Abbas dac 2.1 se

[gerihifi]

Mine will not be shipped before march..so I assume some here should have received their 3.2 already? Anyone willing to share their first impressions?

Thx
Gerald

 

[charles1dad]

@charles1dad - Did you receive your Abbas, and if so any initial impressions?

Funny you should ask today. I got home an hour ago and this was on my front porch.

 

[charles1dad]

It finally made it here after sitting in Germany for a few days. This is the DAC parcel which Abbas sent last. He sent the first parcel a few days prior to this one.

I have not received it yet. The first parcel contains the front plate, tubes (7) and SPDIF and power cable. Hopefully it will arrive soon.

Given the obvious tough circumstances and all that entails, I am very happy the DAC arrived in one piece.
Charles

 

[charles1dad]

I must say that the shipping packaging is very good and protective. Dense foam surround is about 4 inches thick and very tightly secured.

 

[charles1dad]

 

[limberpine]

I must say that the shipping packaging is very good and protective. Dense foam surround is about 4 inches thick and very tightly secured.

Mine was had foam around it, then was in a custom made wooden box, more foam and then the cardboard box around it all!

 

[charles1dad]

When you actually see it in person, the interior built and execution is inspiring.utterly well put together.
Next step is to listen to it once the tubes arrive.

 

[Artnet]

When you actually see it in person, the interior built and execution is inspiring.utterly well put together.
Next step is to listen to it once the tubes arrive.

Exciting news Charles. Hope the tubes arrive for you soon.

 

[facten]

When you actually see it in person, the interior built and execution is inspiring.utterly well put together.
Next step is to listen to it once the tubes arrive

I look forward to your listening impressions Charles.

 

[charles1dad]

Mine will not be shipped before march..so I assume some here should have received their 3.2 already? Anyone willing to share their first impressions?

Thx
Gerald

Hi Gerald. Now that I have received my DAC you definitely can’t be far behind. Looking back at correspondence, I placed my order and sent down payment the final week of August.

Abbas informed me on December 16th the 3.2SE built was completed. He took a holiday break and after that constructed my cables.

He does an individual “voltage conditioning” with them and then runs them paired with the DAC. Of course you have to factor in delays due to the war and subsequent blackout conditions.

He had to wait for a “safe “ day before businesses re-open and he could finally ship my order. I have zero doubt that he is hard at work completing your order.
Charles

 

[Ron Resnick]

Congratulations on receiving your DAC, Charles!

 

[charles1dad]

Congratulations on receiving your DAC, Charles!

Thank you very much Ron. Now I just need the tubes/cables to make their appearance.
Charles

 

[jespera]

Looking fwd to hear about it!

 

[Ron Resnick]

Thank you very much Ron. Now I just need the tubes/cables to make their appearance.
Charles

Does the Abbas use special cables? What is the special cable thing about?

 

[jespera]

No, not technically special. Just very right sounding. Always get the cables with the dac. Particularly the digital cables.

 

[charles1dad]

Does the Abbas use special cables? What is the special cable thing about?

Ron,
My take is the same as @jespera. Nothing particularly special in a technical sense. Abbas spends enormous time just “listening “ and forming impressions about his devices.

He does this listening/testing always with his own constructed cables made with his stash of vintage copper wire. So there’s a definite consistency and one less variable to be concerned about.

Feedback from numerous listeners affirm his cables are exceptionally good. I’m pretty much a silver cable user with my audio system. The Abbas SPDIF and power cable will be the exception for me.
Charles

 

[Ron Resnick]

Thank you for explaining!

 

[charles1dad]

My DAC was shipped about 4 days after the first parcel shipment (Tubes and cables). Frankly I’d rather have it this way than having received the tubes and wondering where is the DAC?

I was going to purchase a second set of the “7 “ individual tubes for back up spares anyway. The tubes utilized for the 3.2SE are very reasonably priced. I’m used to 300b (SET amplifier) and 101D (Line Stage) which can become pricey.

I’ll give it a few more days for the other box to show up.
Charles

 

[charles1dad]

I just wanted to provide a brief and obviously early listening assessment of the Abbas 3.2SE DAC. I only have accumulated about 20 hours to this point. To get straight to the point, even at this stage I can report that this DAC is fabulous sounding. Frankly, I expected a well-executed tube analog output stage to present very good quality harmonics, full bodied tone and timbre of voice and instruments. It does this.

What has impressed me at this juncture is the high degree of resolving ability. This is without any equivocation a high resolution audio component. It unravels and it reveals/preserves nuances and sonic-music information. You hear things, a lot of musical things. It all just sounds right (Meaning natural and non-mechanical/electronic). The presentation or characteristic is quite pure. You could say the antithesis of artificial and contrived sound. This is my intial listening take away. High resolution/high purity level/very emotionally engaging character, you're immediately drawn into the music flow and activity.

Abbas emailed me over the weekend reminding me burn-in is 200 hours mostly due he said to the Blackgate capacitors requiring much time to evolve. I also realize that there are 7 tubes (5 which are rectifiers') 2 new Abbas cables, 3 transformers and 2 chokes. So a number of things requiring some degree of usage and time. Despite this I'm very happy with what I hear in this early stage. The 3.2SE I can state is not the soft. pretty. polite or smoothed over type sound. Rather very alive sounding with the ability to delineate impressively.
Charles

 

[facten]

@charles1dad - Charles, glad that your initial listening impressions have been very satisfying; looking forward to future updates.