TotalDAC

For what it's worth here is the Engstrom room from Munich 2017.
Complete TotalDAC d1-twelve stack. Sound was sublime.

 
Just my opinion & my feeling, whenever i hear a recorded song of a high end system, i feel the sound & nuances better than playing the same song(original) from my set. :p
 
I have heard the Total Dac several times - 3 years in 3 different systems - if not more.
It is a Nice Product.
I would place it in Tier 2
Tier 1 being dCS Vivaldi II & MSB Select
Tier 2 is Esoteric / EMM / Total DAC
This is the way - I would classify them.
All my classifications are based on personal listening & demo in known set up
over several years. Nothing is 'review' based.

p.s. Personally I use Tier 3 level products - Aqua Hi Fi - Transport & DAC [just
to put things into perspective] Meitner / Play Back etc. would also get into Tier 3.
 
TotalDAC is an amazing DAC.
Even I would love to hear it if there is one on here.


.
I feel it is WAY Over Priced - Not worth the Money - Mr. Vincent has lost his way some place.

BTW - I have heard that Marten Design Coltrane & Tenor Speakers with Lars Engstrom Amps & Total Dac.
2 rooms had it & the Engstrom room sounded 'better' to my ears.
 
BTW - I have heard that Marten Design Coltrane & Tenor Speakers with Lars Engstrom Amps & Total Dac.
2 rooms had it & the Engstrom room sounded 'better' to my ears.

The Coltrane room with the Tenors had the MSB stack as source

 
I feel it is WAY Over Priced - Not worth the Money - Mr. Vincent has lost his way some place.

The TotalDACs were in two of the better rooms at Munich.
One was the Engstrom room and the other was the Absolare room with Rockport Cygnus

Absolare TotalDAC Rockport.jpg
 
I have heard the Total Dac several times - 3 years in 3 different systems - if not more.
It is a Nice Product.
I would place it in Tier 2
Tier 1 being dCS Vivaldi II & MSB Select
Tier 2 is Esoteric / EMM / Total DAC
This is the way - I would classify them.
All my classifications are based on personal listening & demo in known set up
over several years. Nothing is 'review' based.

p.s. Personally I use Tier 3 level products - Aqua Hi Fi - Transport & DAC [just
to put things into perspective] Meitner / Play Back etc. would also get into Tier 3.

How good is the Playback Designs Merlot and how does it compare with the Aqua Hifi La Scala Mk 2 and Meitner DAC 1 ? Any views here.
 
How good is the Playback Designs Merlot and how does it compare with the Aqua Hifi La Scala Mk 2 and Meitner DAC 1 ? Any views here.

I have listened to Merlot side-by-side with Yggdrasil and Prism Sound Callia. There are difference but not that kind that made me to think of selling my DACs (I own both Yggy and Callia) and losing my sleep over getting something new. But again, I am a listener who can spot differences and then those differences come face-to-face with my affordability. It wasn't that great of a difference.

On a slightly different note, after I introduced Dante connectivity in my chain, I even found a 10 year old Benchmark to be interesting. I also have a Violectric V800 DAC, that too sounds very good with Dante.

So, when I am in mood of listening to music for pure joy, any DAC works (with Dante) but if tomorrow, somebody tells me that I can keep any one of them, it will be Yggdrasil.
 
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