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Between Theta DS Pro Prime 2 and Wadia 2000 dacs. The Theta is newer and half the price of the Wadia
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Made by Mike Moffat of Theta fame?
Any Yggy owners out there. I have had one 3 months, and the reviews by TAS and Stereophile are for real. It is a superb DAC. A very good value but give it 600 hours breaking in, and interconnects really matter. The differences are quite obvious.
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
Out of interest?The reason is, that if it is multi-bi DACs you are after - and not just vintage - there are a number of modern DACs around (from Audio-gd and Lite Audio, for example) which would offer substantial performance at similar price points. Popular, more recent (but still older) DACs are often found using the 1704 DAC.
Others have mentioned the Yggdrasil as an updated offering from the Theta designer. There are several other choices, some NOS.
Newer, discrete multibit is still an emerging market, but there are some standouts. Right now, I'm following the EC Designs Mosaic DAC with great interest.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
Edits: 02/11/16
Yes I have heard of Yggdrasil and with more funds available would probably be the one I would choose.
Luminator: interesting point you bring up re Theta. Was not aware of the higher than the norm voltage output. There may be a simple way of attenuating this. Perhaps someone with the knowhow could advise me.
jusbe: Thanks for the intro to the Mosaic. Looks very interesting as does the Monarchy 24 which is similarly priced. All the above are beyond my budget unfortunately so will continue searching for the vintage bargain
the Lite Audio DAC60. This can be had for about US$650, or thereabouts .
The Monarchy DACs are based on this, in case you're wondering...
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
Interesting thread. I have my old Krell Stealth DAC from the late 90's and my CAL Audio transport still. I also have a Music Hall 25.3 DAC/Headphone amp that I use with my cans on occasion. The Krell still sounds great considering it's older. I was surprised by how good the bass really is etc... I still feel the Music Hall in XLR mode beat the Krell. I've had a few ask about buying the Krell when I had it listed, but I decided to keep it for a third room I run a small system in. I like the newer DAC's better overall as many are just more refined. I do understand why folks want vintage DAC's or anything else for that matter. Mike is a great designer and surely knows what he's doing. The Wadia engineers (the original ones) were also as good as it got back then. I ended up taking a step up in DAC's and bought an Empirical Audio OSDE/SE with every upgrade and I'm glad I did. I now get world sound in my system and don't always have to use my TT. Good luck with your choices.
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