These Dacs sound so close....or Err maybe not :)

[chander]

I would be hard pressed to tell the differences & maybe happy with any of these DACs barring the IFI. However if I was sitting in the shop to make a purchase I may make the purchase based on my opinion below.

***I have heard this clip 6 times by now on my near field setup at 85db+ volume.

- For me the first song was pretty inconclusive, everything sounded very similar. The second song is where it was the easiest.
- I had the iFI dac & tested it in 3 different setups, I know how it sounds, sharp & lean. I found this dac very fatiguing.
- I have the RME & I know how it sounds, it is neutral & specially in terms of bass & drums it does a very good job of sounding realistic. This dac also has very good foot tapping rhythm. It is also the DAC everything was being played through in my setup.
- I have heard the M-DAC+ & owned the AL6000a integrated amp. I love them for how they sound. Though they are pretty boring, as compared to the RME above. On ALs everything 11 sounds like dialled back to 9. That also also makes it a very good all day amp, with zero fatigue and an absolute listening pleasure.

For the ones I have never heard - My take is -

1 - Metrum - Metrum to me was harsh sounding, so everything else sounds like it has taken a back seat.
2 - Audio GD - A very fun sound, not sharp, not bloated, but still foot tapping good.

In this video however, the iFI didn't sound as lean & harsh & M-DAC+ sounded like everything had slowed down a bit, with a lot of loose bass; Which is not the case in reality.

& for me, IF this video is my only source, I would go with either RME or Audio GD.

 

[sachinchavan 15865]

Just for fun, I tried these 2 tests:

1. Close eyes and tell when the DAC changes.
I could tell when the RME or the AudioGD were playing but fumbled with the other changes

2. Which DAC sounds closest to 'live' sound?
My foot started to tap whenever the RME played but it lacked the lush midrange of the AudioGD. The Audio GD brought the guitarist into the room but it was as though the other artistes were playing on a background recorded track

If i was to select just one, I'd pass

Much like what I felt about the two. But you’ve expressed it so well!

 

[prem]

@prem , thanks for sharing your technique.


I’d like to know your impressions of the Audio GD vis-à-vis the Metrum on this - purely for my learning.

Hi Sachin, I felt the Audio GD was adding something to the recording making it lusher. In the case of Metrum, I didn’t think it was adding anything. It was more acts of omission. Especially in terms of frequency extremes and attack.

I personally am ok to acts of omission because it will still make different recordings sound different.

In the case of Audio GD, I felt because it adds a lushness, it’s going to do this to all the recordings making them all sound more similar.

I also feel digital is about dynamics. Why would anyone want to kill the dynamics and add lushness at the source itself? It makes no sense to me.

 

[Yelamanchili manohar]

Hi Sachin, I felt the Audio GD was adding something to the recording making it lusher. In the case of Metrum, I didn’t think it was adding anything. It was more acts of omission. Especially in terms of frequency extremes and attack.

I personally am ok to acts of omission because it will still make different recordings sound different.

In the case of Audio GD, I felt because it adds a lushness, it’s going to do this to all the recordings making them all sound more similar.

I also feel digital is about dynamics. Why would anyone want to kill the dynamics and add lushness at the source itself? It makes no sense to me.

Very true... I remember your good selves once mentioned, that colouration added at the source can never be removed later

The audio-GD might make for a flavoured, albeit pleasing dac, but will probably necessitate having an other main stream neutral dac in the chain too.

 

[Hari Iyer]

I have ordered the RME ADI-2 FS last month. Expected to arrive this month end. It will be interesting to listen them in my setup.

 

[reignofchaos]

RME sounds the best to me overall in this. Most dynamic and true to the recording.

 

[sunand777]

In this comparison Rme is based on akm or ess?

 

[sachinchavan 15865]

Hi Sachin, I felt the Audio GD was adding something to the recording making it lusher. In the case of Metrum, I didn’t think it was adding anything. It was more acts of omission. Especially in terms of frequency extremes and attack.

I personally am ok to acts of omission because it will still make different recordings sound different.

In the case of Audio GD, I felt because it adds a lushness, it’s going to do this to all the recordings making them all sound more similar.

I also feel digital is about dynamics. Why would anyone want to kill the dynamics and add lushness at the source itself? It makes no sense to me.

Thanks for the elaboration. @prem . That’s some food for thought. It’s like whether one likes daal added to the biriyani or meat taken out of it. (I am vegetarian, don’t know why that analogy occurred to me. )

 

[Yelamanchili manohar]

If any RME owners were considering selling their Dac, then the time is now

 

[Fiftyfifty]

If any RME owners were considering selling their Dac, then the time is now

There are many other good/popular dacs though.
Would love to see a similar video about streamers. I have a nasty feeling that there will be even lesser differences between brands. Don't want to open a can of worms here, but just wondering

 

[Yelamanchili manohar]

There are many other good/popular dacs though.
Would love to see a similar video about streamers. I have a nasty feeling that there will be even lesser differences between brands. Don't want to open a can of worms here, but just wondering

I think this video was a 1K euro Dacs shoot out. Might take the next echelon of dacs,and microphones to show up differences in different streamers. Though I have absolutely no clue how much the difference will be

 

[Kannan]

You're absolutely right! The guitar strums were the only consistent parts by large across the track to compare against - for me. The rest of the track were not - for my ears to discern any differences. I thought that the RME was the only one among the rest that reproduced the crispness and tone of the guitar strums.
It would have been much better to discern differences if a short track had been played in a loop for all DAC's.

Look who is talking.

 

[Yelamanchili manohar]

This is probably the best live recording I've ever heard of a show system playing live, in what could probably be a less than ideal acoustic environment. I will stop with this vid

And Terry Ellis has a very well sorted microphone setup, and I prefer his live show coverages to everyone else's.

 

[keith_correa]

Look who is talking.

I'm actually a little less ignorant than I project. Sonetimes!

 

[Prateek-Epitome]

To be honest I have tried multiple DACs at home and the differences between them are minor. The biggest change comes from Speakers/Headphones.

Burson Composer DAC enhances the upper midrange & limits the Bass.

Gustard R26 is quite neutral. I like how everything sounds louder with this DAC but I didn’t find any extra details. I also did not hear any difference in its LAN mode vs Optical va USB

The Neo iDSD sounds close to Burson Composer, but with full bass. However this DAC adds a hiss to tweeters whenever I put it in my chain, which the previous 2 dont.

The Topping E30 ii Lite sounds fuzzy to me. Probably because of being single ended & noise creeping in.

Topping D30 Pro lite sounded pretty neutral & identical to RME ADI2 Dac

 

[chillumphile]

Controversial opinion: you will not hear difference between DACs, unless one is completely broken.

Even more controversial opinion: Spotify with 320kbps AAC encoding sounds as good as modern CDs. The main problem with modern music is not lossy compression, but dynamic range compression - but this is a problem on new CD releases as well.

And another one, slightly less controversial: MQA is snake oil, makes false promises and mathematically doesn't add up.

From reddit.com

Spotify sounds downright compressed compared to Apple lossless.