Aqua La Scala MKII Optologic Dac Owner Testimonial

[skids929]

Can you please elaborate on this? I own the MSB at present and have had the la scala here in the past on loan; Ive always had an inkling of wanting to own the la scala or another tube dac.

wider and deeper soundstage, by a large margin..Same level of detail retreival, same level of smooth, but the musicality nod goes to the La Scala..And the dynamics are a alot better, but it's the voices and accuracy of the tone of instruments that is really surprising me. Much better in that department. Two channel separation much better with La Scala ( I had the two power supplies with the Discrete).

Like the Discrete, this is a dac you can listen to all day but this is a little more exciting and across different genres and crappy recordings I find it still sounds great, which I would also say the Discrete did too. Overall this is a more musical, more dynamic, much more holographic, equally detailed, tonally better DAC in my system, in my ear.


Edit: I forgot to mention, I'd say the Discrete beats the La Scala in the bass dept. The La Scala could use a bit more bass weight, my only complaint so far. But it's not horrible by any means, of course need more time and tracks through it.

 

[barbz127]

wider and deeper soundstage, by a large margin..Same level of detail retreival, same level of smooth, but the musicality nod goes to the La Scala..And the dynamics are a alot better, but it's the voices and accuracy of the tone of instruments that is really surprising me. Much better in that department. Two channel separation much better with La Scala ( I had the two power supplies with the Discrete).

Like the Discrete, this is a dac you can listen to all day but this is a little more exciting and across different genres and crappy recordings I find it still sounds great, which I would also say the Discrete did too. Overall this is a more musical, more dynamic, much more holographic, equally detailed, tonally better DAC in my system, in my ear.


Edit: I forgot to mention, I'd say the Discrete beats the La Scala in the bass dept. The La Scala could use a bit more bass weight, my only complaint so far. But it's not horrible by any means, of course need more time and tracks through it.

Thankyou

Are your comparisons using the same source? And you could you please share what source and connection method you're using?

 

[Designsfx]

Edit: I forgot to mention, I'd say the Discrete beats the La Scala in the bass dept. The La Scala could use a bit more bass weight, my only complaint so far. But it's not horrible by any means, of course need more time and tracks through it.

@skids929
As I mentioned in our offline chat- that was were I would have thought the MSB would have excelled as well, brings me back to when I started using the La Scala. My cure for the low end punch was found in a pair of NOS Telefunkens described earlier in this thread. Enjoy!

 

[Emperyan]

did you happen to try any of the Matsu Mullards? Supposed to be similar in materials and Mullard tooled their factories. Just curious as it seems those are more available (not cheap) than the Blackburns. Even found some sealed boxes from the 50s and 60s.

There were a couple of factories building tubes on Mullard tooling throughout the years. For some odd reason - at least to my ears - none of them completely matches the Blackburn ones. But there are many which are quite close. E.g. you could check for tubes made in the Philips factory in Heerlen (Netherlands). They are available under different brands like Philips Miniwatt, Valvo or even Mullard.
Even tubes under the BEL brand made in India are very very similar to the Heerlen made ones as they were part of the technology transfer program down then. Give them a try if you can come across!

But be aware of the Mullards labeled CV4024 (some with KQDD). They were pretty readily available for quite a while, but imho they are far inferior to the abovementioned ones. I assume these tubes are the reason Mullard got their reputation of a dulled down sound. These indeed sound somewhat "mushy". Might be nice for some distorting guitar amps, but I don´t like them for hifi.

 

[Emperyan]

@skids929
As I mentioned in our offline chat- that was were I would have thought the MSB would have excelled as well, brings me back to when I started using the La Scala. My cure for the low end punch was found in a pair of NOS Telefunkens described earlier in this thread. Enjoy!

In my experience, less bass weight often means a tighter and more controlled low end. If you are used to more/louder bass, your instant feeling is that something is missing. But if you get used to it, you might not want to get back to the weightier but more bloated low end.

I have seen this effect with tubes as well. There are some which could really help with low end weight (e.g. the current production Genalex range), but if you listen closely you will notice that they tend to bloat the bass somehow and not improve it.

Try to use DSP (or analog acoustic treatment) to flatten out the bass in your room to be in balance with the rest of the frequency range or check a well regulated studio environment. You will notice that the result is less low end weight than what most audiophiles are used to, as low frequency room modes are the norm in regular listening rooms. But once you overcome the first feeling of "something missing", you will be able to focus on the new found quality of bass.

If it comes to low end, I never try to evaluate it´s quantity but focus solely on the quality. There is a good chance that less in quantity means in fact significantly better quality.

 

[skids929]

Thankyou

Are your comparisons using the same source? And you could you please share what source and connection method you're using?

Yes same source, I am using an Innuos Pulse as a source, via USB. Haven't tested the SPDIF or AES on the La Scala yet. This isn't a side by side comparison I am doing so not like an A/B. This is going off of a long time spent with the Discrete, so I am initmately familiar with it's sound in my room in my system.

 

[skids929]

In my experience, less bass weight often means a tighter and more controlled low end. If you are used to more/louder bass, your instant feeling is that something is missing. But if you get used to it, you might not want to get back to the weightier but more bloated low end.

I have seen this effect with tubes as well. There are some which could really help with low end weight (e.g. the current production Genalex range), but if you listen closely you will notice that they tend to bloat the bass somehow and not improve it.

Try to use DSP (or analog acoustic treatment) to flatten out the bass in your room to be in balance with the rest of the frequency range or check a well regulated studio environment. You will notice that the result is less low end weight than what most audiophiles are used to, as low frequency room modes are the norm in regular listening rooms. But once you overcome the first feeling of "something missing", you will be able to focus on the new found quality of bass.

If it comes to low end, I never try to evaluate it´s quantity but focus solely on the quality. There is a good chance that less in quantity means in fact significantly better quality.

I agree it is tighter and I need to let my ear adjust. I don't have a huge room and my speakers are line transmission so I can feel the impact of bass changes pretty easily. As I run it through more music I should get a better idea of how I feel about it. 90% of my listening is blues, jazz standards, very little pop, but bass is important for infill. The middle to upper octaves with this dac are to die for. Like eye watering stuff, some of the best I've heard.

Edit: I flipped the phase switch up to 180 and that seemed to improve the bass audibly. It's still a smidge off from where I am used to. Hoping a tube rolls helps. I identifed a set of Mullard Blackburns 1950s.

 

[Backo NYC/SF]

I have the La Scala in my system now for an audition now. First impressions are this is an INCREDIBLY good dac. Might lack a little bass weight but otherwise this is better than my MSB Discrete by a fair margin. Im actually a little shell-shocked at how good it is to be honest..I have to put some more tracks through it of course but most of the reference tracks and Albums I use have been impressive to say the least.

Another La Scala owner here. I was curious. Are you using the balanced or unbalanced outputs? The unbalanced are MUCH brighter and don't quite get the lower mids and bass as well as the balanced outs. The balanced outs don't favor the high end quite so much. I'd call it 'smoother' for lack of a better term.

 

[skids929]

Another La Scala owner here. I was curious. Are you using the balanced or unbalanced outputs? The unbalanced are MUCH brighter and don't quite get the lower mids and bass as well as the balanced outs. The balanced outs don't favor the high end quite so much. I'd call it 'smoother' for lack of a better term.

I was using balanced outputs into my preamp. Although its a wonderfuly dac I am likely moving on from it.

 

[Backo NYC/SF]

I was using balanced outputs into my preamp. Although its a wonderfuly dac I am likely moving on from it.

If i move on, I'll be trading up from the Esoteric P-03/Aqua La Scala DAC comboI have to the Esoteric K-03XD. It's hard though. I'm getting pretty all in on digital downloads to my music server rather than SACD's and the Aqua still has me charmed.

 

[JohnP]

Has anyone tried the I2S connection from a transport such as the Aqua La Diva to the Aqua La Scala DAC? I have the La Diva transport and I’m considering buying the La Scala.

John

 

[Sablon Audio]

I have previously compared i2s / rca & bnc spdif / aes between Aqua LinQ and XHD dac using several different types of cable, both commercial products and bespoke optimised geometries using the exact same wire.

I could not say that i2s enjoyed an innate advantage and felt that it was ultimately limited by the generic rj45 connectors. My best overall outcome was using my Sablon spdif with bocchino palladium rca.

 

[JohnP]

Has anyone tried the I2S connection from a transport such as the Aqua La Diva to the Aqua La Scala DAC? I have the La Diva transport and I’m considering buying the La Scala.

John

I bought the La Scala DAC to go along with the La Diva transport. The sound from this combination is amazing. I compared the SPDIF connection to the I2S connection. No contest! The I2S connection is much better.
I also tried different types of Ethernet cables using the I2S connection. This also made a huge difference. I settled on an Audioquest Diamond Ethernet cable. I ordered an Ethernet cable from Aqua thinking Aqua would know how to make an excellent Ethernet cable. It’s been about a month and I haven’t received it yet. When I do receive it, I’ll post again about what I hear.
I also did some tube swapping. I listened to about a dozen different ECC81/12AT7 tubes. My two favorites by a large margin were the JJ ECC81 and the Mullard 10M. I slightly preferred the JJ ECC81. It was just a bit more nuanced. I also tried the Telefunken ECC801S. It was lush but not as nuanced as the JJ and the 10M. I think it is interesting to note that the JJ had a completely different plate structure from all the others.

John

 

[Designsfx]

I bought the La Scala DAC to go along with the La Diva transport. The sound from this combination is amazing. I compared the SPDIF connection to the I2S connection. No contest! The I2S connection is much better.
I also tried different types of Ethernet cables using the I2S connection. This also made a huge difference. I settled on an Audioquest Diamond Ethernet cable. I ordered an Ethernet cable from Aqua thinking Aqua would know how to make an excellent Ethernet cable. It’s been about a month and I haven’t received it yet. When I do receive it, I’ll post again about what I hear.
I also did some tube swapping. I listened to about a dozen different ECC81/12AT7 tubes. My two favorites by a large margin were the JJ ECC81 and the Mullard 10M. I slightly preferred the JJ ECC81. It was just a bit more nuanced. I also tried the Telefunken ECC801S. It was lush but not as nuanced as the JJ and the 10M. I think it is interesting to note that the JJ had a completely different plate structure from all the others.

John

Are the tubes mentioned “new” production tubes? Did you happen to try any of the NOS tubes mentioned earlier in the thread?
I too have heard that the La Diva transport is excellent- I’m sure it sounds wonderful when paired with the La Scala dac!

 

[Synaxis]

Are the tubes mentioned “new” production tubes? Did you happen to try any of the NOS tubes mentioned earlier in the thread?
I too have heard that the La Diva transport is excellent- I’m sure it sounds wonderful when paired with the La Scala dac!

I have tried numerous NOS tubes in the La Scala. What kind of sound are you looking for?

 

[JohnP]

Are the tubes mentioned “new” production tubes? Did you happen to try any of the NOS tubes mentioned earlier in the thread?
I too have heard that the La Diva transport is excellent- I’m sure it sounds wonderful when paired with the La Scala dac!

The Mullard 10M and JJ tubes are new production. The Telefunken ECC801S tubes are used. I tried the following 12AT& tubes:
Mullard NOS, Sylvania Military, Philips NOS JAN, RCA NOS, Tung-Sol NOS Military, RCE black plate, GE and Telefunken ECC81.

John

 

[JohnP]

I have tried numerous NOS tubes in the La Scala. What kind of sound are you looking for?

I like a clean, nuanced sound with excellent tone.

 

[Synaxis]

I like a clean, nuanced sound with excellent tone.

OK - here is what I've tried:

Several types of RCA's - didn't like any of them at all.

Mullard sound muffled at the top and vieled. (I'm actually going to sell the unused NOS ones I have I think. Just not worth it to me to keep).

Holland Amerex better than Mullards.

Simens VERY good sounding, very clear, a rich less bass but tight and articulate however there is a slight loss in musicality. However if you have a musical tube amp like I do, it may be OK.

Hope that helps.

 

[JohnP]

OK - here is what I've tried:

Several types of RCA's - didn't like any of them at all.

Mullard sound muffled at the top and vieled. (I'm actually going to sell the unused NOS ones I have I think. Just not worth it to me to keep).

Holland Amerex better than Mullards.

Simens VERY good sounding, very clear, a rich less bass but tight and articulate however there is a slight loss in musicality. However if you have a musical tube amp like I do, it may be OK.

Hope that helps.

Thanks! That definitely helps.
John

 

[Designsfx]

I have tried numerous NOS tubes in the La Scala. What kind of sound are you looking for?

I found the sound I was looking for in the NOS Telefunken (see post #34 in this thread). This tube pulled things together for me with the La Scala. While I still own the La Scala I rarely use it anymore, now putting my focus into the Lampizator Golden Atlantic TRP3.