Aries Cerat Kassandra II Ref DAC: Wow!

[nonesup]

Hi Astro finally arrived, congratulations.
I hope your comments and photos with much interest.
Unfortunately Stavros is not thinking of adding a DLNA Render, I would love that.

 

[Legolas]

Hi Astro finally arrived, congratulations.
I hope your comments and photos with much interest.
Unfortunately Stavros is not thinking of adding a DLNA Render, I would love that.

Francisco
You should ring Stavros, he does custom work, he could maybe fit one?

Is it so important in your system? There are lots of server options. However I just use my Mac Mini which I tricked up with the Uptone Audio DC mod, no fan. SSD, 8 gig RAM. I was using Ethernet out to my Rednet 3 DAW which output SPDIF. That beat all my USB chains I could get my hands on. But the USB board in the Kassandra beats my Rednet, which amazed me actually. I was ready for a one man show.

I have come from the NOS DACs and demoed some of the modern alternatives before I got this beast. I was willing to stray back to DS or anything else if it was better than my Audio Note DAC 5, but none really got there in the areas I was after. More detail or speed maybe, but sterile or boring long term. Until....

The other secret sauce to the Kassandra is the superb gain stage, the dynamics of it shocked me, I could tell from the first bar of the first song. It is weird, as even when played fairly low in volume you can still hear the drive behind the music. I think the whole design of it is a break from the norm, a brave move. The shear size and weight may be a problem to some. I have managed to accommodate it on my desk, just. 60 kilos of it. The power supply, most of it under the front panel area is also huge, 12 big caps, 2 huge chokes I think they are, massive torroid for the mains, and under the digital board 2 huge output transformers. The digital board is full width of the chassis, so about 50cm wide!

 

[nonesup]

Hi Astro.
A few months ago I sent mail to Stavros, he says that at the moment the Render is not planned.
Well I'm not in a hurry, until next year I can not think about changing, so I'm going little by little.
Anyway, I recognize that even without having heard it, the philosophy of Stavros appeals to me.
Maybe later I can go to Almería, and if you are so kind, I could hear your Kassandra.
Regards

 

[morricab]

Hi Astro.
A few months ago I sent mail to Stavros, he says that at the moment the Render is not planned.
Well I'm not in a hurry, until next year I can not think about changing, so I'm going little by little.
Anyway, I recognize that even without having heard it, the philosophy of Stavros appeals to me.
Maybe later I can go to Almería, and if you are so kind, I could hear your Kassandra.
Regards

You are also welcome, Francisco, to come to Switzerland to hear the Kassandra and other AC gear.

 

[nonesup]

You are also welcome, Francisco, to come to Switzerland to hear the Kassandra and other AC gear.

Thank you

 

[audioblazer]

Paired with AN M10S , I have never heard a better DAC . As close to analogue sound in my limited experience . Used to have W20& MSB Select DAC for my digital playback

 

[Legolas]

Paired with AN M10S , I have never heard a better DAC . As close to analogue sound in my limited experience . Used to have W20& MSB Select DAC for my digital playback

Interesting.
I just came from the Audio Note UK DAC 5 to the Kassandra Ref II which is 2 models down from the Kassandra LE, but still the best digital I have heard to date. Others do some things well, but this beast does all the things I like, and is very life like. Biggest surprise is the dynamics, they are huge. Makes me question some 'modern' DAC that favour no gain stage, i.e. off the I/V stage. But it may be more than that, I am no expert, only can compare to other DACs I have demoed, many costing more than my Ref II. UPS delivered the DAC in the morning. I rang Stavros the next day, told him he should put the price up! I think it is that good. That and I got 3 hours sleep as couldn't take my LCD4s off my head on Monday night. It is my end game DAC I am convinced, I have had a sugar rush before with hifi so I have recognised when it is the honeymoon or the relationship proper. This thing is the real deal, no question.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Ha! One night stand, or happy long term marriage analogy in audio.
It seems like you have the wife that you’ll look fwd to growing old with LOL .

 

[nonesup]

Stavros please ignore Astro for the price increase.

 

[Legolas]

Stavros please ignore Astro for the price increase.

Indeed. But you get my point, Aries Cerat are about real performance for good money, not smoke and mirrors... I won't expand.

 

[nonesup]

Well maybe I did not know how to express correctly, the irony in my message.
I understand that what you wanted to say is that there are DACs in the market more expensive that do not have the quality of Kassandra.
Having said that, I reiterate: Stavros nothing to raise the price

 

[Legolas]

Well maybe I did not know how to express correctly, the irony in my message.
I understand that what you wanted to say is that there are DACs in the market more expensive that do not have the quality of Kassandra.
Having said that, I reiterate: Stavros nothing to raise the price

You know, I have been thinking. I have for a long time in this hobby been chasing technology and the detail detail. And of course I came to experience many dead ends and disappointments in digital. Then I found NOS DACs with Audio Note. I was basically fairy poor at that time, so I bought the kit DACs instead. I had lots of fun modding them, and ended up with a fully tweaked up ANK DAC 4.1 with many parts from AN UK inc the digital board from a DAC 4/5, 496 I/Vs, Duelund Caps on the gain stage, all NOS tubes, Duelund and Audio Note Kassai caps on the power supply, various other tricked up bits. And it sounded great, in it's own 'envelope'. I then bought the AN UK DAC 5, which was also very good. Bit slower at first, so I ripped out the AN Copper caps and fitted Duelunds again, and that woke it up some, and it sounded very good. But it was still missing something, energy and dynamics mainly. it was a bit thick and slow, as though it has a brake on everything, hard to describe. During this period I tried the CH precision, Chord DAVE, a used Naim CD555, MSB Platinum and some others. They all did something well detail mainly, but fell flat in other areas.

The Kassandra was a leap of faith for me on my limited income. It seemed from a design perspective to go further than many other NOS designs, and of course, had the AD1865 chip (but 16 of them). No upsampling, no filter, a class A gain stage, 2 x super tubes, which by the way is on average 35 USD each and have a great tube life of expected 10,000 hours. It also barely gets warm to anyone worried about heat.

I can confirm this DAC does have outstanding detail and dynamics, but there is no price for it, i.e. digital has become analogue, which in itself is a ridiculous statement, like we are going backwards. But that is the best way I can describe the Kassandra. It has an uncanny ability to play micro details and subtleties, yet kicks hard when the music (recording) demands. It is I think, an open gate, not held back, as though we have a lot of pressure (power) in the Power Supply driving the music, and it if asks for it, it gives it 100%.

 

[Believe High Fidelity]

I almost completely forgot about this and for some reason today it popped into my head and I had to share. From going as far as to calling me a schill to joining the Aries Cerat family. Love it <3

 

[Legolas]

I almost completely forgot about this and for some reason today it popped into my head and I had to share. From going as far as to calling me a schill to joining the Aries Cerat family. Love it <3

View attachment 39495

Ha Ha, you got me. Actually almost exactly a year ago. I was hoping you had forgot about it. I was not used to dealers input on a forum. On head-fi.org it used to be frowned upon, maybe less so recently. On head-case.org you get your head blown off. Thankfully on here we are more polite to each other..... TBH dealer input can be useful as they are at the coal face. And recently speaking to some of the AC dealers directly they seem like any audio obsessive, just do it for a living as well. Plus I am a believer now. But this all highlights how important good advice is, and the fact some of us can't get to hear stuff. That is why this forum is important IMO.

 

[Hifi Boy]

Stavros please ignore Astro for the price increase.

I second that!

 

[morricab]

You know, I have been thinking. I have for a long time in this hobby been chasing technology and the detail detail. And of course I came to experience many dead ends and disappointments in digital. Then I found NOS DACs with Audio Note. I was basically fairy poor at that time, so I bought the kit DACs instead. I had lots of fun modding them, and ended up with a fully tweaked up ANK DAC 4.1 with many parts from AN UK inc the digital board from a DAC 4/5, 496 I/Vs, Duelund Caps on the gain stage, all NOS tubes, Duelund and Audio Note Kassai caps on the power supply, various other tricked up bits. And it sounded great, in it's own 'envelope'. I then bought the AN UK DAC 5, which was also very good. Bit slower at first, so I ripped out the AN Copper caps and fitted Duelunds again, and that woke it up some, and it sounded very good. But it was still missing something, energy and dynamics mainly. it was a bit thick and slow, as though it has a brake on everything, hard to describe. During this period I tried the CH precision, Chord DAVE, a used Naim CD555, MSB Platinum and some others. They all did something well detail mainly, but fell flat in other areas.

The Kassandra was a leap of faith for me on my limited income. It seemed from a design perspective to go further than many other NOS designs, and of course, had the AD1865 chip (but 16 of them). No upsampling, no filter, a class A gain stage, 2 x super tubes, which by the way is on average 35 USD each and have a great tube life of expected 10,000 hours. It also barely gets warm to anyone worried about heat.

I can confirm this DAC does have outstanding detail and dynamics, but there is no price for it, i.e. digital has become analogue, which in itself is a ridiculous statement, like we are going backwards. But that is the best way I can describe the Kassandra. It has an uncanny ability to play micro details and subtleties, yet kicks hard when the music (recording) demands. It is I think, an open gate, not held back, as though we have a lot of pressure (power) in the Power Supply driving the music, and it if asks for it, it gives it 100%.

Glad to hear that the Kassandra has worked it's magic on you. For me the defining characteristic of the Kassandra is the dynamics...sounds just explode out of it with no hint of flattening, which seems to be a trait of nearly all other DACs I have heard. I am wondering also the root of this, which I suspect is again tied to the power supply, its magnitude and the ease of which it can deliver that reserve. I suspect many an output stage is getting starved and then can't follow the shifts accurately. The tonality of Kassandra is consistent with a number of good R2R tube DACs I have heard but with another level of detail that they don't have. So, detail, check; tone, check; dynamics, check!

So far everything you report is consisten with my experience...keep the observations coming!

 

[Aries Cerat]

Stavros please ignore Astro for the price increase.

Kindly noted astro did not convince me for the price increase anyway

Best
Stavros

 

[nonesup]

Kindly noted astro did not convince me for the price increase anyway

Best
Stavros

Hi Stavros, I love that answer. Now I just have to convince you to put a Render and .... Wow fantastic!
As Astro comments on the sound, I think it's very similar to what I'm looking for, so the most prudent thing for me will not be listening to Kassandra in a few months ...
Regards

 

[DSkip]

Ha Ha, you got me. Actually almost exactly a year ago. I was hoping you had forgot about it. I was not used to dealers input on a forum. On head-fi.org it used to be frowned upon, maybe less so recently. On head-case.org you get your head blown off. Thankfully on here we are more polite to each other..... TBH dealer input can be useful as they are at the coal face. And recently speaking to some of the AC dealers directly they seem like any audio obsessive, just do it for a living as well. Plus I am a believer now. But this all highlights how important good advice is, and the fact some of us can't get to hear stuff. That is why this forum is important IMO.

I enjoyed reading this. I tell my clients (and mean it) that I am an enthusiast first and a dealer second. While its my lifeline, I don't like to sell products to people who won't enjoy them. As far a the products I carry, it just so happens that I am enthusiastic about them, which is why I carry them - much like Josh here.

PS - Josh, any chance you'd be able to swing by the house with one of these DAC's prior to LSAF? I know you said you were heading up this way sometime in March, but it might have passed already.

 

[Believe High Fidelity]

Ha Ha, you got me. Actually almost exactly a year ago. I was hoping you had forgot about it. I was not used to dealers input on a forum. On head-fi.org it used to be frowned upon, maybe less so recently. On head-case.org you get your head blown off. Thankfully on here we are more polite to each other..... TBH dealer input can be useful as they are at the coal face. And recently speaking to some of the AC dealers directly they seem like any audio obsessive, just do it for a living as well. Plus I am a believer now. But this all highlights how important good advice is, and the fact some of us can't get to hear stuff. That is why this forum is important IMO.

I am glad I remembered. That way if we ever see each other you owe me like 10 margaritas....