a bit worried about removing cleanly to get to the underside of the PCB (primarily the LEDs in front). Looks like they're glued or something and I'm not certain how to remove them without doing any damage.

    Edit: Pulled it out again. I think the mystery substance providing extra security to the LEDs is just hot glue, which means a little isopropyl alcohol will take care of that no problem.
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2017
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I had PCX do the work because I also wanted them to give it a once over. These things are ancient. Things can die on them, like a random flip-flop on the digital receiver board. Stuff like that can drive you nuts.

    The board is kind of a bitch. For SFD1, single board with heavy power transformer soldered on.
     
  13. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    Received the SE+ modded SFD-1 MKII unit from @shotgunshane today. I put identical tubes, cables, Lynx AES16e input into both.

    A/B testing yields dramatic results!

    On the order of... precisely 6dB. Oh wait, this unit had that stupid HDCD 6dB attenuation bullhonky removed.

    Okay, back to the A/B after reducing the volume on the Lynx mixer by 6dB.

    It's slightly cleaner than the stock unit.

    That's about it.

    It's the one I land on regardless of which Sys input it's using as the "better" DAC.

    Is it worth the cost of shipping it off to Canada and having it modded? Only if you already love the stock sound.

    It's not going to take a DAC you only like and make it one you love. It takes a DAC you love and makes it a DAC you love, but it had its teeth whitened.

    EDIT: I found out that this is actually the very same SFD-1 MKII that another user had mentioned as being bright, flat, and unengaging. Happily, that is not the case with my setup. It sounds like every other SFD-1 MKII I've owned (4 in all).

    IMG_20171006_185234.jpg
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2017
  14. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    I made a huge mistake.

    I put a pair of Telefunken E88CC gold pin tubes from Upscale Audio in and listened to the SFD-1 MKII SE+.

    I hate them.

    How the deuce is this amazing DAC delivering even more detail than it already does? Without fatigue to boot.

    I hate these tubes.

    Because I want them in here forever and ever.

    I resolved to sell them to help make up for the price difference between the standard version and this SE+ version.

    But I don't know if I can let them go. Balls.

    EDIT: I pulled them out, put them in their boxes, put them in the back of the drawer in the closet, and closed the closet door. That will show me.
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2017
  15. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    Looking forward to impressions from @SirBashALot. I planned to only sell to a Friend/Contributor, but he really seemed like he was looking for this particular signature and was fun to talk to, so he has my unmodded SFD-1 MKII now.

    I'm a couple weeks back into the Sonic Frontiers realm and I'm astonished at how good this thing is. It's going to take Gungnir Multibit 2 or something of at least that caliber to make me move on from this DAC again.
     
  16. SirBashALot

    SirBashALot New

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    Thank you Luckbad for making the exception. I appreciate it. I will submit impressions once I've sunk in enough hours to get a solid feel for the sound of this DAC across all genres I enjoy. Early impressions are great though, as I've told you in PM :)
     
  17. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Wow. I have Gungnir Multibit and the Holo Spring L3 DAC right now...have you heard the Spring DAC? And if so, how do you think they would compare? Have never owned a tube DAC (in fact the only tube gear I've ever owned is my current Saga preamp). I may have missed this but did you compare to Gungnir Multibit in a post as well?

    Edit: I did read others impressions of Gungnir Multibit vs. the SFD, just wasn't sure if you had posted any...
     
    Last edited: Oct 11, 2017
  18. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    I haven't posted impressions of the SFD vs Gungnir Multibit. I think I posted impressions of the Spring vs. SFD in the Holo thread at some point. The Holo Spring L3 Kitsune Edition is overall the better DAC, but it is above my threshold of willingness to pay.
     
  19. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Ok thanks I'll dig around in the Holo thread. I agree the Spring is a great DAC but getting up there in price for me as well. I already know I can't hold onto this many Dacs in this price range, so was looking at something like the SF or MHDT as a counter to the pristine clarity and sharpness of Gungnir Multibit, which can be a bit too much for some recordings (but with many recordings it's frickin mind blowingly good)
     
  20. Xecuter

    Xecuter Brush and floss your amp twice a day

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    Hey guys. I'm trying to use opt-st for the first time. I can't seem to get it to lock. I bought a st-st patch lead. Seems to all connect up well but no signal?
    Any tips?

    I bought an st-st os1 cable. I think I may need om1?

    [​IMG]


    Edit..
    So yeh. Os-1 (1310 nanometres) is the wrong cable. I'll try an om-1 which is 62.5 micron.
     
    Last edited: Jan 3, 2018

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