Abbas dac 2.1 se
- Thread starter jespera
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“I've had non audio nerd friends come over to listen, providing me a list of their favorite tunes beforehand and just be floored at how bad some of their favorite recordings sounded and I have experienced as much myself.”
I strongly suspect the corollary is that good /well recorded music sounds excellent and engaging.
Charles
I strongly suspect the corollary is that good /well recorded music sounds excellent and engaging.
Charles
@limberpine
Do your non-audio friends acknowledged that their recordings are bad? Or do they blame the Abbas for not making them sound good? Did they experience listening to good recordings while present to sort things out?
Charles
Do your non-audio friends acknowledged that their recordings are bad? Or do they blame the Abbas for not making them sound good? Did they experience listening to good recordings while present to sort things out?
Charles
When I first read the characterization as "ruthless" I wondered if the DAC was too transparent and would lead to listening fatigue (at least for me). Hopefully though all that is meant by the use of "ruthless" is that the quality of all recordings will sound as they are - great, good, mediocre, poor; you get what's there.
Not the way I’d describe my 2.4SE at all, quite the opposite. Tubes, vintage chip, low res, not hyper detailed. Not sure how that adds up to being ruthless.
@djsina2
I know what you mean. The problem is, there is no strict High End/audiophile vocabulary guideline. Words and terms mean different things to different people.
Communicating on an open forum, everyone tries to do their best. @jespera has said previously that the Abbas DACs won’t put lipstick on a pig. Yet, he acknowledges that they are very natural and non-synthetic. Works for me. I sure don’t get the impression that they are low resolution at all. Just not “hyper detailed “. There’s a difference.
Charles
I know what you mean. The problem is, there is no strict High End/audiophile vocabulary guideline. Words and terms mean different things to different people.
Communicating on an open forum, everyone tries to do their best. @jespera has said previously that the Abbas DACs won’t put lipstick on a pig. Yet, he acknowledges that they are very natural and non-synthetic. Works for me. I sure don’t get the impression that they are low resolution at all. Just not “hyper detailed “. There’s a difference.
Charles
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Correct. You get what is there. Thats what i meant. Abbas dacs are not detail focused. But detail and resolution is there and as a listener you will hear what its being fed. Good or bad. This also goes for the quality of the digital source, cables, etc.
I’ll try to find some concrete examples from qobuz.
My comments on lipstick and pigs are in post #169.
I guess I should back off my "bad recording" statement a bit. What I found was some of them thought a song was going to sound amazing, given what we were hearing and then it came on and just totally falls flat and sounds lifeless.
An example of this is Nathaniel Ratcliffe - I never get old.
We had listened to 8 songs before this and my buddy was super excited to hear how this song did and it fell totally flatl and disappointed.
Attached is a photo of the songs that preceded it for reference.
Attachments
You have a different chip. My Abbas has the PCM 58.
Different flavors I think.
I might need to go and listen to these said hyber detailed dacs. I attended an audio show and certianly didn't hear a dac that I thought was better than the Abbas and I was really trying to hear something that bested it.
Abbas is making me a new 2.4SE. He says it will sound better than the one I have now but I didn’t get any details on what’s different. After fixing mine with the new transistor it’s had issues at times being all distortion. Swapping the rectifier seems to have helped but still occasionally get the distortion.
@limberpine
Thank you for the further clarification, I definitely get where you are coming from. I’m a certified jazz head and attend live venues pretty often.
Fortunately the vast majority of my jazz CD recordings are good. My hope is that the Abbas DAC will render more of the emotion, soul, and humanity from them. This seems the objective and aim of Abbas based on his writings and comments. I hope my inference is correct.
Charles
Thank you for the further clarification, I definitely get where you are coming from. I’m a certified jazz head and attend live venues pretty often.
Fortunately the vast majority of my jazz CD recordings are good. My hope is that the Abbas DAC will render more of the emotion, soul, and humanity from them. This seems the objective and aim of Abbas based on his writings and comments. I hope my inference is correct.
Charles
I probably have a few CDs that have caused me to have the same personal experience, but one in particular comes to mind - Simple Minds Once Upon A Time. Good music in and of itself, but the recording doesn't measure up compared to virtually all other CDs I have; and this is regardless of the digital front end that I use. Disappointing? Yep!
Some good tracks there. Take five and born on the bayou, for example. Easy to hit a come down ….
You should listen something like: Holo Spring May KTE + HQPlayer Upscaler, Chord Dave or Mola Mola Tambaqui (not heard by myself, but I assume PlayBack Design is detailed as well with their DSD playback).
As I read it, the ez81 and ez90 are feeding two different point on the tda 1541 chip. The 6080 output stage are fed by diodes.
It doesnt have 5y3 or 5v4. I think thats only the 3.2 signature.
???????? ????? ?????? DAC3.2 SE TDA1541 — Abbasaudio
www.abbasaudio.com
@jesperaAs I read it, the ez81 and ez90 are feeding two different point on the tda 1541 chip. The 6080 output stage are fed by diodes.
It doesnt have 5y3 or 5v4. I think thats only the 3.2 signature.
???????? ????? ?????? DAC3.2 SE TDA1541 — Abbasaudio
Thanks for your reply. Well, it seems that Abbas is now going to incorporating these two rectifier tubes into the 3.2SE. I received an email from him a couple of days ago. He wrote that the 5Y3 will be installed on the analog board and a 5V4 rectifier on the digital board. He also explained that the 5Y3 and 5V4 are interchangeable on the analog board if desired.
He is building me the 3.2SE and not the 3.2 Signature DAC. That's why I wanted to double check with you and confirm what your 3.2 SE has. I do recognize that Abbas steadily /often makes changes along the way with new builds (He warned me that he does this). Fine with me, I'm all in with whatever direction he decides to take. He also said that the 5Y3 onboard requires checking the bias just once per year.
Charles
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