madbullram
Well-Known Member
Folks,
We did a 3 hour test on the following setup.
Dac setup:
ACER 5738G with SPDIF using wasapi drivers sending bit perfect audio through SPDIF to the Optical in of my DacMagic MK2i. Initially, when I was using foobar to play the music without WASAPI it was upscaling it to 48 so installed WASAPI and set it to 0 gain and all other settings to 0. DM was able to recognize it at 44.1
O/S: Windows 7 64 Bit home premium
CDP:
Marantz CD63 SE with HDAM by- pass mod and some basic mods. This system was clearly better when I had compared with CD63KI. So this is the reference.
Music Played:
L.Subramaniam Conversations
Rajesh Vaidya's Voyage
Yanni live at the Acropolis
Blue Man group Audio
Vaarnam Aiyiram
Taal
Best of A R R
Best of Eagles
DAC source: All source ripped using EAC to FLAC with 0 errors. Volume output at 100%
Way we tested:
1. Mostly A/B test with DAC and CDP playing the same song
2. Some songs we did alternate test, with CDP playing first and then ACER and Laptop
3. Blind Test: Only I knew which was played
Lab Rats:
My wife - My best critique gives honest opinion
Sam - works for ARR as an assistant in recording and a SAE student,
Raghu - A music buff,
Partha - Your regular guy who listens to music in iPod and N73 and thinks its wow
to make comparison simple, we decided on following parameters:
1. Music feel - How much it made them involved
2. Instrument separation
3. How well the singer was reproduced to his actual voice
4. Soundstanging
Scores:
Wife: DAC - 4.5/5 CDP 4/5
I think this output has more gain and it was more clear and felt more involved.
Sam: DAC 4.2/5, CDP 3.5/5
The base was tighter and more enjoyable. The instruments were more clear and sound staging was better.
Raghu: DAC 4.5/5, CDP 4/5
The DAc is the best I have heard Blue Man group, the pipes were almost as real as I heard them in their live concert and Roja song in particular "Thamizha " was beautiful that I felt like crying
Partha: DAC 5/5, CDP 4.8/5
Both sounds WOW to me and my iPod is 1/5 when I hear these. But I prefer DM sound as it was more loud.
Our man Flanker dropped in home last night. He swore that DAC can no way be better than CD63 his modded CDP. We played A/B and felt his CDP was better. So sent him out of the room, changed the connections, got him back and did blind test in A/B for Vaaranam Aiyiram Nengukkul song.
His comments:
CDP (he didnt know its was CDP):
Its nice but it was little lacking when compared to other one.
DAC (again he didnt know, he said as source 2)
More tighter base, though the voice was little NASAL I prefer this sound than the other.
Then told him source 2 was DAC and he was mighty surprised.
So in the first round, a simple lappy with bitperfect audio has out performed a basic modded Marantz CD63 SE.
Coming Up
1. Next week, same with mp3 @ 320 kbps
2. Once I get hold of a DVDp with optical output, will put an end to transport makes a diff or not issue.
ps1: Tried swicthing between CA Optical and MX Optical, both same sound
Ps2: in blind test, none could find the difference between Monoprice, MX, and Blue Jean LC ICs
We did a 3 hour test on the following setup.
Dac setup:
ACER 5738G with SPDIF using wasapi drivers sending bit perfect audio through SPDIF to the Optical in of my DacMagic MK2i. Initially, when I was using foobar to play the music without WASAPI it was upscaling it to 48 so installed WASAPI and set it to 0 gain and all other settings to 0. DM was able to recognize it at 44.1
O/S: Windows 7 64 Bit home premium
CDP:
Marantz CD63 SE with HDAM by- pass mod and some basic mods. This system was clearly better when I had compared with CD63KI. So this is the reference.
Music Played:
L.Subramaniam Conversations
Rajesh Vaidya's Voyage
Yanni live at the Acropolis
Blue Man group Audio
Vaarnam Aiyiram
Taal
Best of A R R
Best of Eagles
DAC source: All source ripped using EAC to FLAC with 0 errors. Volume output at 100%
Way we tested:
1. Mostly A/B test with DAC and CDP playing the same song
2. Some songs we did alternate test, with CDP playing first and then ACER and Laptop
3. Blind Test: Only I knew which was played
Lab Rats:
My wife - My best critique gives honest opinion
Sam - works for ARR as an assistant in recording and a SAE student,
Raghu - A music buff,
Partha - Your regular guy who listens to music in iPod and N73 and thinks its wow
to make comparison simple, we decided on following parameters:
1. Music feel - How much it made them involved
2. Instrument separation
3. How well the singer was reproduced to his actual voice
4. Soundstanging
Scores:
Wife: DAC - 4.5/5 CDP 4/5
I think this output has more gain and it was more clear and felt more involved.
Sam: DAC 4.2/5, CDP 3.5/5
The base was tighter and more enjoyable. The instruments were more clear and sound staging was better.
Raghu: DAC 4.5/5, CDP 4/5
The DAc is the best I have heard Blue Man group, the pipes were almost as real as I heard them in their live concert and Roja song in particular "Thamizha " was beautiful that I felt like crying
Partha: DAC 5/5, CDP 4.8/5
Both sounds WOW to me and my iPod is 1/5 when I hear these. But I prefer DM sound as it was more loud.
Our man Flanker dropped in home last night. He swore that DAC can no way be better than CD63 his modded CDP. We played A/B and felt his CDP was better. So sent him out of the room, changed the connections, got him back and did blind test in A/B for Vaaranam Aiyiram Nengukkul song.
His comments:
CDP (he didnt know its was CDP):
Its nice but it was little lacking when compared to other one.
DAC (again he didnt know, he said as source 2)
More tighter base, though the voice was little NASAL I prefer this sound than the other.
Then told him source 2 was DAC and he was mighty surprised.
So in the first round, a simple lappy with bitperfect audio has out performed a basic modded Marantz CD63 SE.
Coming Up
1. Next week, same with mp3 @ 320 kbps
2. Once I get hold of a DVDp with optical output, will put an end to transport makes a diff or not issue.
ps1: Tried swicthing between CA Optical and MX Optical, both same sound
Ps2: in blind test, none could find the difference between Monoprice, MX, and Blue Jean LC ICs
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