Most vinyl-sounding DAC?

[skids929]

Totaldac..Best DAC I’ve heard. Can listen ALL day and the dynamics are incredible. I have the Triunity and it’s the best source I’ve owned. And that includes some nice vinyl rigs.

 

[LL21]

I once had one, at some point I had the crazy idea that there was definitely something better and sold it. can someone please hit me in my face, there's nothing better...big exclamation point behind it.

P.S 3 power iec sockets at underside dac(digital,left and right chanel analog)View attachment 126336

Just read this...saw your posts about DCS.

If you ever wanted to buy back the Stax DC-X1T...I think this is available?

Error

www.audioantiquary.com

Also just saw this...from 2023 where the reviewer is thrilled he has acquired this piece himself to pair with his Blue Hawaii SE headphone amp and Stax 9000...

 

[Thieliste]

Totaldac..Best DAC I’ve heard. Can listen ALL day and the dynamics are incredible. I have the Triunity and it’s the best source I’ve owned. And that includes some nice vinyl rigs.

What other DACs have you auditioned before making your decision ?

 

[Amir]

The sound of vinyl is different to CD but what we hear from different DACs is not equal. Some DACs like Weiss Medus , dCS Vivaldi are different to some others like TAD D600, Vitus MP-D201, Audio Note DAC5. The second group are more similar to Vinyl playback.
there are many many parameters in designing DAC and I can not say what parameter make a DAC more similar to LP but my expereince shows the time domain response is one of important factors.

NOS DACs like Audio Note DAC5 have perfect time domain response without any overshoot. TAD D600 and Vitus MP-D201 both have perfect time domain response.

TAD has his own digital filter Legato Link (for best time domain response).
Vitus uses Anagram Technology for best time domain response.
Audio Note is NOS DAC without any filtering and has perfect time domain response.
Bidat use adaptive digital filtering for having both time and frequency domain response.
It seems Wadia and Playback design also have perfect time domain response.

I guess the Wadax has perfect time domain response but I am not sure. I did not have Wadax and this year Wadax will come to my showroom.

you can find Javier idea about importance of “time distortion” in the minute 9.

@Mike Lavigne
Javier (designer of wadax) believes the time is very important

 

[LL21]

you can find Javier idea about importance of “time distortion” in the minute 9.

@Mike Lavigne
Javier (designer of wadax) believes the time is very important

Interesting reading...something I believe Yamada San also has said before with his Zanden digital.

 

[Amir]

@Mike Lavigne

Interesting reading...something I believe Yamada San also has said before with his Zanden digital.

Thank you, yes it seems the Zanden digital have perfect time domain response DACs.

 

[LL21]

@Mike Lavigne

Thank you, yes it seems the Zanden digital have perfect time domain response DACs.

Despite having heard some leading current-gen digital over the last few years, including the latest Vivaldi Apex, have not been inspired to look elsewhere. Would genuinely like to hear the AN DC 5th Element however.

 

[Amir]

Despite having heard some leading current-gen digital over the last few years, including the latest Vivaldi Apex, have not been inspired to look elsewhere. Would genuinely like to hear the AN DC 5th Element however.

I also like to hear AN DAC 5th Element too.

 

[Marcus]

Would genuinely like to hear the AN DC 5th Element however.

FWIW, and don’t know if it has any similarities to the AN DAC you’ve mentioning, but have heard the Kondo Ongaku DAC (with the CEC transport), and it sounded at least as impressive as Zanden kombo.

 

[LL21]

WOW...I did not even know there was an Ongaku DAC! I will look it up...

 

[LL21]

On the Kondo website, they have no digital...and in Discontinued Products, this is all the digital they list:

Digital​

• M100-DAC
• M7 IIK DAC
• KSL-M7 DAC
• KSL-DAC

Top

 

[Mike Lavigne]

you can find Javier idea about importance of “time distortion” in the minute 9.

@Mike Lavigne
Javier (designer of wadax) believes the time is very important

when i hear that my Esoteric Clock, and even the clock cable change by one level, is audible in my Esoteric T1 turntable.....just by making the 'time' performance just a tiny bit better.....makes a significant step in the musical realism. this very small change matters.

it's hard to make sense of that technically, one can only tell by listening. since it matters to our feelings. and becomes a separator of levels of reproduction.

i hear this difference also in my Wadax compared to other digital. a rightness to music. more complete and real. i think power supplies matter a lot with timing.

 

[Amir]

when i hear that my Esoteric Clock, and even the clock cable change by one level, is audible in my Esoteric T1 turntable.....just by making the 'time' performance just a tiny bit better.....makes a significant step in the musical realism. this very small change matters.

it's hard to make sense of that technically, one can only tell by listening. since it matters to our feelings. and becomes a separator of levels of reproduction.

i hear this difference also in my Wadax compared to other digital. a rightness to music. more complete and real.

I listened to Wadax in Gobel showroom, Wadax DAC + Server

 

[Amir]

FWIW, and don’t know if it has any similarities to the AN DAC you’ve mentioning, but have heard the Kondo Ongaku DAC (with the CEC transport), and it sounded at least as impressive as Zanden kombo.

View attachment 138092

No production at the moment , I hope Kondo start the DAC production.

Living Voice had kondo DAC in munich high end show 2024. CEC + Kondo was wonderful

 

[Elliot G.]

when i hear that my Esoteric Clock, and even the clock cable change by one level, is audible in my Esoteric T1 turntable.....just by making the 'time' performance just a tiny bit better.....makes a significant step in the musical realism. this very small change matters.

it's hard to make sense of that technically, one can only tell by listening. since it matters to our feelings. and becomes a separator of levels of reproduction.

i hear this difference also in my Wadax compared to other digital. a rightness to music. more complete and real. i think power supplies matter a lot with timing.

Wadax and some other companies like Riviera Audio Labs, have done extensive research into how humans hear and perceive sound. I believe that this is very important and when one listens one can hear the results. Its not that a company because they make something else that is good has any credibility by osmosis that they can make a very different type of product that that inherently is also good. For example, If Oliver Gobel decided tomorrow to build a Dac that statement by itself does not make it good, only the execution of such a product will decide.

 

[Amir]

 

[Amir]

Oliver Gobel is very nice, kind and gentle.
I thanks him for music listening in that night.

 

[Elliot G.]

Oliver Gobel is very nice, kind and gentle.
I thanks him for music listening in that night.

Yes he’s a great guy and incredibly smart

 

[LL21]

when i hear that my Esoteric Clock, and even the clock cable change by one level, is audible in my Esoteric T1 turntable.....just by making the 'time' performance just a tiny bit better.....makes a significant step in the musical realism. this very small change matters.

it's hard to make sense of that technically, one can only tell by listening. since it matters to our feelings. and becomes a separator of levels of reproduction.

i hear this difference also in my Wadax compared to other digital. a rightness to music. more complete and real. i think power supplies matter a lot with timing.

Definitely agree on power supply...gives greater stability and capability to the DAC for some reason. As for clock timing, I have read same but have not done enough work mself to be able to say I have experienced it myself. The Zanden has its own internal double-oven crystal oscillator clock but never thought about upgrading it to a custom clock. I think Audiocrack upgraded his Zanden clock to good effect.

 

[Zeotrope]

Only the Nagra DAC (HD DAC X and Tube DAC) sounds close to analog in my option, and in this reviewer’s opinion.
(Unfortunately) since Nagra does not loan out equipment or pay for reviews, there are very few reviews of their products. But they don’t seem to need any as the products sell very well.

Resultados da pesquisa por “Nagra” – Clube do Audio

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