[mresseguie]

I find myself temporarily staying in an apartment (to be near my mother). My Daedalus Apollo speakers are here. The sole amplifier/DAC/preamp not in storage is my IDA-8, so here is a pic of my IDA-8 driving my 96.5dB Apollo speakers:





It's not comparable to powering them with a $4k amp and $4k DAC, but for $995......It's pretty damned good! 

[muellec3]

I second that.
My IDA-8 is powering my Klipsch Forte II. It makes them sing to my utmost pleasure.
This amp is versatile and quiet and well sounding...
So pretty darn good - from me as well.
Chris

[Letitroll98]

I hope your mother is okay.

[mresseguie]

I hope your mother is okay.

Hm. Well, I guess 'okay' expresses her present condition well enough. Certainly, she's better now than how she was a month ago, and she's far better now than she was in May (2 different crises). She'll never be 'well' again. The best we can hope for is a slow downward curve over the next few years.  The best I can do is make sure she's comfortable, safe, and well cared for - and visit her as often as practical. We've already begun searching for a house to buy here.

[mresseguie]

In my original picture I showed my Apollos powered by my IDA-8. In the following pictures you will see my Apollos being powered by a mighty (and still very new) D Sachs KT88 Kootenay 120 with my new DAC-9.

THIS SOUNDS AMAZING!!!!!!

Too think I waited till now to try a DAC-9 because I had decided early on that it wasn't very good because it was the DAC-10's 'lesser' brother.  That was a stupid assumption. Don't tell me this music sounds awesome because of the KT88 and Apollos because last night this same DAC was paired to a Folsom chip amp powering wee little 2-way satellite speakers and that sounded f09876% amazing. The sole constants from last night to tonight are the DAC-9 and the cheap RCA ICs.

My apologies for the room. We move out on Friday.








Okay. Two are nearly identical.

[GentleBender]

Glad to see you enjoying your choices mresseguie. You've been scoping out many options and looks like you landed with some great gear that makes sweet music. So many great vendor options and testimonials from regular folks here on Audio Circle. I've been so happy with my system, I only check in once in awhile. No big pull to upgrade anything at the moment. Thanks to all those that follow up with thoughts and setups after buying gear, so helpful.

Cheers to everyone! 

[John Casler]

In my original picture I showed my Apollos powered by my IDA-8. In the following pictures you will see my Apollos being powered by a mighty (and still very new) D Sachs KT88 Kootenay 120 with my new DAC-9.

THIS SOUNDS AMAZING!!!!!!

Too think I waited till now to try a DAC-9 because I had decided early on that it wasn't very good because it was the DAC-10's 'lesser' brother.  That was a stupid assumption. Don't tell me this music sounds awesome because of the KT88 and Apollos because last night this same DAC was paired to a Folsom chip amp powering wee little 2-way satellite speakers and that sounded f09876% amazing. The sole constants from last night to tonight are the DAC-9 and the cheap RCA ICs.

The "other" problem with the DAC-9 believe it or not, is the PRICE. ($749)

Many think that, at that price point, it can't be as good as it is. . . . but it is.

Maybe we should raise the price to $3k?   

Happy that "you" are happy. 

[Wind Chaser]

Too think I waited till now to try a DAC-9 because I had decided early on that it wasn't very good because it was the DAC-10's 'lesser' brother.  That was a stupid assumption.

Michael,

I’ve seen and read many reports on the DAC-9 and sometimes I wonder if it might have been a better fit than the DAC-10 in my system. If your passing through the valley this year and you just happen to have your DAC-9 with you... 

[rustydoglim]

If you are big into headphones, then DAC-10H is the ultimate component to get. A lot of the cost of DAC-10H went into making it as clean and powerful as possible with incredible number of gain settings (for impedance matching with amp too, other than headphones).  May be that's why a distributor sold like 40 units to recording studios in Cypress in the past 5 months. That's a lot of DAC-10H.
For DAC-9, we can do without the high power headphone amp and complex gain circuit, which also reduced the power requirement. So it is a "lesser" DAC in some aspects, but certainly not by design.