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Digital Drive Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it. |
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Digital Drive Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it. |
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In Reply to: Help me choose DAC posted by sailor on February 10, 2016 at 06:17:22:
I don't have any experience with the Wadia 2000, so I'm not at liberty to comment.
In January 1995, I received the Theta DS Pro Prime II. After reading all the spectacular reviews, the Prime II's mediocre performance was disappointing. So let me give a short list of caveats.
a.) The Pro Prime II was available in a standard, high-voltage version, which overloaded preamps.
b.) Thus, I had to order it in a "low-output" version. But even this version was too high, being way above the 2V/4V RCA/XLR standard.
c.) The Pro Prime II was only available in black or silver faceplates.
d.) The XLRs were Neutriks, which rolled off the highs.
e.) Anti-vibration tweaks had their effects, but most were quid pro quo trade-offs.
f.) The Pro Prime II was "sensitive" to powerline conditioning, powercords, digital cables, and line-level interconnects. The wrong cables, of which there were many, made the Pro rime II sound awful. But the right cables allowed the Pro Prime II to have sonics which were relatively balanced across the parameters.
g.) IIRC, like other Theta products, the Pro Prime II used a 32mm, 0.3A slow-blow fuse. In the mid-90s, after-market fuses did not exist. If I still had the Pro Prime II, I'd probably like it best with the Hi-Fi Tuning Silverstar (for its focused, fast, tight sound), or Supreme (most open and airy).
h.) If you don't like today's DACs (I hear a lot of pop music fans complain about today's processed-sounding DACs), the DS Pro Prime II, while not as clean-sounding as modern-day DACs, does certain aspects of popular music better.
My primary CD transports used with the Pro Prime II were the CAL Delta and Theta's own Data Basic. I did upgrade my unit to the "A" version. And then I traded in the Pro Prime IIA towards a DS Pro Basic IIIA. All else being equal, the Basic IIIA could scoop out low-level details better than the Pro Prime IIA.
Sorry, back in the mid-90s, when I had the Pro Prime II, I did not take any photos of the unit.
The Audiophiles' DJ,
-Lummy The Loch Monster
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- RE: Theta DS Pro Prime II - Luminator 17:23:05 02/10/16 (0)
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