|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
69.129.31.158
In Reply to: RE: Vintage DAC vs PS Nuwave posted by excelit on January 28, 2015 at 13:46:51
and having assessed many DACs since then, I advise you to sell the Alpha and seek a current generation DAC. There has been a sea change in digital processing, and the experience you can gain is substantially better in every respect. The only area in which I would suggest the Alpha might hold its own is in tonality, but newer DACs have not slipped in that regard.
The Alpha is holding back your rig and it's time to advance. You may not think there is all that much improvement to be had, but you would be wrong to think so. Those who feel timbre and warmth are to be desired above all may advise you otherwise, but if you wish to advance into the realm of where state of the art sound is today you will have to change the DAC. Even cost conscious offerings like the ifi iDSD Micro USB (which also accepts S/PFIF or coaxial input, and which I reviewed for Dagogo.com) is quite a bit more capable than the Alpha. And it can get even better from there. :)
The greatest impediment to advancing an audiophile system is the audiophile.
Follow Ups:
Excelit: you have a nice system with quality tubes. If you try a newer DAC, I would be willing to bet that you WILL hear a definite difference. How you perceive, and value, that difference is unpredictable and ONLY you can answer the question of whether you prefer a newer DAC or whether it is worth the money. No one else's opinion matters. Doug gave you an honest opinion that many would agree with. But what matters is not what the many think, but what you think.
It's like statistics in medicine. A doc may tell someone that 99 times out of a hundred, that someone has a good outcome from surgery. But if you're the 1 out of a hundred who has a bad outcome, the other 99 don't matter to you! Do your best to listen to new DACs in your system, and please post your impressions if you manage to do so!
nope
...but I wouldn't expect any different from an audio reviewer who gets something expensive in every week to drool about.
...actually compared old DACs to new DACs? In a system newer than the 90's?
So the old DAC, now 15 years old, is every bit as good as the Stereophile AND TAS 'wonder of the month'.
I was able to return the new DAC.
Lucky me.With my current system, the Sony SCD777ES standalone CD player is very slightly better than the old DAC. But not enough to be worth anything.
The Sony was also just as slightly better than the new DAC too LOL
Edits: 02/01/15
I had the sony, it was OK, the EAD DAC I had was better and most anything that I have had that is newer has been better but it is all relative...
You going to have a tough time finding something with that kind of build quality!
Dave
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: