After spending the past year thinking about replacing my faithful NAD M50.2 server/player (there MUST have been progress over the past 7+ years, right?), after diligently reading every thread I could find here related to the subject, and after listening to a number of options at a friend's house and at a local high-end dealer, I took a leap of faith and bought a Pachanko Constellation Mini SE with Stellar power supply without having heard one.
I'll cut to the chase: while I'm glad I educated myself over the past year, I needn't have sweated it because the Pachanko is a significant and happy upgrade.
I use Roon (and am trialing Audirvana), and I have an 8-hour playlist that I am very familiar with. The first three songs are Elvis Presley Blues by Becca Stevens and Elan Mehler (from Pallet on Your Floor, Newvelle Records, 88.2kHz, 24-bit); Prairie Wedding by Mark Knopfler (from Sailing to Philadelphia, Warner Bros, 88.2kHz, 24-bit); and Ah Um by Charles Mingus (from Mingus Ah Um, Columbia, 192kHz 24-bit). On my previous setup - NAD M50.2 into Denafrips Terminator DAC via a very nice Hapa Audio Aero CU S/PDIF cable or an AudioQuest Coffee AES/EBU - there was a bit too much upper-bass/lower-mid bloom on the first two tracks and Ah Um could get a bit strident. Those issues are completely gone with the Pachanko in the chain. Now, there is certainly a complicating factor in my comparison: I was using S/PDIF or AES/EBU before and am now using an AudioQuest Diamond USB cable (my Pachanko only has USB out). Nevertheless, the Pachanko-AudioQuest USB-Denafrips chain is unequivocally outperforming both the NAD-Hapa S/PDIF-Denafrips or NAD-AQ AES/EBU-Denafrips combination.
With the Pachanko combination, Elvis Presley Blues is seductive and emotionally-charged without being oh-so-slightly muffled. In Prairie Wedding, Mark Knopfler's intimate mumbling used to sometimes get me wondering exactly what the word was that he was kinda sorta maybe sharing with us. With the Pachanko, I can clearly understand that they "only knew each other by letter" and I can actually catch the barely-breathed "do" in "...both of us said "I do."" Fortunately, this clarity does not increase the slightly-bright Ah Um, but instead provides a balancing foundation of lower-mids and tighter bass, which makes the whole thing more enjoyable to listen to.
The Pachanko Mini SE and its standalone Stellar power supply are certainly not of the over-the-top Taiko Extreme build quality, but their third-party-sourced cases are well-crafted and attractive enough and their insides reveal thoughtful and well-founded engineering and first-class assembly. With 2TB of internal music storage and the massive Stellar power supply (which is actually a bit bigger than the server itself), it's around US$5k, depending on deals and exchange rates.
Finally, the biggest asset of Pachanko Labs is their CEO, who goes by the name of Chan. Pachanko is based on the French island of Reunion, a bit off from Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, and their products are made there. Chan takes his products and his customers very seriously, and you will get to know him if you buy a Pachanko server. His preferred communication method is WhatsApp, and he will personally either guide you through every step of Pachanko ownership and useage or actually perform setup and customization for you remotely. Frankly, I've never experienced anything like it before...it's almost like having a neighbor who'll come over to handle any issues you have.
I'm sure my Pachanko experience will continue to evolve (probably with Diretta), but I'm really glad I started this journey.
I'll cut to the chase: while I'm glad I educated myself over the past year, I needn't have sweated it because the Pachanko is a significant and happy upgrade.
I use Roon (and am trialing Audirvana), and I have an 8-hour playlist that I am very familiar with. The first three songs are Elvis Presley Blues by Becca Stevens and Elan Mehler (from Pallet on Your Floor, Newvelle Records, 88.2kHz, 24-bit); Prairie Wedding by Mark Knopfler (from Sailing to Philadelphia, Warner Bros, 88.2kHz, 24-bit); and Ah Um by Charles Mingus (from Mingus Ah Um, Columbia, 192kHz 24-bit). On my previous setup - NAD M50.2 into Denafrips Terminator DAC via a very nice Hapa Audio Aero CU S/PDIF cable or an AudioQuest Coffee AES/EBU - there was a bit too much upper-bass/lower-mid bloom on the first two tracks and Ah Um could get a bit strident. Those issues are completely gone with the Pachanko in the chain. Now, there is certainly a complicating factor in my comparison: I was using S/PDIF or AES/EBU before and am now using an AudioQuest Diamond USB cable (my Pachanko only has USB out). Nevertheless, the Pachanko-AudioQuest USB-Denafrips chain is unequivocally outperforming both the NAD-Hapa S/PDIF-Denafrips or NAD-AQ AES/EBU-Denafrips combination.
With the Pachanko combination, Elvis Presley Blues is seductive and emotionally-charged without being oh-so-slightly muffled. In Prairie Wedding, Mark Knopfler's intimate mumbling used to sometimes get me wondering exactly what the word was that he was kinda sorta maybe sharing with us. With the Pachanko, I can clearly understand that they "only knew each other by letter" and I can actually catch the barely-breathed "do" in "...both of us said "I do."" Fortunately, this clarity does not increase the slightly-bright Ah Um, but instead provides a balancing foundation of lower-mids and tighter bass, which makes the whole thing more enjoyable to listen to.
The Pachanko Mini SE and its standalone Stellar power supply are certainly not of the over-the-top Taiko Extreme build quality, but their third-party-sourced cases are well-crafted and attractive enough and their insides reveal thoughtful and well-founded engineering and first-class assembly. With 2TB of internal music storage and the massive Stellar power supply (which is actually a bit bigger than the server itself), it's around US$5k, depending on deals and exchange rates.
Finally, the biggest asset of Pachanko Labs is their CEO, who goes by the name of Chan. Pachanko is based on the French island of Reunion, a bit off from Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, and their products are made there. Chan takes his products and his customers very seriously, and you will get to know him if you buy a Pachanko server. His preferred communication method is WhatsApp, and he will personally either guide you through every step of Pachanko ownership and useage or actually perform setup and customization for you remotely. Frankly, I've never experienced anything like it before...it's almost like having a neighbor who'll come over to handle any issues you have.
I'm sure my Pachanko experience will continue to evolve (probably with Diretta), but I'm really glad I started this journey.
