Pilium Elektra DAC arrives at Rhapsody

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Pilium 66lb Elektra DAC now available for demo at Rhapsody. (Retail is $39,900) Sonically the Elektra seems like a bargain at this price.

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geopolitis

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Can you give us some more details? Have you compared Elektra with any other digital source?
 

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Can you give us some more details? Have you compared Elektra with any other digital source?
Hi, sorry, but I just took it out of the flight case a few hours ago. Konstantinos at Pilium DID break it in for me as we were waiting for the new USB driver, but it needs a few days now turned on and playing.

From what I hear, I would put it in the upper echelon of DACs. I used to and still really like the Aqua Formula. The Elektra is twice the price but sonically it is in a different league. That's all I would say for now.
 

geopolitis

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Any new feedback regarding Pilium Elektra's performance?
 

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Any new feedback regarding Pilium Elektra's performance?

It's burned in nicely. Two people have heard it and both ordered an Elektra. I personally like it better than any DAC that I have ever heard.

It is very full bodied sounding, with great transparency and clarity. VERY open and natural sounding. At this point I don't even know it's in the system, when you listen it's just the music that you hear not thinking about the equipment at all.

For the last year I had been saying that with the Extreme server dacs made less of a difference as most dacs sound very good at this point. After living with the Elektra and actually after the first 24 hours I now have a 180 degree perspective, meaning that I now think that maybe the Elektra made more of a difference to me, than when I first installed the Extreme, which I dearly love.
 
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magichifi

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I have to agree, I have a Pilium DAC on demo at the moment and I will be be buying it. This dac is the most natural dac I've heard to date and it's not even ran in yet. I have a Schiit Yggy and the MSB Discrete in my system and I know the Pilium is more expensive than either of those but I have to say with the sound it's making it seems like a bargain. It's the first dac iv'e heard that makes me question the need for my vinyl set up, it's that good!
 

magichifi

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Been playing with my hifi again today, I put the MSB Discrete dac back into my system just to see if I was imagining just how good the Pilium is, while the Discrete is a bloody good dac it's nowhere near as good as the Pilium the sound just seems to shrink to the back of the room where as the Pilium just fills the whole room with music and I'm sure it's social distancing as the air/space around the instruments is so much more than anything else I've heard. The Pilium seems just as good with my MSB transport as it is with my custom made server by Reality Audio. Next job is to start playing with the different filters to see what changes they make.
 
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Rhapsody

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Been playing with my hifi again today, I put the MSB Discrete dac back into my system just to see if I was imagining just how good the Pilium is, while the Discrete is a bloody good dac it's nowhere near as good as the Pilium the sound just seems to shrink to the back of the room where as the Pilium just fills the whole room with music and I'm sure it's social distancing as the air/space around the instruments is so much more than anything else I've heard. The Pilium seems just as good with my MSB transport as it is with my custom made server by Reality Audio. Next job is to start playing with the different filters to see what changes they make.
It will take a while but as time goes on more and more people will realize how good the Pilium electronics are. Time will tell.
 

Stibi

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Been playing with my hifi again today, I put the MSB Discrete dac back into my system just to see if I was imagining just how good the Pilium is, while the Discrete is a bloody good dac it's nowhere near as good as the Pilium the sound just seems to shrink to the back of the room where as the Pilium just fills the whole room with music and I'm sure it's social distancing as the air/space around the instruments is so much more than anything else I've heard. The Pilium seems just as good with my MSB transport as it is with my custom made server by Reality Audio. Next job is to start playing with the different filters to see what changes they make.
Hi, any thoughts about the filters? I am curious as I own the Elektra since couple of weeks, but never tried the filters. Thanks in advance
 

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Hi, any thoughts about the filters? I am curious as I own the Elektra since couple of weeks, but never tried the filters. Thanks in advance
My experience is that it is system and user preference dependent. Just have to experiment.
 
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TDX

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Hi, any thoughts about the filters? I am curious as I own the Elektra since couple of weeks, but never tried the filters. Thanks in advance
89362F18-598B-4DFD-A885-C85195C5F336.jpeg
As Bob suggested, you have to try to find what suits you the best. But for myself, I chose short delay slow roll off. At dealers place it was setup as super slow roll off, but it’s lack of echo sound to me (too tight).
 

Stibi

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Thanks, TDX, that’s very helpful. I was a bit confused by all these terms, now I know, at least, what to expect.
I had a rather poor experience with all those similar settings on my streamer (432 Evo master), where I was not able to exactly figure out what was the difference with the different filters, just realizing, that with everything off, including their highly advertized 432 Hz plugin, it sounds the best. This was also the reason I was not particularly impatient to try all options on the Elektra.
 
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TDX

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Thanks, TDX, that’s very helpful. I was a bit confused by all these terms, now I know, at least, what to expect.
I had a rather poor experience with all those similar settings on my streamer (432 Evo master), where I was not able to exactly figure out what was the difference with the different filters, just realizing, that with everything off, including their highly advertized 432 Hz plugin, it sounds the best. This was also the reason I was not particularly impatient to try all options on the Elektra.
Filters are not so easy to differentiate, but it also depends on your other components. Good luck with your settings. Maybe try the one same to mine first and see if it’s to your like.
 

Stibi

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Definitely will try it first when back home end of the week. I am already curious :)
 

Rhapsody

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hi folks, any update on this particular DAC?
It's a great dac imho. The only issue at the moment is getting them with the shortage of AKM chips.
 

Uwiik

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not much rave about it unlike Lampi or Aries Cerat, particularly the Elektra DAC part, wondering how they compare. My dealer have one on demo and I thought it sounded wonderful and totally transparent holding its own against Bergmann Galder & Odin Gold Edition with Accuphase C47 Phono (they have HSE phono too but I haven’t heard it yet). Just considering if I should ask my dealer to bring Elektra too For my scheduled home audition for speakers next week
 
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