Post by rocl on Aug 26, 2018 13:30:13 GMT 12
Some here know colinf and have used his services as a repairer. In a discussion he mentioned the dac he had made and was using. Here is how he described it to me -
" I've been using the Soekris Dam1021 dac myself. It is a discrete resistor-ladder dac (ie. it doesn't employ a commercial dac chip) that doesn't need any output stage such as valves or transistors or opamps or transformers or a combo of any of the above. It sounds natural and is about the only dac I can listen to for extended periods! It has two outputs, one buffered by opamps and the other comes direct off the resistor dac ladder itself. I can only listen to the direct output. The opamp buffer makes the sound a bit steely.
The Soekris comes as a PC board that I put in a small aluminium box with regulated power. On the two that I made up I just have coax input and optical input. But I want to get the input set up for USB shortly."
I am very interested so we arrange an audition. Time passes and it arrives.
It is quite small
I can even see inside
I have family staying and I'm very distracted but manage a quick listen. Hmmm - it's ok . Colin asks me for my impressions and I am less than effusive. He tells me he uses the shortest possible, silver interconnect. What am I using? Hmmm - I have a look. Oops, I've used the one that was just sitting around because it was unimpressive. Ok, out with that and in with a pair of Aurealis Audio R-3 silver litz. At 1m they are not short but are silver and very good.
Aha, now I start to hear something. There's been some burn-in too. My dac for the past 7yrs has been via the usb input on my AMR CD-77 with those magical old Philips chips. It was away so I couldn't do a direct compare but this was close and I was looking forward to a direct comparison. But for now the soundstage was wide, tone pure and lots of "air" and details. I played vinyl to compare and although different, was no less enjoyable.
And at last the AMR has returned and after 2hrs comparing tracks, the difference is very very small. Amazing, there are slight differences. but I am happy listening to either and am thinking I can now sell the AMR as I don't really use it as a cdp. And this is comparing an approx $1000 dac with a $16000 cdp. The Braunton is a keeper.
" I've been using the Soekris Dam1021 dac myself. It is a discrete resistor-ladder dac (ie. it doesn't employ a commercial dac chip) that doesn't need any output stage such as valves or transistors or opamps or transformers or a combo of any of the above. It sounds natural and is about the only dac I can listen to for extended periods! It has two outputs, one buffered by opamps and the other comes direct off the resistor dac ladder itself. I can only listen to the direct output. The opamp buffer makes the sound a bit steely.
The Soekris comes as a PC board that I put in a small aluminium box with regulated power. On the two that I made up I just have coax input and optical input. But I want to get the input set up for USB shortly."
I am very interested so we arrange an audition. Time passes and it arrives.
It is quite small
I can even see inside
I have family staying and I'm very distracted but manage a quick listen. Hmmm - it's ok . Colin asks me for my impressions and I am less than effusive. He tells me he uses the shortest possible, silver interconnect. What am I using? Hmmm - I have a look. Oops, I've used the one that was just sitting around because it was unimpressive. Ok, out with that and in with a pair of Aurealis Audio R-3 silver litz. At 1m they are not short but are silver and very good.
Aha, now I start to hear something. There's been some burn-in too. My dac for the past 7yrs has been via the usb input on my AMR CD-77 with those magical old Philips chips. It was away so I couldn't do a direct compare but this was close and I was looking forward to a direct comparison. But for now the soundstage was wide, tone pure and lots of "air" and details. I played vinyl to compare and although different, was no less enjoyable.
And at last the AMR has returned and after 2hrs comparing tracks, the difference is very very small. Amazing, there are slight differences. but I am happy listening to either and am thinking I can now sell the AMR as I don't really use it as a cdp. And this is comparing an approx $1000 dac with a $16000 cdp. The Braunton is a keeper.
