Thrax Audio DAC

[elescher]

Hi! Anyone hear this DAC yet? Comments?

 

[Uk Paul]

HiFi Critic did review it last year, if I remember correctly MC liked it! Bulgarian high end..!

 

[dallasjustice]

I haven't heard it. But for the price, you'd be much better off with MSB Diamond. Thrax doesn't make their own r2r resistor boards. They buy the less accurate OEM signature boards from MSB. MSB doesn't sell their much better Diamond resistor boards OEM. This type of DAC relies heavily on the accuracy of the resistor. MSB is here and Thrax is in Bulgaria.

I bet this Romanian DAC called the Wavequest sounds better. It uses the same boards but has a much more robust analog output stage. It's also a lot less expensive. I think they are coming out with the Wavequest 2 this summer.
http://www.rockna-line.com/products-Wavequest-DA.html

 

[rockitman]

I bet this Romanian DAC called the Wavequest sounds better.

Considering it's from Romania, they should have called it the Vampire DAC....

 

[dallasjustice]

Considering it's from Romania, they should have called it the Vampire DAC....

Yes! And the Thrax should be called the "Mafia DAC" Check out Nigel Farage saying the Bulgarians are Mafioso:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=V72mZCDwmY0

 

[opus111]

This type of DAC relies heavily on the accuracy of the resistor.

For the measurements, yes definitely. However where SQ is concerned it seems that resistor accuracy isn't the most important aspect - otherwise why would TDA1543 (where resistor matching is pretty appalling) still sound quite decent?

My experience of DACs tells me that a DAC's dynamic performance is more important for SQ than its INL and DNL which are traditional static measurements for DACs related to their resistor matching.

 

[dallasjustice]

For the measurements, yes definitely. However where SQ is concerned it seems that resistor accuracy isn't the most important aspect - otherwise why would TDA1543 (where resistor matching is pretty appalling) still sound quite decent?

My experience of DACs tells me that a DAC's dynamic performance is more important for SQ than its INL and DNL which are traditional static measurements for DACs related to their resistor matching.

Apparently MSB thinks much more of their Diamond resistors than the lower level ones. I think most folks think the diamond sounds better too. Maybe there are other reasons the Diamond sounds better, but according to MSB, the boards are very important. Maybe that's just marketing. I haven't heard any of these DACs. If I were going to audition one of these I would pick the Wavequest 2 when it comes out because the output can easily drive an amp and I believe the volume is dithered by a 63 bit FPGA. Sounds like my kind of DAC. Not that I'm looking for another ladder DAC, though.

 

[opus111]

Given that the Diamond sounds better I'd hazard its not the resistors - more likely they're doing better switching of the resistors. By which I mean more accurate timing and lower charge injection from the switch.

 

[dallasjustice]

I think the diamond is like $45,000 and the Thrax is like $35,000. The Diamond uses the better boards, probably has much lower output impedance and is made in Aptos. If you do some negotiating, you might be able to pay almost the same price and get much better DAC.

 

[asiufy]

AFAIK, there's more to resistor quality in the Diamond version of the IV DAC. So much that you're able to upgrade a DAC IV from Platinum to Signature just by swapping the DAC modules, but that is not possible going to the Diamond. I don't know what else's replaced, but that's the information I got.

And, of course, there's plenty of difference between the Signature and the Diamond DAC IV...

I didn't knew MSB was doing OEM for these east european guys!


alexandre

 

[Wilmington]

Yes! And the Thrax should be called the "Mafia DAC" Check out Nigel Farage saying the Bulgarians are Mafioso:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=V72mZCDwmY0

Haha, Farage is the best, he's better than Eddy Izzard IMHO You should see the one about the President of the EU, I could not believe my eyes/ears... Kudos to the guy that runs that show.

The problem for me is that using MSB modules doesn't necessarily mean the DAC sounds good. There are a million smart guys who can program FPGAs and design boards, it takes someone who can actually listen to fine tune a device. Audio note is still here for a reason.

the Thrax stuff was hit hard by 6moons, for me saying "indistinguishable from the Metrum Hex" was the rudest possible insult to these guys, Srajan is usually a bit more diplomatic, it must have been really bad. And there were several other negative comments from Stereophile and others... The Romanian stuff has not been reviewed by anyone, I wonder why everybody wants to use those MSB modules, may be that is the road to high end? Just stick it there and you can sell at 20-30K?

 

[catastrofe]

Considering it's from Romania, they should have called it the Vampire DAC....

They had a model by that name. . .it really sucked.