[griff2]

Ok, well I got this DAC for the new year and through the optical it is now really starting to sing - it's now beating my Perpetual Technologies P-3A (which I was hoping for but never expected) and with the stock power supply (as has the P-3A).  However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the VDA•2 does 24/192 through optical.  I got a lock and beautiful music on my 24/192 files; this must be something relatively recent as it is not reported in the accompanying literature for the DAC or the advertising blurb..

[dminches]

The CI Audio website says it does 24/192 through both the coaxial and optical.  I don't know why the resolution would be different between coax and opt.  They are generally the same.

[griff2]

Not according to this link: ciaudio.com/products/VDA2. I always though Toslink was bandwidth limited.  Anyway, I'm not complaining

[dminches]

I see.  I didn't read the specs as the bottom.  You should ask Dusty for confirmation.  How do you know you are getting 24/192 via optical?

[griff2]

I have a Perpetual Audio P-3A DAC as well, I was feeding that with the optical and the VDA-2 with the coax.  When I played the 24/192 files the P-3A did not lock (as it shouldn't since it only does 192 through I2S, AIUI).  When I switched the coax to the VDA-2 I got a lock and the music played perfectly.  BTW my source is a Popcorn Hour A200.

[griff2]

Ok well I'm going to recant the bit about the VDA-2 beating the P-3A.  As I listen more, the VDA-2 is the more mellifluous sounding, but the P-3A "understands" the music more.  The P-3A is  a decade old and it has a somewhat harsh upper midrange (which some might call a digital sound).  Nonetheless, it is not fatiguing and I would associate it with reproducing the sound of real musicians playing real instruments (I see/hear a lot of live music over my weekends, and real music is my reference).  I'll be getting the VAC-1 for the VDA-2 soon so that will certainly add something to the mix..

[griff2]

The DAC no longer locks on to 24/192 files through Toslink any more: I got lots of clickety clicks from the internal relay when I started listening to 24/192 files this evening and after a couple of hours or so, couldn't get a lock on any 24/192 files.  So I guess the DAC does indeed "burns in" to approaches its intended speck.

However, now the sound from 24/96 files is becoming  something special, especially these files which through headphone listening (Earmax pro headphone amp and Sennheiser HD650) are the best and most musical noises I've heard through my headphone rig ever.  At the weekend (during the day when I'm not going to annoy my neighbours) I look forward to listening to these files through my speaker-based system.

All I can say is well done CIAudio, I still have issues with the VAC-1 which may or may not be cleared up.  However, the quality of the DAC is obvious and if I end just using the stock power supply with a step-down transformer so be it.

[griff2]

I wrote this a few days ago: 

As I listen more, the VDA-2 is the more mellifluous sounding, but the P-3A "understands" the music more

I no longer agree with that statement.  The more I listen to the VDA-2, and the more it "burns in" (I hate that statement, wrt electronics, but it is true in the case of the VDA-2) it makes the P-3A sound somewhat overblown in the bass and specifically the upper bass region and generally lacking in transparency.  Timing wise, the VDA-2 just sounds right.  More interestingly, the VDA-2 really differentiates between the differing bit depths and sampling frequencies (16 bit sounding generally thinner - a can of worms if you understand Nyquist, but the sonic differences nonetheless exist).  The P3-A hinted at all this this but, unfortunately,  through optical never sounded comfortable with bit depths other than 16 or sample rates higher than 48khz (in fact it would not keep a lock on 24/96 files through optical).

I'm still using the VDA-2 with the stock PSU BTW.