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Ack!DAC vs. Musical Fidelity A324 Review

Posted by redvolt (A) on November 12, 2003 at 23:25:47

Ack!DAC vs. Musical Fidelity A324 Review

Hi. This is my first post and review. I've been lurking, shame.

Background: This is my 4th dac. Theta Cobalt, Muse Model2, A324, Ack!. This is my lucky 13th year of hifi. I've had good systems and systems that I screwed up by buying wrong components. And then changed the wrong component. In other words, music hifi systems that called my name to turn them on and those that never did. My TV/Surround rig is a separate system. I think the two have different requirements.

Current system: B&WN803, CJ Premier 12, CJ PV14, Aragon 47K, VPIM4/SME309/Grado Sonata, Theta Data 2 transport, PS Audio P300, Cardas cables.

Footnote up top: I have always heard digital differences. Or should I say perfect sound differences. I listen to vinyl. One of my biggest home hifi events was when in the early 90's, I replaced my NAD5000 cd player as a transport driving the Theta Cobalt with the Theta Data transport. Wow. The Muse M2 dac made my music for the last bit of time, I ran it full balanced and it never failed to make music. I bought the A324 this last June. It was not a huge step up, but it was definitely better. I could never stand the 192kHz up sampling mode. It sounded false. I always listened to the A324 in the 96kHz mode and had many great musical listening sessions. I like the A324, it gave me aural pleasure. Sorry, I haven't owned megabuck dacs.

Why I bought another dac: I was very happy with the sound of my system and was not looking for anything more. I had just bought what I thought would be my last bit of used cable at twice the price of the Ack!. My brother was convinced the Ack! was special and he has a great system. His stereo systems have always been a reference for me. But he lives in another State and I hadn't heard the Ack! yet. I thought, hey, you're throwing insane money after cable, why not try the Ack! I had curiosity.

Music used from the top of the stack, take this any way you want: Neil Young Greendale, Ry Cooder Mambo Sinuendo, White Stripes Elephant, and Johnny Cash American 4.

A324 vs. Ack!: I didn't know what the A324 sounded like until I had about 10 hours on the Ack!. The Ack! took that long to come alive, previously sounding slow but intriguing. The A324 is powerful and fast. Imagine a connected by the dots sound. Every instrument is connected to the other, there is no silence between the notes. There is no relief to the onslaught of instruments, the spotlights are on the entire stage, not just the performers. It's a powerful sound. I think this type of sound kind of sums up how I know cd sound. I didn't know this was a problem for cd until I spent considerable time with the Ack!. The Ack! is more like my VPI turntable but with the attribute of consistency and dead silence. Comparing the two dacs in my system was initially difficult because the sound is so different. When comparing the two dacs with the same song it sounds like they were recorded in different studios. The sound between the two is that different. I kept having to reconcile in my mind that the song I was listening to was the same song I had just heard on the other dac. The main difference when comparing the A324 and the Ack!was was the issue of noise. I can't stress enough that until you hear the difference, you may not understand the difference. The idea of digital noise was a issue I scoffed at until the Ack! played in my system. This is how I can best make a digital noise example. If you go into a totally dark closet, your eyes will fill the blackness with a kind of pixilated light noise, you can't really see true black. Imagine if your brain finally did see true black. The Ack! dac removes this similar type of noise from digital sound. I didn't know it was present in the music until it was gone. Noise is a vital comparison of the A324 and the Ack!. Once you appreciate what the Ack! is achieving, by removing noise, every other sonic character of a great dac falls into place. The Ack! has superb soundstage, bass, timing, well everything. The Ack!is totally involving. It makes music. The separation of instruments and the soundstage reminds me of those books where the photos are offset printed until you slightly cross your eyes and the image then jumps out at you in 3-D. The Ack! dac can let you swim freestyle into the soundstage. I'm addicted to the sound. I've had numerous conversations about the difference in sound between the Ack! and a conventional dac and what is correct and what is closer to reality. That's beside the point. The Ack!dac is what's making music in my system now and will continue to do so. The A324 is a big, bright, and bold sound compared to the Ack!. After a couple of months of comparison, I prefer the immense musical involvement of the Ack! to the Vegas Show of the A324.

Peripherally: I tried four cables. Theta Data cable, Transparent Audio Digital, Cardas Lightning 15, and Kimber D-60. The Kimber won easily. Silver and Teflon for a digital cable. I also tried my Sony DVD player as a transport and the Theta Basic won, not by a small margin. The Theta makes things quieter.

Batteries: I don't care.

Final: If I had 60 minutes in a hifi showroom to compare these two dacs, I would buy the A324 every time. It's showroom great. But once I got the Ack! into my home system and spent some time with it there was no going back. The sound is not conventional from my experience, it's better. I'm glad to front my big rig with the Ack! dac. It's just about the least expensive component I own and it's also one of the most vital. Thanks, redvolt

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