Abbas dac 2.1 se

Artnet

Well-Known Member
Mar 7, 2021
142
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Melbourne, Australia.
Does Abbas build only valve based DACs or is it possible to get complete solid state DACs as well?
Thanks

Found this article illuminating when I read it, hope it may help answer the question

Other article on his site are well worth reading, some left me with a few questions but will put them together and address them to him as bought some cables from him recently, don't have them yet but he was very prompt in reply.
I pulled the trigger today On the 3.1 with ez90 module with 6080 output stage.
Interested in the 3.1 with dual input for streaming and CD and curious about knowing more about the different output stages.
 
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jespera

Well-Known Member
Jan 12, 2018
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London
Does Abbas build only valve based DACs or is it possible to get complete solid state DACs as well?
Thanks

Matt

He has previously built a tda 1541 based dac with solid state output stage and dem tube clock in the digital section. Im not sure whether this is still on the menu.

Jesper
 
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matthias

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Mar 14, 2019
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Germany
What are the best devices (hardware and software) to use upstream of an Abbas DAC for streaming from Qobuz?

Do exist recommendations from Abbas?

Thanks

Matt
 
Last edited:

sonyfan101

Well-Known Member
Sep 2, 2019
10
3
70
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What are the best devices (hardware and software) to use upstream of an Abbas DAC for streaming from Qobuz?

Do exist recommendations from Abbas?

Thanks

Matt

I use his USB/SPDIF converter, with an old Mac computer serving as the USB host, running tidal through the web browser.
if you get his USB converter you can substitute the mac computer with any streamer that has USB output including a RasPi solution
 

jespera

Well-Known Member
Jan 12, 2018
494
539
200
London
The abbas visited dylanesque, his lampizator big 7 and the rest og his impressive stereo last night.

We agreed that the abbas held its own — and a tad more.

Jesper
 

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Samsoum

Well-Known Member
Sep 9, 2018
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90
98
The abbas visited dylanesque, his lampizator big 7 and the rest og his impressive stereo last night.

We agreed that the abbas held its own — and a tad more.

Jesper
Wich abbas dac model?
My 3.1 model is arriving probably this week.....
 

Artnet

Well-Known Member
Mar 7, 2021
142
117
115
59
Melbourne, Australia.
He has previously built a tda 1541 based dac with solid state output stage and dem tube clock in the digital section. Im not sure whether this is still on the menu.
Abbas has this as a kit listed on his ebay site currently, so he may do it as a finished item?
Does Abbas build only valve based DACs or is it possible to get complete solid state DACs as well?
 
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MattyW

Member
Mar 9, 2021
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Im not going to give up vinyl any time soon. Maybe because Im also using an abbas phono and sut. Abbas crossovers for my vintage tannoys too. ;)

Another thing that im not going to give up on is cd. Switching from streaming to my abbas cd player really brings home the difference. If you want to hear digital at its best you need an (abbas) cd player used as transport. Particularly, early AAD transfers can be great and the best can almost rival vinyl. An example is "jazz at the pawnshop" which sounds phenomenal on my 1990 cd transfer. The remastered version on tidal (and cd/sacd) is rubbish.

Im glad to hear that Im not the only one that has discovered that the abbas products are outstanding. And outstanding value.

Jesper

I was running his EL84 RIAA preamp also. Tried a number of SUT (Hashimoto HM7, HM3, Fidelity Research FRT-4, Vintage Jensen) and a Aksa Paris head amp with it and quite a few different carts.... I just couldn't get playback to the same level I was getting with digital content.

End result was selling off some fairly pricey playback gear and putting some of the money into further improvements on the digital side of things. I would have kept on trying to improve vinyl playback but I found myself seriously considering a few $6,000 carts trying to match my digital chain before I had a moment and thought "WTF am I doing?"

I'll probably keep one table in storage and doubt I'll ever get around to selling my LP's but it was end of the line for me. If I bought that cart and my wife found out about it.... Pretty sure we'd end up divorced.
 

sonyfan101

Well-Known Member
Sep 2, 2019
10
3
70
28
I was running his EL84 RIAA preamp also. Tried a number of SUT (Hashimoto HM7, HM3, Fidelity Research FRT-4, Vintage Jensen) and a Aksa Paris head amp with it and quite a few different carts.... I just couldn't get playback to the same level I was getting with digital content.

End result was selling off some fairly pricey playback gear and putting some of the money into further improvements on the digital side of things. I would have kept on trying to improve vinyl playback but I found myself seriously considering a few $6,000 carts trying to match my digital chain before I had a moment and thought "WTF am I doing?"

I'll probably keep one table in storage and doubt I'll ever get around to selling my LP's but it was end of the line for me. If I bought that cart and my wife found out about it.... Pretty sure we'd end up divorced.
Owning the same abbas products, I feel the same
my only interest in vinyl now is for archival purposes and music that is not available digitally, mostly for mono playback.
 
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Samsoum

Well-Known Member
Sep 9, 2018
86
90
98
Hi guys,
i received the abbas 3.1 se dac today( finally after 6,5 months ).
I will write here my first impressions,deep impressions,tweaks,upgrades etc..

It s not gonna be very detailed,but enough for you guys to understand the sonics and perf/price.
Anyone needing more info or details ,pm me and i ll try helping..
Let me begun with box,packaging is good,very well protected.
Look of the dac is very good,i like it,sobre,the logo abbas in front is nice ...
Tbh quality overal is just nice,not the best i ve seen but ok.
I ve heard,read such good reviews,feedbacks from abbas dacs and comparaisons with much more expensive and known dacs that i felt very excited about this dac.

Anyway,sonically speaking,for the first day,after spending 2,5 hours with it( it is supposed to be over 100 hours now if i believe what it is written on abbas website):

Good points:

- soundstage: huge huge huge.
beyond speakers laterally and vertically,vocal very big like on loop.
- tonality: warm,lot of texture,body
- dynamic: very quick,transients are very strong.
- bass is stunningly abundant( to be confirmed later,corner bass traps going into the smallish room 3*3 m*2,8)
- -holography: good.

Not so good points:( for the moment)

-imaging: images of instruments,vocals,players,are not sharp enough now.


- lack of seperation between instrumemts.( When i say lack,i mean not enough air around instruments with tracks i m used with)
- resolution/transparency not there yet.( I need to focus ,rise the volume sometime to hear details ... Tracks i m familiar with seemed veiled maybe..i mean details dont jump on you,you need to go get them if it make sense..
- highs: i feel they can be more open more extended more with air...

These are my initial impressions after 2,5 hours listening.
Guys ,you need to know that the system is now in a new small room i m not used to...
I had my system in this room since 4 months,and i was using a topping d10s just to pass time waiting for the abbas 3.1 se.
The room have room nodes,i m going to treat it firstable with 3 corner bass traps,secondly with diffusers.

I feel that the 3.1se have huge huge capacity and potential and big bang for your buck.

System now;

Custom made server/streamer---sablon usb ----singxer su1 moded[ lp 1.2]----coax analysis plus ( basic model)--3.1se[ signal project atlantis pc]---- silteck classic sq 110 ic---- nat audio single hps [ signal project atlantis pc]---- audience 24 se sc ------ martin dukes 2 speakers.

I will take time now,explore more,let it burn more,use few tweaks,play with spkr placement again,and i will get back with more impressions.

All my audiophile buddies here are waiting more than me to hear this exotic dac,and be sure it s gonna be A/B tested with many dacs very famous like rockna wavedream top of the range,aries cerat kassandra ref2, maybe dave also...

I need to highlight also where i m coming from regarding my system so it s easy for you to evaluate and understand the value of abbas 3.1 se.

This system i have now is a downgrade from a much more expensive one,wich was basically composed of cube audio nenuphar speakers( full range),and aries cerat kassandra ref 2 dac,with mbl c51 amp.
So i guess my benchmark is high enough,my ears are used to such high degree of resolution accuracy purity etc....
I m not saying this for show off,but just to say my old system was really amazing ,it was a destination system,and i would not have sold it if i wasnt obliged to,but miss corona decided otherwise.

; )
 

jespera

Well-Known Member
Jan 12, 2018
494
539
200
London
Hi guys,
i received the abbas 3.1 se dac today( finally after 6,5 months ).
I will write here my first impressions,deep impressions,tweaks,upgrades etc..

It s not gonna be very detailed,but enough for you guys to understand the sonics and perf/price.
Anyone needing more info or details ,pm me and i ll try helping..
Let me begun with box,packaging is good,very well protected.
Look of the dac is very good,i like it,sobre,the logo abbas in front is nice ...
Tbh quality overal is just nice,not the best i ve seen but ok.
I ve heard,read such good reviews,feedbacks from abbas dacs and comparaisons with much more expensive and known dacs that i felt very excited about this dac.

Anyway,sonically speaking,for the first day,after spending 2,5 hours with it( it is supposed to be over 100 hours now if i believe what it is written on abbas website):

Good points:

- soundstage: huge huge huge.
beyond speakers laterally and vertically,vocal very big like on loop.
- tonality: warm,lot of texture,body
- dynamic: very quick,transients are very strong.
- bass is stunningly abundant( to be confirmed later,corner bass traps going into the smallish room 3*3 m*2,8)
- -holography: good.

Not so good points:( for the moment)

-imaging: images of instruments,vocals,players,are not sharp enough now.


- lack of seperation between instrumemts.( When i say lack,i mean not enough air around instruments with tracks i m used with)
- resolution/transparency not there yet.( I need to focus ,rise the volume sometime to hear details ... Tracks i m familiar with seemed veiled maybe..i mean details dont jump on you,you need to go get them if it make sense..
- highs: i feel they can be more open more extended more with air...

These are my initial impressions after 2,5 hours listening.
Guys ,you need to know that the system is now in a new small room i m not used to...
I had my system in this room since 4 months,and i was using a topping d10s just to pass time waiting for the abbas 3.1 se.
The room have room nodes,i m going to treat it firstable with 3 corner bass traps,secondly with diffusers.

I feel that the 3.1se have huge huge capacity and potential and big bang for your buck.

System now;

Custom made server/streamer---sablon usb ----singxer su1 moded[ lp 1.2]----coax analysis plus ( basic model)--3.1se[ signal project atlantis pc]---- silteck classic sq 110 ic---- nat audio single hps [ signal project atlantis pc]---- audience 24 se sc ------ martin dukes 2 speakers.

I will take time now,explore more,let it burn more,use few tweaks,play with spkr placement again,and i will get back with more impressions.

All my audiophile buddies here are waiting more than me to hear this exotic dac,and be sure it s gonna be A/B tested with many dacs very famous like rockna wavedream top of the range,aries cerat kassandra ref2, maybe dave also...

I need to highlight also where i m coming from regarding my system so it s easy for you to evaluate and understand the value of abbas 3.1 se.

This system i have now is a downgrade from a much more expensive one,wich was basically composed of cube audio nenuphar speakers( full range),and aries cerat kassandra ref 2 dac,with mbl c51 amp.
So i guess my benchmark is high enough,my ears are used to such high degree of resolution accuracy purity etc....
I m not saying this for show off,but just to say my old system was really amazing ,it was a destination system,and i would not have sold it if i wasnt obliged to,but miss corona decided otherwise.

; )

Details shouldnt jump on you. They dont when you listen to real music... imho.
 

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