The Little DAC That Could
Over the past several years there has been a quite explosive proliferation of good, small, affordable DACs, many offering USB connections so that they could serve as playback vehicles for digital audio files stored on computers. I’ve heard a fair number of products of this kind, and felt that many seemed worthy and offered decent value. Even so, my take on most super-budget-DACs has been that while many offered sonic goodness (a fine thing in its own right), few managed—how shall I put this?—to reach out and seize the brass ring of sonic greatness. But that was before I met Musical Fidelity’s $299 V-DAC: the little DAC that could.
.jpg "Musical Fidelity V-DAC, showing outputs")
Minimalist Looks
Let me perfectly honest with you. The V-DAC looks a fair amount like one of those well intended but cheesy science kits you might find at a Radio Shack store. We’re talking about a product that arrives in a plastic blister-pack and that is housed in a matte black metal can with no faceplate, no trim, no adornments except for a silkscreened logo and a few labels, and just two skinny rubber strips stuck on the bottom to serve as feet. Pretty, it is not, unless you happen to be into minimalist chic. But if, like me, you feel that beauty is as beauty does, then the V-DAC is quite lovely indeed, thank you very much. As one Musical Fidelity spokesperson put it, “Isn’t it nice to know you’re buying a product where all the money goes into components inside the chassis?”
A Frame of Reference
I’ve used Musical Fidelity’s multi-thousand dollar kW SACD player as my digital reference for the past several years, and it has served me well. The player has a lavishly detailed and neutrally balanced sound that is dynamically alive, and it offers both tube and solid-state output stages. Although I haven’t heard everything out there, I’ve always felt my kW SACD player was one of the best options available in its class; to beat it, I reckoned, I would need to look at players from Meitner/EMM Labs, Wadia, or (cha-ching!) from dCS—all of which are way out of my price league. So, I’ve stuck with my trusty kW and used it as a frame of reference in evaluating various DACs and high-end disk players. And while I have, over the course of doing many product reviews, encountered a number of very good digital sources, I’ve also found that few if any of them offered the kW much serious sonic competition—until now.
Modest Looks, Great Sound
The Musical Fidelity V-DAC will be reviewed in Playback issue 20, and since I hope you’ll read that review I’d rather not give away all the secrets just now. But let me give you this hint: the V-DAC comes closer to equaling the sound of the big kW SACD player than any other digital source component I’ve tried (including other, more costly Musical Fidelity DACs). That’s pretty amazing given that the V-DAC is also the least expensive DAC I’ve ever connected to my system.
What’s really neat is that the V-DAC is not only affordable but also versatile (it provides TOSLINK, Coax, and USB inputs with a USB/Coax selector switch), and is a 24-bit/192kHz upsampler that cites very strong signal/noise specs. If you’ve craved the sound of a multi-thousand dollar CD player but couldn’t come up with the scratch, Musical Fidelity’s $299 V-DAC just might be your ticket to ride.
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1999 - 2011 NextScreen. All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
Comments
All The reviewers of these magazines say that the DAC THEY have tried is of Reference quality and best ever heard. Weather its $300 VDAC or $1500 Benchmark or $5000 Berkeley Alpha DAC....... I wonder whats the difference if they are all reference level and all keep getting all These awards issue after issue year after year. One thing sounds good for sure that a CD player is not really needed much anymore specially given the convienence of music on hard disks and the annoyance of searching and changing cd after Cd in a reference player that sounds the same as a DAC if not less.
All of the reviews and information I have read about digital music playback focuses on either the DAC and/or the hard drive storage device. How critical is the transport mechanism that provides the pathway (got to get the information off of the CD) between the CD and the computer or DAC whether for real time playback or to rip it to a hard drive.
Woahhh Sam...not so fast. CD are here for a LONG while and are still preferred by me and many others over hardrives, and music "files". The news of its demise are far exaggerated.
Actually I think that CD players are quickly becoming a niche. There is lots of evidence out there now, but what makes me think this is happening faster than many audiophiles would like to believe is the simple fact of how quickly many brick-and-mortar stores (at least in my area) are trimming down the amount of CDs availible; especially certain genres. For example all the Border bookstore in my area have either eliminated or drammatically reduced the number of CDs they carry. I've also noticed that Best Buy seems to be trimming CD selection down quite a bit too, not too mention stores that specialized in CDs just going out of business all together.
Sam, BEM, and TubeMaster,
Thanks for responding to my blog. I thought I should clarify a couple of points.
1. I did not say the V-DAC is necessarily of reference quality--only that it gets close to the performance of my personal reference player and at an extremely modest price. There is every possibility that more expensive DACs offer even higher levels of performance. That said, though, I think the V-DAC has driven an impressive "stake in the ground" in terms of showing just how much performance a $299 DAC can deliver.
2. Not all of the DACs I've heard are of "reference quality" or the "best ever." Neither are the higher end CD or SACD/CD players I have heard. In fact, the opposite is true. Many are good, but few possess elements of sonic greatness. But what impressed me about the V-DAC, however, was that it reached so far up the performance ladder for so little money.
3. I hope I did not give the impression that CD playback is dead. Instead, I see products like the V-DAC as a potential means of lifting the performance of older CD/DVD players to a much higher level. But one beauty of the V-DAC, as opposed to "USB-only" DACs, is that it can--at the flick of a switch--serve double-duty as either a DAC for use with standalone disc players (with digital outputs) or as a DAC for use in playing digital audio files stored on computers. I appreciate that extra level of flexibility.
4. BEM raises an excellent point; the transport (at least in a CD/SACD player) does make a difference. To eliminate this variable in my tests I ran the V-DAC from the digital output of my kW SACD player, and used the exact same brand, type, and length of interconnect cables for the V-DAC as for the player. In that way, I was able to conduct a fair test between the DAC/analog output section of the kW SACD player vs. the V-DAC itself: the same transport, cables, amp, speakers, and system power conditioners, etc., were used in both cases in order to level the playing field.
I have not (yet) tried the V-DAC with lesser transports (mostly because my older-generation back-up CD player, which I would normally use for such tests, is in need of repair). But once I get the chance to make that comparison I'll report back and let you know my findings.
Compensating for transport-induced problems, jitter in particular, may well be one area where more costly DACs earn their keep, so to speak. Some of the better ones, such as the new Benchmark DAC1 HDR, have circuits said to help resolve jitter problems.
Chris Martens
Editor, Playback
Chris Martens
Editor, Avguide.com/Playback/The Perfect Vision
If one was to use a computer CD/DVD drive as the method by which a CD was ripped to the hard drive for storage and future playback of an existing library, what options are there, in the way of drives, that would provide optimum sonic quality.
Chris I appreciate your opinions. hace a Sony 999es which has digital outs and is awful on cd redbook. My classe cdp .5 is in need of repair. I am using the Onkyo DX7555 cdp which sounds great. Would I get a better sound using the VDac out of the Sony999. I am currently using the Outlaw 2150 and F30 Revels. All wires aare MIT. Your opinion is appreciated.
If I connected my Oppo 981via digital to the V-DAC then analog to my Denon 2309 AVR would I detect a sonic differance verse the Oppo bitstreaming via HDMI to to the Denon.
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your preview of this wonderful unit. I'm really looking forward to reading your complete review. Although I've been an audiophile for most of my life (a headphone audiophile), I've only recently started researching outboard DAC units since I've been using my laptop for musical enjoyment for about a year now. The V-DAC is currently at the top of my very short list of affordable units that I believe will make the most of my digital music.
Here's waiting in anticipation!
First, thank you for all of the effort you have put into finding affordable digital equipment that sounds good. I went through the standard process of spending too much money arriving at a vinyl-based system that sounded good, then had to go through the same process when CDs took over. Now I am about half-way through that process with digital, and the choices are so great that it is difficult to find my way back to good sound without expensive sidetracks. Your article in TAS several issues ago, when you analyzed CD sound and recommended several sub-2K players, was seminal because you took the effrot to analyze what constituted sound qhalifying as high-end. (I mildly displike that term because it long ago became a synonym for low value per dollar.) I've read TAS since the late seventies, but it is very unlikely I would still buy the magazine if it weren't for articles like yours.
For about two years I have been using a USB-based DAC system playing lossless-compressed music from a dedicated server made from an older computer running the SUSE Linux OS, with Microsoft XP also available to run iTunes. The current DAC is a Micro-DAC from Headroom, the earphone company, and it works very well. It runs directly into a single-ended tube amp (usually a 300B unit from Audio Note, currently a triode-connected 6AV5 DIY amp while I fix a problem in the AN filamnet power supply into a pair of the very nice sounding high-efficiency Reference 3A MMs. Listening in the nearfield shows that it is possible to get excellent sound quality and imaging with the right source material. The cost of electronics being what it is, the Musical Fidelity DAC is almost a commodity purchase, so based on your recommendation I will stick one in the system and see what effect it has.
After all that blather, my questions: have you noted a difference with a given external computer DAC between USB playback and conversion of the S/PDIF signal taken directly off the motherboard? Also, I have read critiques of audible deficiencies of Apple's lossless compression versus WAV files of the same music. I've compared the FLACs I listen to directly to WAV files and cannot hear any difference, but I have a lot of music archived as ALC files and am now wondering if I chose the wrong encoder to use
Thanks for the excellent reportage.
Wouldn't it be great if Playback (or any U.S. audio publication) gave us "shoot-out" reviews? In this case, a head-to-head look at the V-Dac vs DAC Magic vs some others. Here is an item that many of us are considering, and as noted above, they ALL seem to get great reviews. I'm not saying a "winner" has to be declared, just point out the sonic differences. Please?
Dave is so right
DacMagic vs. V-dac. bring it on!
Has anyone heard the new PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC and/or Perfect Wave Transport? Expensive, but the technology seems to make sense.
I in fact have the PS Audio Perfectwave DAC on order. It will wirelessly stream music from my hard drive (or any NAS) out it's balanced XLR outputs directly into my active tri-amplified ATC loudspeakers. The soon to be released PW DAC will also 'host' an internal card where internet radio stations will be stored! Both my music library and internet radio stations will be controled either by the touch screen on the face of the PW DAC or the iPhone app
It doesn't get more simple than that
Paul McGowen of PS Audio is really on to something here
Go to www.psaudio.com to view the products and read the discussions on this product and the perfectwave transport.
Cheers!
Certainly it offers simplicity today - though you have to be mindful that while 5-10 years is a moderate amount of time in traditional audiophilia, it is an eternity in the computer realm and most DAC's are essentially computer equipment. (To be fair so are CD Players, though the standard they use is ubiqitous and there are billions of discs in circulation)
Meaning, if you felt the CD digital treadmill was expensive, the computer and server one requires even more frequent "feeding" and how much is a fair price per "upgrade?" This is a question I cannot answer - as Audiophile equipment is a luxury and only you can decide how much money is worth for luxuries.
Chris, would you have any experience to compare the V-DAC and the AKM AK4396 chip used in the Transporter or the Burr-Brown chip in the Squeezebox Classic? I currently have a Classic and am looking to get a second Classic or the Transporter, the latter of which represents a bit of extravagant expenditure for me at $2K, so I wonder how close this gets?
A customer and I did a mini DAC shootout at ListenUp a couple of weeks ago. We compared his tubed Scott Nixon DAC to the VDAC and to the Transporter. For point of reference we used a Sonos ZP80 and a Wadia iTransport as our source devices. The rest of the system consists of B&W 803D speakers, McIntosh MC402 amp, McIntosh C220 pre amp, Shunyata cabling and power conditioning.
The Scott Nixon DAC had a large tubey sound with a smooth top end and fat bass. It was very pleasant to listen to. The VDAC had a more extended and airy top end, extended and faster bass response, a little more hardness in the mid range. Rhythmically it was superior to the Nixon tube DAC. At that point it was a toss up and we decided it depended on what the rest of the system would be to choose one over the other. This was pretty good for the VDAC since it is about half the price of the Nixon DAC.
We then went digital in to the Transporter from the Sonos and the Wadia. Within the first minute of the first track we both were in agreement that the Transporter blew away the other DACS. It just sounded like non compromised high end. There was great clarity in the midrange, more articulate bass, and even more air. This wasn't a huge surprise to me, I have heard the Transporter embarrass $3,000 and up CD players.
Hope this info helps.
And how about a shoot-out between the V-dac and the Benchmark dac-1?
I like Dave's idea of a shoot out. I always find these reviews really puts things in perspective and are
of the most use for consumers.
I could supply a Beresford TC-7520 for you review either in a shoot out or stand alone review.
The TC-7520 has USB, TOSLINK and Coax input, it also serves as a preamp and headphone amp,
all for $249. I would be interessted in how it stacks up against the V-DAC, DAC Magic and others.
Best,
Jeff
Beresford North America, LLC.
For those concerned about quality of ripping CDs onto computers, there are two factors. First is the drive, in this case we are interested in it's DAE (digital audio extraction) capabilities, as they do differ in how they report and/or correct errors, and second is the ripping software. For DAE information on particular drives you can read reviews at sites like cdrlabs.com and cdfreaks.com. Software wise I think the best option is Exact Audio Copy for windows, or cdparanoia for linux (sorry, not a mac user). Both of these will watch for errors (must be reported by the drive) and attempt to reread troublesome portions of the disk. IMO this is a big advantage of ripping to computer as opposed to playing a disk on a traditional transport - with this software you can take as much time as necessary to get a perfect read of the disk, while a transport has to rely on error correction and keep on playing. With the software you can see how many errors you have during the rip, with a cd player you usually get no feedback. When ripping my collection I found that several of my favorite CDs were in terrible shape.
Before someone jumps into the server-as-audiophile-device realize you are storing all of your music on a hard drive - which is a rather delicate and unreliable device compared with LP's, CD's and DVD's. So the reliability and maintenance of the computer becomes part of your hobby. This doesn't mean you should not go that route since there are whole host of advantages (such as mind blowing convenience), but you introduce some chores - as you have to back up and maintain your music (as well as rip, tag and so on), transcode your files into readable formats, and transfer from old to new compueters - all of which is not listening to music.
Most people both pooh-pooh this aspect of using a server, and as most people are unlikely to maintain their system. Especially with home brew setups.
In 10 years this will be a growing awakening when hard drives crash, files become corrupt, as they have not been maintained, DRM becomes unreadable, and some file types as well.
I have been using and building Computers for 30 years & PCs for serving music approximately 16 years. (Near audiophile quality pc sound became reality with Crystal's first 16bit Delta-Sigma converter about 15 years ago.) I have also spent an insane amount of time (and money) on my non-pc based reference AV system that goes even farther back! I am a lunatic hardcore audiophile who had a religious ritual of cleaning, “Monking”, de-staticizing my Mo-Fi vinyl for 20 minutes of ecstasy only to start the process all over for the next 20 minutes!
And I can report to you unconditionally that:
A. If you choose top tier parts in your PC just as most audiophiles do in their non-pc based reference systems, your PC is not going to be as delicate and unreliable as you assume. Frequent hard drive failures are for people who choose the wrong drives. I have seen certain drive manufacturers have literally 10 times the failure rates than others. (BTW I own an IT consulting firm that has a service/ repair division so we can track these types of failures.) So the issue isn't that PC based systems are delicate and it’s going to break; the issue is, were you smart enough to use the right parts to ensure reliability!
B. I have never encountered a file corruption that affected the raw multimedia files. (This includes thousands of customer machines.) This is an incredibly rare occurrence if you are using pre-tested boards & RAM modules.
C. Ten years ago I also built a CD-RW drive array (6 Plextor low speed CD-RW drives) and wrote some line of simple code so I could stick 6 discs in the drive and have them ripped in real-time (the best method) one after another and have them catalogued automatically. My simple code gave way to sophisticated software such as Exact Audio Copy. After all isn’t this one of the things a Computer is precisely suited for? Automating a chore for you so you don’t have to do it??
D. Even the most thoroughly engineered PC using the best parts has a failure rate and/or the potential for file corruption. So I will concede this point. But because of this what I have been doing is simply using automatic backup software to automatically back up the primary OS drive (fast & expensive) and the secondary media storage drive (huge & cheap) to two similar drives, transparently every night. (It only backs up what’s changed if anything changes at all.) I don’t worry about backups, my computer does!
SO if the drive fails (or the entire PC for that matter) simply swap out the bad one for the backup (a 10 minute affair) and we are back in business. Try this with your CD collection if it melts!! I have yet to deal with any of the threats you are so concerned about and if I do encounter problems I am ready. (Believe me, I don’t want to have to go thru thousands of Discs to rip thousands of files all over again!) For me it’s simply a matter of ‘preemptive prevention’. And I don’t do any of the work. And yes my PC also checks for file corruption, cleans up the machine, downloads & applies updates every night while I cuddle my significant other.
E. In my entire music collection, the LPs, CDs and DVDs are the much more delicate and unreliable medium compared to the music files in my hard drive. This disparity is so great I can’t believe that I put up with LP's, CD's and DVD's. My God! LPs and their dust problem and their warping potential and of course every time you play one, a little bit is gone! CDs with their production irregularities, their oxidization & pinhole problems (gold discs excluded), their jitter from the optical drive pickup, and much more!! Your CD player will not extract all the bits from the aluminium reflection and not without introducing jitter. However at the time of extraction Exact Audio Copy did get far more of the original data than your CD player and my Solid State Drive will feed my DAC a data stream that is much lower in jitter!
And what if your house catches on fire? What if your kids play Frisbee with your favorite CD? My backup software even backs up a second copy over my 50Mbps Verizon FIOS to a remote location. I will NEVER lose my music and 50 years from now it will STILL BE A BIT PERPECT COPY of the time I ripped it!! Can you claim that of any of the other mediums??
Mr. Bromo it was your line about the delicacy more than any other that prompted me to write this rebuttal. I am a very busy man and this is the first time I have ever participated in this type of venue. It was a sheer travesty of misinformation that had to be corrected! It appears you simply haven’t thought it out and I doubt you have had any actual hands on experience with PC & HD based music serving. You couldn’t be more wrong.
Now when you consider the wholesale price of a 1.5 Terabyte drive being $100 US, auto back-up software with PC maintenance such as Norton 360 v3.0 being around $80 which does the job in the background automatically this is a no brainer. Audiophiles spend more on a record cleaning machine or an AC cord! AND most of the good ripping software (the best one is free) I am aware of, gives you the options of setting up the parameters you spoke of (rip, tag transcode, format, etc.), ahead of time only once so you don’t have to worry about that every time you rip/process a file. As you can see your arguments hold no air!
My dear Mr. Bromo, fortunately for you there are those of us who are pooh-poohing ALL aspects of PC based music servers since we are in audiophile heaven. This will benefit you one day because I have news for you! This year for the first time Solid State Drives (SSDs) came down in price while they came up in performance & reliability enough to actually give conventional drive users an interesting option. In ten years time your Media server is going to have no moving parts and astonishing reliability!! The system will not have to be maintained because it will come with preloaded AND preconfigured with backup software backing up to preinstalled backup drives.
DRM & File Formats are not going to be an issue because I will make sure I write the software for my customers to be able to enjoy the files they rip today 20 years from now. I have already built such a machine. It uses SSDs and a Peltier effect cooling system. And my newest company is going to sell it! I expect this system to last longer than my last personal reference system that I built in 1998. I Upgraded the CPU & added RAM 6 years ago, upgraded Sound card 4 times (average of one every 2.5 years), and 2 years ago I threw in a couple of Western Digital Raptors in it. It is still running perfectly without a single hiccup because it was a matter of design AND because you & I thought ahead of time what can go wrong, and what a chore it would be if we didn’t automate everything!
I've heard reports that HDs are superior to optical drives as transports. They are certainly different technologies, and thus the differences between these groups should be larger than those among, say, different optical transports. How about a HD vs optical drive transport comparison?
Hello, I am managing to have Cds in a Hard disk drive. But I know nothing about music in a PC. Do you have any thing to read that I can learn about to indicate to me?
Regards
I read on some site that P.S. Audio Perfect wave Transport can play HrX reference recordings DVD directly on the transport. Is that true? They also said it can play just about any disk you put into it....any disk implies a Universal Player/transport but then it goes on to say that it plays CD's and DVD disks. Do you need the P.S. Audio's DAC to play those hi Resolution files or any DAC will work as long as you have the P.S. Transport? For those who have tried these products your input would be of value. I wonder if TAS plans to review this gear anytime soon?
It is a ver y difficult time to make a purchase decision if you are looking for a new digital source.
Originally, I thought to buy an Esoteric as my "last" player but then I learned about the PS Audio PWT and DAC combo. I am repeating the earlier request for any one who has actually heard them to comment. I am interested in the product but the local dealers do not seem to have it yet, and although it was pictured at CES, no one talked about how it sounded.
Given the importance of this product, I am surprised that it has not shown up in a review -- even a preliminary one.
Also am I correct that the PS Audio PWT does not handes SACD?
At $299 the V-DAC makes an interesting interim upgrade. Doesn't Cambridge have an inexepnsive DAC in this range?
I agree with sglass, it is a difficult time to purchase a digital source. I have changed my mind at least 10 times in the last 6 months. The problem or great thing now is that Hi resolotion files/music and Music server type setup is coming in, in a big way and is the future of audio. Many hi end companies at CES 2009 in Las Vegas were showing off their stuff with transports, servers and DAC's. The convience factor is amazing. If it was just about getting a nice CD player it would be easy...some names are Esoteric, Simaudio, Bryston, Cambridge......etc...all get awsome reviews by most magazines. But for those who are also thinking of Hi Rez files and a music server type of a digital setup in Addition to a CD player are in a tough spot. May be its too early. If you are into keeping up with technology or interested in a music server, then it doesn't make sense to spend $5 to $10 K on a cd player and its internal DAC when you can/need to invest in a Transport+DAC+Music Server and still get possibly close to a great setup without spending too much on the CD player. I know this hobby is not about how much equipment you can buy for certain amount of money but you have to allocate percentages to different equipments and allocating a huge chunk on a CD player today and much less on a DAC or Server doesn't make sense. Yes music servers are rediculously expensive right now, but Robert Harley in one of the issues predicts that the prices of servers will drop dramatically and more brands will be out in the next 2 to 3 years. For those getting ready for that now.....its not worth it to spend large amounts on just a CD player and then again in a short time think about a DAC and a Music Server. The whole package should be thought about now since it looks like music servers will be the next big thing and some comapnies are already offering automatic backups for the hard disks. From what I have read in the last 6 months in multiple magazines like TAS and Stereophile, hi fi, etc.....is that Music servers are here and soon most audiophiles will need a (server/DAC/Transport) combo in their setup. I would give a lot of importance to a DAC and a server as well and not just on a CD player. These are just my opinions, anyones input would be helpfull in the discussion.
'Just a brief follow-up on some of the posts that have been put up in response to the blog:
For dekaliber: I've heard the Transporter and original Squeezebox, but not the Squeezebox Classic. At the time (more than a year back), I felt the Transporter offered quite a large sonic step up from the Squeezebox. Unfortunately, both product samples went back to the manufacturer long before the V-DAC arrived, so that I haven't had a chance to compare them side-by-side. I suspect that, as Jonathan Derda reports, there may be sonic advantages to the Transporter (as you might expect given the large price differential involved). That said, I've heard other components that use AKM DACs and have had mixed reactions to them--mostly as a matter of personal taste. For me, the AKM sound is one that I respect, on a purely cognitive level, but that somehow doesn't pull me in on an emotional level. Your mileage, however, may vary, so by all means give the Transporter a listen.
For Jonathan Derda: Thanks for relating the results of your DAC comparison. In my case, I went the route of using the kW SACD player's transport as a source, since in earlier comparisons I found the kW transport sounded a bit more open, detailed than the Wadia iTransport I had on hand for comparison. But even so, I could easily picture the Transporter giving better overall results than the V-DAC. I am a little surprised, however, by your comment on the V-DAC having some "hardness" in the midrange, since that hasn't been a problem in my own tests. That said, however, many of my ancillary components do a very good job of tapping midrange openness while, in essence, resisting midrange hardness and edginess. In my test rig, the power conditioners are a PS Audio Soloist in-wall conditioner and a PS Audio Power Plant Premier. The system uses PS Audio power cabling, plus Furutech Reference-series digital, analog, and speaker cables. For purposes of trying out the V-DAC, I used the relatively inexpensive but very revealing KEF XQ20 stand-mount monitors ($2k/pair).
For Graminal: I've heard pre-production prototypes of the PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC and Transport and my off-the-cuff impressions were favorable. My only regret (though there is really nothing that can be done about this) is that the PS Perfect Wave pair can't play SACDs. (I own a fair number of SACD discs and generally prefer the format to conventional CDs, so it's hard for me to fully embrace a solution that can't play SACD discs at all). But for listeners who are into CDs only, or into digital audio files, or both, I suspect the PS Audio Perfect Wave Pair will be an excellent top-tier choice.
For Sam: My understanding is that the PS Audio Perfect Wave combo can indeed play HRX encoded discs. In fact, PS Audio announced this functionality shortly before CES 2009, and demonstrated HRX playback at CES. I can't say for sure whether you would need both the Perfect Wave DAC and Transport or just the Transport for HRX playback; the demo, of course, used both components.
My understanding from sources at PS Audio is that TAS Editor-in-Chief will get one of the first (if not the first) production samples of the PS Audio Perfect Wave pair for review in TAS. Like many of you, I'm eager to read about his findings when the time comes.
For sglass: My initial impressions of the Perfect Wave pair were, as mentioned above, quite favorable--particularly because I found the pair could "go deep" in terms of retrieving layer upon layer of fine, low-level sonic details. I can't say much more than that, however, without having an opportunity to hear the combo at length in my own system. One reason there aren't/haven't been preliminary reviews is that PS Audio has been--to its credit--sorting out/refining the myriad small remote control details that are so important in a product of this kind. For obvious reasons, PS Audio wants to get this pair right--straight out of the gate.
1) To the best of my knowledge the Perfect Wave pair does not play SACDs, nor is any SACD "upgrade path" envisioned.
2) Re: inexpensive DACs in the class of V-DAC, yes, Cambridge Audio makes an affordable DAC called the DAC Magic. I hope to arrange a review in Playback, soon.
Chris Martens
Editor, Playback
Chris Martens
Editor, Avguide.com/Playback/The Perfect Vision
can i have your opinion on my post
Just some short comments on the Transporter. I purchased one this last December, and I haven't set it up in Analog mode yet. I have had it connected to a Meridian system initially and now thru a Marantz surround pre-amp AV-8003. I didn't expect any sonic improvement, since I have been using it initially as a Digital device.
However, my subjective reaction has been somewhat of a surprise. What I noticed, and wasn't really looking for, was a dramatic improvement in low-end accuracy and output. I had been listening, half anticipating an improvement or change in high end accuracy. I was surprised to hear improvement in the low-end.
Just some initial observations. Once I connect the Transporter to my all-analog setup, I will report back on my impressions.
I also agree that a shoot-out between multiple devices is much more useful for consumers considering purchases at a certain price-range. Looking forward to reading the reviews of the various DAC's going forward
Jim Voos
Another 'cheap' fix....I've been unimpressed with Musical Fidelity's product over the past few years, unfortunately.
What you ought to be trying/reviewing is the Non-Oversampling, Digital FilterLESS DAC....now here's a product that put's the Analogue
into Digital. Too many very good manufacturers have used this direction, and I personally have used the Consonance Linear CDP's that use it
and it BEATS the upsampling Esoterics, Cambridge Audio's and the rest of them in Natural, listenable music.
YMMV
L'wood
Dear Chris:
Thanks. Looks like I'll have to wait for your review of the PS Audio gear.
One discussion I didn't see here is on the ability of the various DACs to handle 24 bit 96kHz or 192kHz recordings. Several companies are now offering hi-res downloads that well exceed the 44.1kHz/16 bit limitations of CDs. It is my understanding that to listen to these recordings to their best, it would require a DAC that can handle their format directly.
The specs for the V-DAC (from the Musical Fidelity VDAC manual) just says "Up Sampling 24 bit 192kHz". Does this mean that ALL input is upsampled to 24/192?
While some think that upsampling is great, I have heard others who claim that the original signal shouldn't be altered other than to bring it back to analog for our listening pleasure. (The makers of the Valab USB DAC (see eBay) claim their non-upsampling DAC is superior for playing CDs, for example).
I am fairly new to all of this so please correct me if I have the concepts wrong. In any case, I do think that the sampling rate and bit-level capabilities of the various DACs should be mentioned, since some of us will be moving to hi-res sources little by little...
@ Magicref:
I agree that sample-rate and, more importantly, bit-depth capabilities of a DAC should be mentioned. This is especially true for the USB input, as many "24/192" DACs can't go above 16/48 on their USB input.
Regarding "upsampling" DAC's, that usually refers to the digital low-pass filter. In that case, upsampling is usually a very good thing. Digital filters work best with more samples (although there is a limit to this). Many digital filters will interpolate samples between each 'original' sample. This is what they mean by "upsampling".
I agree that the original signal shouldn't be altered, unless the alterations help the overall system. For example, changing the sample-rate of a digital audio signal won't add more information or improve the information that is already there. However, asynchronous sample rate conversion (ASRC) can help eliminate jitter. So in that case, the net result will be a huge advantage, provided that the ASRC is of sufficient quality.
All the best,
Elias Gwinn, Applications Engineer
Benchmark Media
I agree that music servers (ie, computers-as-sources) are an imminent force. However, the high-speed switching circuitry in computers, variables in wireless transmission, and other factors will contribute to VERY high levels of jitter. For a music server to acheive the performance levels expected in a high-resolution audio playback system, this jitter needs to be dealt with at the DAC. If it is not dealt with properly, expect your lossless audio to sound like 128 mbps MP3's.
All the best,
Elias Gwinn, Applications Engineer
Benchmark Media
More follow-up on posts:
For Frank: I can only offer an educated guess, since I have not had a 999ES to use in my own system. My guess is that you will an improvement for CD playback by using the V-DAC. My "sonic logic" is a bit circuitous and hence potentially faulty, but here goes.
1. I used to own Sony's DVP-S9000ES DVD/SACD/CD player and felt it was a reasonably strong CD player.
2. I have had a chance to compare the S9000ES vs. the 999ES and felt the earlier generation S9000ES was superior for CD playback.
3. Good though the S9000ES was (it was built like a brick outhouse), its overall sound quality feel well short of the performance level of the Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista SACD player I used to use as a reference and short of the kW SACD player I now use.
4. Since the V-DAC sounds a lot like the kW, and since your 999ES is probably a pretty decent transport, I'm deducing the V-DAC would be a nice step forward.
This is all a bit roundabout, I know, but there you have it. 'Hope this is of some use to you.
For TMOSS: I presume (perhaps incorrectly) that you prefer the sound of the 981HD bitstreaming via HDMI to your Denon 2309 vs. the sound of the 981's analog outputs played through the analog inputs of the 2309, correct? So, the question is whether the V-DAC would sound better than the DACs in the 2309. An educated guess (and it's only that) is that the V-DAC would enjoy a performance edge vs. the 2309 for CD playback. On the other hand, the HDMI inputs of the 2309 give you access to all sorts of decoder options you might want for DVD playback.
Best,
Chris Martens
Editor, Playback
Chris Martens
Editor, Avguide.com/Playback/The Perfect Vision
Elias,
You raise several good points and--with your permission--I'd like to throw a "semi-loaded" question to you ("semi-loaded" in the sense that I'd like to ask your opinion on a technical approach somewhat different from the one I know Benchmark has taken in many of its products).
Here goes: I agree with you that jitter elimination/mitigation is essential. Now, recognizing that the Benchmark DAC1 HDR already has an onboard "jitter-immune UltraLock clock system," what is your take on the alternative concept of using a USB jitter-elimination module (for example, something along the lines of the Bel Canto Design USB 24/96 Link) upstream of a USB DAC?
'Just curious to know your thoughts on this one.
Best,
Chris Martens
Editor, Playback
Chris Martens
Editor, Avguide.com/Playback/The Perfect Vision
I must premise by saying that I don't know much about the Bel Canto USB 24/96, but I don't believe it is a jitter-elimination module. It's simply a USB-to-Spdif audio interface, as far as I know.
Even if it was able to eliminate all jitter, there will be new jitter added by the coax output connector + coax cable + coax input on the DAC, not to mention any EMI/RF/power-supply noise that may interfere with the signal as it travels from the USB 24/96 to the DAC. Jitter will always accumulate as it travels from one place to another, even with the best clock and cables in the world. The only way to truly minimize jitter-induced artifacts is by using a local clock that is on the same board and millimeters away from the D/A chip.
All the best,
Elias
I've used the V-DAC for 4 months now, and I very much like this little unit. It outperformed my older integrated CD players (Mission PCM-II silver crown version, HK HD760 with PCM1702). It also does better than MF's A3.24 DAC which I had a chance to test in my home last year. A local dealer who apparently got a container of them during a close-out sale of Germany's MF distributor had them on sale for 600 euros. The A3.24 was also an upsampling design, offering stunning resolution, space, and deep bass, but the midrange sounded recessed. Thus, voices sounded bland while treble and bass were not properly integrated.
The V-DAC offers similar level of resolution but its talents are more evenly distributed. Actually it sounded good right of the box (well it's rather a blister pack). At first it was surprising how much of the sonic signature of the CD players came through, but then I learned how to discern the changes by the DAC from the contribution by CDP. The Mission still sounded snappy and a bit high-pitched, while the HD760 sounded darker, beefier and rather laid-back. Finally I turned to my cheap JVC DVD player which a year ago had largest benefit of all when run through the A3.24 , yet it could not come close to the other players. With the V-DAC it was a revelation. This combo offers a beefy and fresh sound, very detailed, yet natural. Later I found an editorial review which showed very low jitter figures on the JVC, maybe that's the secret.
It made my analog set-up sit idle since then. I am too busy listening to my CD collection, plus the ones I purchased since January. This is really scary.
Somewhere I read that MF will offer better external PSUs to the V family of products. Well, the V-DAC uses an unregulated wall-wart. Thus, the input voltage varies with load current. I measured the input voltage to be some 13,8VDC at a static consumption of 1/3 Amps. Using a homegrown regulated supply, I was able to get a soundstage that was more stable and had more depth. I am not sure how much better MF will allow the V-DAC to improve by the to-be-offered upgrade PSU, since there is a fair risk that it could rival much costlier equipment.
Regards from Germany,
Dieter.
Hello Dieter,
would you tell the model name of your JVC DVD player?
Best regards from Berlin, Stefan
Hi Stefan.
The model is XV-N316E , but it is a discontinued model.
Best regards from Moenchengladbach,
Dieter.
Hi Stefan.
The model is XV-N316E , but it is a discontinued model.
Best regards from Moenchengladbach,
Dieter.
Hi Dieter,
thanks for the information! Where did you find the information about low jitter-level of the JVC? As the JVC is not available anymore: Do you have any other suggestion concerning CD- or DVD-Player as transport with the V-DAC? Which power supply do you use for the V-DAC? Have you tried a battery-supply also?
Best regards, Stefan
Hi Stefan.
The XV-N316 was reviewed in "Stereoplay" 06/04. In that review it had least jitter of all reviewed players. Meanwhile I realized that 590ps are not a very low figure in absolute terms. In 2003 they had a review on 4 players each by Panasonic, Pioneer, Sony. All the Panasonics and Pioneers achieved some 150-200ps jitter performance while the Sonys were worse by nearly a factor of 10 ! So, if we think of jitter as a contributor to bad sound, I'd say: better avoid the Sonys.
Well, I do not have experience with using different DVD player, but it may be a good idea to look at something like Panasonic DVD-S 33 , Pioneer DV-400-xxx or other non-Sony DVDPs in the 80+ € range (e.g. Philips). A nice side-effect might be excellent DVD replay :-) If you happen to possess a DVD player which does not belong to the cheapest category, I'd try that one first. Sonic results of possible matches of drive and DAC are unlikely to be predictable, so please try it out.
My external power supply uses transformer, Schottky diodes, CLC filtering before and after a configurable voltage regulator IC on a breadboard (plus some nice Nippon Chemicon electrolytics). The total cost was below 10€. The V-DAC consumes approx. 350mA, so you can calculate the permissible voltage drop in the serial devices of the passive filtering. No, I did not try batteries. I have no clue whether you are into diy, so a nice non-switchmode bench-top power supply (Labornetzteil) from Conrad or Pollin for around 50-60€ may help without a headache. ;-)
Best regards,
Dieter.
i could see using the Vdac in between my Apple AEX (outputting optical) and my Iqube headphone amp which drives some modded Senn 650s... sounds promising...
2 quick questions for the cost conscious and naive consumer
I am running my files off Aplle TV as it was rather cheap and have been ripping my jazz and such using AIFF encoder on iTunes...
1. Is AIFF the best format for audio fidleity? I guess I figured so because they are the largest file size, but maybe I am naive
2. If I hook my Apple TV into the DAC, how will it handle 5.1 transmissions through the optical link? will they be send on as 5.1 to the reciever? Is there a possible "pass though". Otherwise, it sounds like I could use the DAC for music, but not movies in 5.1 rented on Apple TV.
Thanks VERY much for any help.
AFAIK the SP/DIF or optical equivalent is only defined for 2-channel audio. I'd be surprised if 5.1 signals were available on the optical link.
BRS,
Dieter.
This site is intelligent and gives me the feeling that the folks here really care about the public.
In addition, I wanted to test to see if this site will honor my input.
Once I have that information, I'd like to be an active contributor and supporter of what you are doing.
Dr. Moore
A quick update on a DAC shootout. I recently compared the VDAC to the Cambridge DACMAGIC. Here are my impressions.
I started off by comparing the two DACs with a nice headphone rig consisting of the Denon AH-D2000s ($349) powered by a Musical Fidelity V-Can ($199). The source was my Sonos ZP-80 using a AudioQuest VDM-1 to the DAC and AudioQuest Colorado RCA cables from the DAC to the V-Can. I tried an assortment of WAV, lossless, and MP3 files from my NAS drive.
I started with the DacMagic. On all kinds of music the sound was smooth and pleasant with a flat midrange and recessed bass. Maybe not recessed technically, but not as punchy as I am used to the on the Denon headphones.
Everything sounded clean and maybe a tad clinical. It was kind of like listening to a circa mid 90’s Rotel CD player.
Switching over to the VDAC I instantly had more punch in the bass. The effect was not only noticeable in the sound but also because the cans started shaking a bit more on my head. The mids and highs were being projected into my ears. It was very opposite to the laid back presentation of the Cambridge. The sound was more lively. I had to turn down the volume control on the headphone amp a bit to be comfortable.
After 5 songs or so, I switched back to the DacMagic. I started to feel a little bored with what I was listening to and started to think about what I had to do the next day. OK, so I played some different more upbeat music. After a few moments my mind continued to wander.
I was getting tired but decided to continue. I brought the VDAC / V CAN combo into the bedroom and placed them on my nightstand. This time I hooked up USB from my MacBook into the VDAC and fired up iTunes. The short version is, I went into the bedroom at 11PM. I stopped listening at 1:30AM.
I just started my $5 per month Napster subscription that same night. Streaming music is already addictive as is but when played through the VDAC it turned the tolerable MP3 files into an entirely different experience. I kept playing album after album and was totally happy with the sound quality. It wasn’t as good as lossless but it was shockingly good for MP3.
Comparing the two DACs in the store on the new Rotel separates and a pair of B&W 684s I had the same experience that I had at home. In fact the VDAC distanced itself further from the Cambridge. Playing Hugh Masekela’s Stimela on my iPod through a Wadia iTransport the VDAC made the live recording sound live. Playing it through the Cambridge made it sound like a mediocre studio recording. As Martin Colloms would put it, the Cambridge had poor PRAT or Pace Rhythm and Timing.
If I had to decide between one of these two DACs for personal use I would choose the VDAC. It’s lively presentation keeps me interested in what I am listening to. The Dacmagic’s smooth sound and slow bass makes me want to go to bed. At best it turns a great recording into background music.
The more I listen to the VDAC the more impressed I am with it especially now that it had beat the more favorably reviewed DacMagic in my shoot out. It isn’t a world beater, and it isn’t appropriate for a high end (over $10K) system, but it is amazing for $299. In our store only the $2000 Slim Devices Transporter makes you want to spend more on your digital front end.
Chris,
This is a simple question. Do you think that the VDAC would make a music server like an Escient piece sound much better. I want the Escient MX-311 so I can store all my cds in flac. I was thinking that using the VDAC could turn the Escient piece into a really nice cd player. Have you had an experience with using a DAC with a music server other than a pc.
Thanks
Matthew
DIYers have been experimenting on tube regulated power supplies to replace the wall warts. Word is that some of these doodads have made the little DAC that could, do a whole lot more. Google time people and get your soldering irons out.