Hi Bob and All
I have posted this elsewhere and while this is a loudspeaker forum I feel Bob and people who frequent here should know about this DAC. Besides things are bit quite around here anyway.
I recently got a Tranquility DAC and have had it in my system for a while now. Not with the Hugh Dean over at Aspen's new amp, the NAKSA, which is my preferred amp, but a little Redgum Sonofagum amp I have which at $550.00 is staggeringly good value for money. I am using it because it has a remote volume and I don't have a pre amp. That's the reason I sent the NAKSA over to some guys I know in Perth to check out - I can't really use it while I am using the Tranquility. As good as that little Redgum is the NAKSA is at a different level. Anyway the Redgum IMHO is more than transparent enough to hear the differences in DAC's.
OK to the sound. The first thing I notice is a complete absence of digititus of any form. You relax more into the music. The WFS DAC2 I had previously had to my ears a slight sibilance issue. Just to give an idea about this DAC here is what one guy said at the recent DAC shootout I attended:
'An amazing amount of detail, excellent tonal consistency and powerful bass. But it sounded like you were playing a CD and there were electronic artifacts in the form of a mid treble glare that intruded. Grey background. Microdynamically restricted. However its combination of consistent tonality and detail was impressive in a hifi sense and I can actually believe that some listeners might place this as their favourite.'
Interestingly when I listen to the Tranquility it is not so much getting rid of the sibilance as changing how it sounds. If the sibilance is there you still hear it but it does not seem to grate - instead of clinching and saying thats not nice you go Ahhh. No coldness or anything like that - simply nice fluidity and liquidity. Even the slight digital glare some recordings seem to have sounds sweeter. It is still there but for some reason is not as annoying. It seems to have exactly the same detail as the WFS which I find quite interesting since that is that DAC's strong point. Is it up to the standard of the best DAC I have heard, the Killer DAC. Afraid not. But man is it close. IMHO it is a significant step up from anything in its price range of $1295.00.
Interestingly to my ears the WFS DAC and the NAKSA does not sound as good to me as the Tranquility and the Redgum. From my viewpoint that is maddening because I can only imagine how much better it will be with the NAKSA - I suspect WOW. Anyway the Redgum is transparent enough to hear the differences while I tee up a preamp. I conjecture the reason for that is the NAKSA is so bloody transparent the shortcomings of the WFS were starkly revealed. Some thought it may tame some of the issues with the WFS but it didn't. The great detail of the WFS was revealed in full force with the NAKSA - as well as a slight upper midrange issue that to me showed up as a sibilance control issue and a bit of digital glare that the NAKSA revealed. But to be fair to the WFS only guys that have checked it out on systems around my way seem to hear it. I have mentioned it on a number of forums and everyone (so far) reports they can't hear it. Again I conjecture this is due to two reasons - their gear may not be revealing enough and they did not have a better DAC to compare it to.
Right now I am listening to some Elvis. Recently at a DAC shootout I heard some direct from the master tape Elvis recordings on the Killer DAC. Elvis sounded like I have never heard him before. So real it was unhinging. Everyone was simply blown away. Now I tell you this - listening to Elvis now and despite the fact it is MP3 it is like that - it has the same sort of quality. Of course it is not as good as that memorable experience but it is comparable. This is that good. I really can't bring myself to stop listening despite the fact I have a few others things I should be doing. But I simply can't leave it. This is entrancing. And it is through a $550.00 amp. I also suspect there is some kind of synergy with this amp.
Note however it is a computer DAC with only a USB input and it is very sensitive to what you feed it. You should use a Mac Mini. I tried other computers but really the Mac Mini was the best. I also discovered that playing back from the MAC's internal drive is quite a good deal better than from an external USB drive. This probably explains why when I first tried it out using my USB drive it was rather ho hum - smooth and easy to listen to but sort of flat and uninvolving. But when it was tried it later with a machine using its hard drive - wow. Much more dynamic with greater slam and simply sounding more real. dB Audio, the makers of the Tranquility have found a firewire drive they reckon will be even better again. After finding this out I ordered one.
Anyway I thought I would pass this on. If you get the chance you really must hear this DAC. As you can probably guess it has blown me away. And its synergy with such an inexpensive amp means you can get this sort of sound for literally peanuts and like Bob's speakers it redefines value.
Thanks
Bill
