Hey Everyone, thought I would share a few thoughts on this comparison.
As a background, I am a huge fan of desktop audio and spend many hours every day being productive while listening to music. Sometimes in the background, ofter times jamming since I work from home and there is no one to bother. I have had them all on my desktop; LS50, Mini Maggies, Gallo Strada 1/2, Quad, Soliloquy, Silverline, the list goes on. I purchased a pair of Dynaudio Xeo 3s last fall and was getting nearly the same performance as about 6k worth of stuff and I became very impressed with Dynaudio. The Xeo is the wireless line that they have for those of you who don't know.
After a few months, I started looking to go vertical again- upmarket and since the Xeo is a all in one system I decided to try the the X14A actives. This is a generation newer design vs the Xeo 3, and drops the wireless connection. The Xeo was built on the X12 which was Stereophile class B, the X14 is better in almost every way. Add the inherent advantages of an active design and it is a pretty damn good value proposition in my opinion.
Anyway, I needed something to attenuate signals, perform digital to analog conversion and not screw up my Rega P3-24 Exact/ Musical Fidelity M1LPS analog front end. When you start to look for this set of characteristics, it is slim picking! I had found the Emotiva DC-1, and then stumbled across the DAC-9. I always thought Nuforce had cool products, and I did try an IDA-8 last fall but honestly I felt it sounded a little thin through Gallo Stradas and a TR-3d. (In all fairness, I was comparing it against an integrated that was more geared towards the IDA-16 from both price and power)
The DC-1 and DAC-9 are very similar. Both support a variety of digital inputs including AESEBU, a true analog input, balanced XLR pre-outs that are simultaneously active with RCA unbalanced pre outs. Both are slim line, half width components with blue displays. The DAC-9 one ups with DSD support, while the DC-1 counters with dual headphone amplifiers and a metal remote control which is a super nice touch. DC-1 lists at $499, DAC-9 $749. Both are marketed by audiophile companies as "pro" components. For those unaware of the DC-1, it carries near universal praise with the occasional "giant killer" sticker tagged to it.
I use a Chromecast Audio dongle for digital listening as well as the analog setup I already mentioned. I will also be transparent and let you know that I paid nearly 2x for the Nurprime than I did for the used Emotiva. This is my first Emotiva piece, and historically I have not been attracted to their brand at all, but I have a big move ahead of me and would be thrilled to pocket the savings if all else was equal. I expected it would be.
I received the DAC-9 first and was extremely impressed. The DAC-9 feeding the X14a was clearly a notch above the Xeos which is what this exercise was all about at the end of the day. When the Dc-1 arrived I threw it into the system. XLR out to the Dynaudio's and without level matching or anything fancy it sounded great. Vocals has incredible resolution, the stage was wide and deep just like the DAC-9- it was very similar performance for less dollars. I took the DAC-9 out of the system after 3 days- proud of myself for making the "smart move" and saving the few hundred dollars. I asked Audio Advisor to send me an RMA for the DAC-9.
The next day I was listening to music, at a relatively high volume,(but not unusually high) and noticed that I was becoming a touch fatigued. I listened for another 20 minutes or so and the trend towards audio exhaustion continued. I don't get fatigued often, it is rare but not unprecedented. I dont neccessarily blame the DC-01 for this, but it was enough to get me up, grab the DAC-9 and unbox it for a second time.
Inserting the DAC-9 back into the system after listening to the Emotiva for a few days helped flush out what the real differences where. While the Emotiva was extremely detailed, it ultimately was not as smooth as the DAC-9, it was slightly but audibly etched by comparison. This was consistent through the analog input as well so it may be their implementation of the analog volume control, maybe the Dac-9 needed 50 hours, who knows. I continued to listen to the DAC-9 and it kept sounding better.
I have done the back and forth more times than I can count at this point. These subsequent times with level matched SPLs as i knew the underlying psychoacoustic preference would be for the DAC-9 at this point. I forced my wife to help with a DBT and there is no doubt that the DAC-9 is a smooth, high-end operator. It gives up no detail, it is incredibly refined and when I spin that volume control to the right the presentation is utterly phenomenal. Depth, width, scale, dynamics, imaging- pouring out of what sounds to be 100 speakers in front of me. My analog system sounds awesome. Most of all the sound is simply organic and natural- which are two terms I don't throw around often. I haven't done any research but my assumption is that Nuprime spent some time thinking about the volume control.
The DAC-9 throws an image that is remarkably stable, I get an overwhelming feeling of transparency as I listen, like the unit is totally getting out of the way- especially through the analog input. The Chromecast for $35 is the deal of the century, it is now bit perfect and through the Dac-9 sounds like everything you would expect from a high end source.
Overall, maybe the tone of the DAC-9 is a touch warm, but it sounds pretty damn neutral to me. Ergonomics earn a solid B, the display is hard to read if the unit is above or below your line of sight but the remote is nice and the component looks the part. The unit runs cool, the DC-1 warm. I am listening to some piano right now and smooth, spacious and powerful are the words that immediately come to mind. I am sitting 3 ft away from two speakers but it doesn't sound like it.
My feeling is that what we are getting today for a kilobuck or less rivals what was thousands of dollars not long ago. We are in a golden age of hifi. The DAC-9 is a great example, this thing is a full fledged modern preamp that can absolutely sing.
