Hi,
Just had a listen to the CI VDA-2 DAC at THE show in Vegas and came away very impressed. The sound it produced was a lot like analog. No digititis or over emphasized highs. A very natural sound with good space and decay. Tone was very nice as well.
Besides listening to the DAC Dusty took some time to explain the VDA-2 design process to me. He's put a lot of work into this design and it sounds like it. A well thought out board layout, minimalist output stage with a clever I/V implementation, and the PCM1794 built in digital filter operating in slow rolloff mode combine for a sweet sound.
It's not hyper-detailed; although I didn't notice any lack of resolution either. The highs are not in your face which is something I really liked as my ears are sensitive to many digital sources which tend to exaggerate treble in my opinion. Cymbals sounded just right to me.
Instrument tone was a strength.
Can't say much about bass because I don't feel the room was large enough to let the speakers breathe. What I heard was tight and well defined. Don't want to give the wrong impression, there was nothing awry with the lows at all but I would like to hear the VDA-2 in a bigger room with speakers I'm more familiar with to get a better idea about bass response.
The system was a VDA-2 feeding CI's passive preamp to CI's amps. I don't remember the model number exactly but think they were the 100. Speakers were two way floorstanders.
Don't post here much, but there has been interest in the new CI DAC, myself included, so figured I'd pass along impressions of what I heard.
Hope everyone is enjoying the new year
