Hey everyone, right now I am listening to FLACs with foobar2k and wasapi -> HDV 820 -> ZMF auteur, atticus and HD800S. It sounds great but I want to step up. I heard my friends Master 9+master 7 stack and was impressed with the blacker background, bigger soundstage and more detailed sound.
I decided to most likely get an Audio GD HE9.
Now I have to decide on a DAC. Right now I have a local seller who has the DS Sr. for $3850 USD brand new in box or I got a lead on a Terminator for about the same price and warranty.
Any thoughts on which direction to go? I listen to mainly Ambient, Techno, Jazz, Classical and instrumental music (Nicholas Gunn, Robert Michaels) Thanks!
I auditioned Denafrips Terminator and Audio-gd R2R 7 dac before, but not a direct comparison.
I peraonally like the Terminator more.
The R2R 7 dac is a bit too rich & mellow to my taste.
I guess if you already have an Audio-gd headphone amp, getting a dac not of the same sonic character is preferred.
I auditioned Denafrips Terminator and Audio-gd R2R 7 dac before, but not a direct comparison.
I peraonally like the Terminator more.
The R2R 7 dac is a bit too rich & mellow to my taste.
I guess if you already have an Audio-gd headphone amp, getting a dac not of the same sonic character is preferred.
I auditioned Denafrips Terminator and Audio-gd R2R 7 dac before, but not a direct comparison.
I peraonally like the Terminator more.
The R2R 7 dac is a bit too rich & mellow to my taste.
I guess if you already have an Audio-gd headphone amp, getting a dac not of the same sonic character is preferred.
Nice review and as this becomes in some ways subjective I do feel it’s a great effort.
A few points to make if you still have any lampi dacs.
They need a preamp active best this gives them more dynamics and while in some amp matches it maybe better than others.
Next a usb power cutter or usb cable that has this done also the shield of the usb needs to be cut at the usb cable side of the dac
most usb reclockers hurt a lampi don’t know why but have done enough testing to know it does.
Lastly some dacs do more inside to make the source less important
The msb sel dac is proof of this. I owned msb at one time
It clearly does much more to make a sub par source much better. But having said this jitter, noise in sub par sources still detract from best results in sound. A lampi needs a better source to shine as well as most on your list.
Your ranking of the bottom seems spot on lol. The Mytek hurt my brain and the ps audio while nice lacks presence and hamongizes sound leaving little change from track to track.
Al, as an upcoming Lampi Pacific owner, who will be using USB, I wonder if you could explain in more detail what you mean by power cutting the USB and what its purpose would be? Also, I use a sotm tx usb ultra Which re-ClockZ the USB signal. You found no usb re-clocking to be best Before the Pacific? Thanks
Al, as an upcoming Lampi Pacific owner, who will be using USB, I wonder if you could explain in more detail what you mean by power cutting the USB and what its purpose would be? Also, I use a sotm tx usb ultra Which re-ClockZ the USB signal. You found no usb re-clocking to be best Before the Pacific? Thanks
he means that an unpowered USB cable sounds better with Lampi dacs. They dont need the 5v power, so eliminating it means less noise from one source and better SQ overall. If you have a powered cable, you cancut the power with a Sbooster V-Bus power cutter adapter at circa $25 price.
Or swith off the power in usb using the option offered by Aurender.
In former SW versions one could do it himself , now has to ask Aurender support to do it remotely.
I use this option already for several years, first with B7 , now with Pacific.
Highly recommended.
Very interesting that you rank Vermeer Two so high.
I am in touch with Bruno Ginard for a few years and still hesitate to spend quite „a bit” for the upgrade of my La Fontaine to Vermeer Two specification.
Did you have the opportunity to compare Vermeer with Lampizator DAC’s?
He does seem genuine in his assessments. He has a youtube channel with a ton of videos where he does shootouts with a lot of the DAC in question. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiOmwLhAObKBHYlTfMAtHTw
You might be able to get a indication if the sound is your liking from hearing them through his speakers & through his recordings on a youtube feed.
Thank you once more, the music nor the sound are my cup of tea, moreover YT is not the best source to evaluate SQ .
But it seems that Verrastar has a vast experience.
Hi Guys , I did not kow you must announce if you sell something, my apology. First off I am not a dealer per se, I am a manufacturer. If I do in fact represent another brand from my own, it is because I am impressed by the brand and I feel they should have USA representation, and even when I rep, I moreso work as a factory representative than as a dealer. and usually I am the warranty service center. @marslo I am not sure how much you would get from Vermeer 2 as I know it stems from the piece you have. If you have a photo of the inside of yours, I have a photo as well, we could visually look for differences that were obvious. I would actually be very interested to do so. Over some more time, I have concluded the Rockna is a piece that requires a preamp to be complete, forget the onboard digital volume control, to me there is no substitute for Analog VC. Vermeer on the other hand has an excellent analog output stage and is a complete solution, not needing anything else on the front. I will add the LAN card soon, and at that point, it is a complete front end solution, as it even has a tape loop and analog inputs. I also performed a small Mod, I bypassed the output caps with Duelund silver bypass caps, and it gave it the leading edge I felt it was missing. Mt unit however has the Mundorf caps as standard, but they have switched to CAT Black caps. I can report back after the switch and new LAN card that is supposed to also have an upgraded USB input..
