Abbas dac 2.1 se

[jespera]

Agree with you that the abbas dacs really shine when fed from a good cd transport. And aad material.

I think you should try the abbas usb-spdif converter.

 

[Campo007]

Hi LPG,

no tube-rolling so far for me, because already used my high-grade ones - very happy with them. Would also be carefully, because a lot of tube stages which need to harmonize, therefore I'm not too crazy and always use the NOS-tubes which have good measurements (proud owner of my Roetest https://www.roehrentest.de/).

As I also opt-in for XLR outputs, I can say: not worthwhile, as RCA way better with the Abbas regular copper Chinch cables (I've used €3k Audiomica XLR, fair comparison ;-).

Just did last night some in-depth comparison again with:
- Lumin U1 (Roon/Qobuz) + Abbas Hermes Sig (via RCA)
- Lumin U1 (Roon/Qobuz) + Abbas 3.2SE (via RCA)
- Grimm MU2 (Roon/Qobuz) (via XLR)
- Holo May KTE + Lumin U1 (Roon/Qobuz) (via XLR)
Pre-Amp: Soulution 725

Conclusion:
- 3.2 (TDA1541a) & Hermes (PCM63k-j) have slightly different tonality, but not too far away
- Still prefer Hermes, as for me the BurrBrown have some unique magic I love
- Is Abbas for me better than Lampizator, SW1X and Audio Note (owned serious contenders)? YES, because if you want to reach this tonality, you pay minimum 3 times more! Of course, we all now it most matters how the rest of your hifi-chain is setup'ed!
- Holo May KTE: best when using via USB to Streamer, but as it is a "traditional" R2R, can be too warm & blurry tonality (great for clinical-kind of speakers or active-ones aka Class-D)
- Grimm MU2, now owning it over 1y: anyone looking for his "end-game" streamer/roon-core/DAC, this is it. It combines the perfect worlds of analog (aka R2R/tube-based) and digital (Delta Sigma/FPGA-hybrid) sound signature in PERFECTION. Anyone spending that much, forget anything beyond €20k, sorry makes for me no sense anymore (yes, I'd test contenders in range up to €40k) - MY OPINION

Next tests in 2 weeks, when I exchange in my 2nd setup the speakers with full-range Cube Audio Lotus TQWT and getting finally my Pachanko Labs Streamer with Diretta Bridge. There I'll have brutal transparency and it maybe more obvious, will see.

WHY I'm all telling this in this Abbas-Thread?
..to show I'm not purely biased with Abbas gear and did serious DAC/streamer testing the last 6y, as many of you. Also, using 2 complete different hifi setups (low-efficiency speaker + transistor vs. high-efficiency + tube gear). Therefore, having my personal, strong opinion on it

Rgds
Gerald

I appreciate your comparisons. I currently have a Holo May KTE, and have had the pleasure of hearing @LanschePlasmaGuy 's Abbas. After reading this thread, i'm becoming very curious about a tube DAC. Maybe an Abbas.
How does the Holo compare to the Abbas?