In Reply to: RE: I have a Denafrips R2R and an AKM based delta-sigma DAC posted by AbeCollins on May 17, 2021 at 07:13:31:
As I said, i would audition stuff from people who actually do design work and know what they are doing than people who copy using cheap parts to sell a price point.Maybe an Audio Note 0.1x at ~$1800 that is dedicated R2R tube transformer NOS that may well thump the Denafrips in either mode. The fact that it has modes is somewhat of a warning sign. I remember people arguing over the EE minmax and which mode sounded better - well they were both lousy IMO so the fact that the SS or the tube was better was more or less pointless to me.
Usually these switcher products have one mode that the owner winds up using and the other mode is wasted money. I have had amps with Triode and UL and I have a DAC, Line Magnetic 502CA which destroyed the minimax that has tube and solid state. Each with its own transformer no less. Still one selection is usually better (the Tube mode) and the other is usually poor to the point that it would never be used (the SS mode). They should have put all the money to the tube mode and make it sound better. But part of the expensive is stuff a SS mode and transformer into the box.It ran around the same price as my Audio Note 0.1X which has one mode and an old TDA 1543 chip and it sounds miles better than the LM DAC with its 32/192 ESS Sabre blah blah blah.
The Audio Note 0.x selling for 21 consecutive years - the Line Magnetic 502CA dropped after what 4 years? Replaced by the same thing but has MQA nonsense.
Edits: 05/17/21
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- RE: I have a Denafrips R2R and an AKM based delta-sigma DAC - RGA 15:00:21 05/17/21 (0)