I can't stay silent - today we received Helene DAC, "baby" DAC from Aries Cerat. What a baby, what a beauty. From the very fist second the sound was sublime, digital rarely gets better than this - in form of Kassandra DAC only probably. I am not saying this lightly, just compare Helene to all the big guns, you would be surprised. Rich, transparent sound, real body of instruments, timbre to die for, as analog as possible, but most importantly, natural music flow, touching your heart and soul. Be warned, after listening you might need to sell some very expensive equipment. But there is solution - you buy Kassandra LE, thus may be less painful.
Oh my, oh my - Aries Cerat Helene DAC
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I don't know but I read the review where it basically breaks that down and says AC designs for single ended and not XLR..I think the ground is floating with the XLR connection, so it's a two pin design. Makes sense what you are saying and hearing is my point.
Hello gents
RCA and XLR are driven by same output, same secondary winding.
The difference in sound comes down on primarily what the dac is driving, and ground.
Also the winding has a slight edge to performance when driving unbalanced loads. But this is minimal.
Best
Stavros
RCA and XLR are driven by same output, same secondary winding.
The difference in sound comes down on primarily what the dac is driving, and ground.
Also the winding has a slight edge to performance when driving unbalanced loads. But this is minimal.
Best
Stavros
Thank you Stavros...DAC will be feeding a Audio Research preamp...I will go single ended and then XLR to the AMP. That should get the most out of it. Thank you for your reply very helpful.
I am considering the possibility of incorporating the Helene while keeping the Esoteric player as a transport. I have read that it does not allow DSD files playback. Does this limitation include SACD? It's not clear to me. At the moment I don't have a streamer and I don't foresee its incorporation in the short term.
I don’t think you will be able to get a DSD signal out of that SACD player in DSD form because of the copy protection. I believe output will be Redbook. I am not an Esoteric dealer and don’t know that device perfectly but usually there is a handshake required between devices to pass an SACD signal.
I also used to have Esoteric CD transport (SACD) and now using TAD SACD transport/DAC - I'm also now using Hélene DAC since few months but honestly I don't miss anything... AC can't deal with SACD "only"with Redbook but in a R2R way that will transcend your collection...
Thanks for commenting your experience. Much appreciated.
I assume you don't use the TAD Dac even for SACD as you prefer the Redbook layer of the SACD through the Helene. Is this the case?
sure, i had the helene for a few months... and did some tube rolling, especially 280 from two brands, and some russians 6j11p-e...
and is not as significant changes as the ITHAKA does when you change tubes, but there is some degree of clarity and definition impact between them... also with some rectifier tube you can get more oomph let say... but i guess its more what will suit to your pre amp than a rule of thumb.
Thanks @byrdparis
Very interesting comments
One more question: Does your bias stays still during the day at 230 or does it changes from time to time? Mine goes from 227 (morning) to 235 (evening) depending the electric environment I guess
its was with some very minor change, not as you have, but its about your electric signal, not the dac. it just sense what feed him.
"depending the electric environment I guess" - right.
Do you plug your DAC directly to the wall or are you going through any Power Conditioner?
my sources are going through a power regenerator. my amps are through VYDA LAB power distributer and direct to the wall.
Thanks
I have tried some Power Generators for my sources but was not really satisfied. Now using an Isol-8 Substation for my source and everything is much more stable without any loss. Even the bias is much more stable now....
those kind of posts summing up what is really all about. each ear, each house and system will benefits for some stuff than others and visa versa...
its good to take some point from fellow users but eventually you need to try for yourself and see what fits and work for you!.
the amount of variations between a system sitting in a different location is huge, not to mentioned different systems in several locations listening by different folks
. glad you nail it with the Isol-8. the important thing is to be happy when music start playing. i am long ago dropped my anal approach to numbers and playing around..
Agreed - I like to understand other users experience to then explore by myself and decide. Anyway everything is always movingthose kind of posts summing up what is really all about. each ear, each house and system will benefits for some stuff than others and visa versa...
its good to take some point from fellow users but eventually you need to try for yourself and see what fits and work for you!.
the amount of variations between a system sitting in a different location is huge, not to mentioned different systems in several locations listening by different folks
I share some AC Helene pics hereunder
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Hi Stavros,
I just watched the great YT interview with you by Ron Resnick
Helene offers an output of 30Vpp so for a simple system with high sensitivity speakers (99dB) a low gain integrated amplifier should provide enough amplification even for high SPL.
Would it be interesting for @Aries Cerat to offer such an amplifier for a system with Helene?
Thank you
I just watched the great YT interview with you by Ron Resnick
Helene offers an output of 30Vpp so for a simple system with high sensitivity speakers (99dB) a low gain integrated amplifier should provide enough amplification even for high SPL.
Would it be interesting for @Aries Cerat to offer such an amplifier for a system with Helene?
Thank you
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