My TADAC Review

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Read 16573 times.

lonewolfny42

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 16918
  • Speakers....What Speakers ?
Re: My TADAC Review
« Reply #20 on: 26 May 2008, 09:12 pm »
Question....for the TADAC owners...

What other DAC's have you owned or compared the TADAC too ? Thanks.... :thumb:

Well with the system the TADAC is in I've compared it to the Paradisea w/Monarchy DIP Upsampler, Modified McCormack DAC 1, Citypulse DAC, Scott Nixon tube DAC and Benchmark USB DAC.  Known of the details from these sessions are fresh in my mind to list but overall I preferred to keep the TADAC in the system.

Thanks...  :thumb:

Scottdazzle

Re: My TADAC Review
« Reply #21 on: 26 May 2008, 10:34 pm »
Lonewolf,

The TADAC is my first standalone DAC.  I have owned a bunch of cd players, tho with varying quality DAC's built in.  My favorites (among many) were the JVC 1010 in the early '90's, the Adcom 750 after that, and the Jolida 100 with the Underwood mod 1 from about '04 until I got the TADAC this year.  Each step has been an improvement over the preceding (with a few false steps that I won't mention - everyone makes mistakes, right?).  The TADAC's biggest advantages over the Jolida are its adjustability and tighter, better defined bass.  The Jolida still gets kudos from me for its openness and spatiality.

As for music preferences, ajzepp, I have very broad tastes.  For example my killer B's are Bach, Bartok, Beach Boys, Beatles, Beethoven, blues, and Byrds.  The M's go something like this, Mahal, Marsalis, Mingus, Mitchell, Monk, and Morrison. I can't leave out Kottke, Cooder, Little Feat, Burritos, Bonnie, Emmylou, Lucinda, Shostakovich, Prokofiev....

Scott

lonewolfny42

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 16918
  • Speakers....What Speakers ?
Re: My TADAC Review
« Reply #22 on: 26 May 2008, 10:40 pm »
Scotthobby...
Quote
Lonewolf,

The TADAC is my first standalone DAC.  I have owned a bunch of cd players, tho with varying quality DAC's built in.  My favorites (among many) were the JVC 1010 in the early '90's, the Adcom 750 after that, and the Jolida 100 with the Underwood mod 1 from about '04 until I got the TADAC this year.  Each step has been an improvement over the preceding (with a few false steps that I won't mention - everyone makes mistakes, right?).  The TADAC's biggest advantages over the Jolida are its adjustability and tighter, better defined bass.  The Jolida still gets kudos from me for its openness and spatiality.

Thanks Scott...  :thumb:

Charles Calkins

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 1731
Re: My TADAC Review
« Reply #23 on: 26 May 2008, 10:51 pm »
You guys sales people for TACT?

                             Cheers
                              Charlie

Scottdazzle

Re: My TADAC Review
« Reply #24 on: 26 May 2008, 10:54 pm »
Nope, not me. Just a hopeless, music-loving audiophool.

Charles Calkins

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 1731
Re: My TADAC Review
« Reply #25 on: 26 May 2008, 11:06 pm »
Welcome to the club.

                      Cheers
                      Charlie

TheChairGuy

Re: My TADAC Review
« Reply #26 on: 27 May 2008, 02:40 am »
I like Paul/Bizzy Bee's stuff and have been thinking about TADAC for a while.  Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.

Has anyone that bought the TADAC bought his TAD/Aural Ecstasy 805SD speakers?  I've had them for months now, broken them in for 400+ hours now and have to say they do nothing seriously wrong for the $189 delivered I paid for them (now $289 or $389 when he has them in stock).  Seriously, unless you have a very large room or play at deafening levels, they are particularly good at what they do (play music dang well)  :thumb:

I'm really shocked at how decent these are (I added some EAR damping sheets to the back outside wall as they needed it a bit)

Sorry to divert the topic askew....but I thought additional kudo's were in order for Tube Audio Design/Bizzy Bee Audio  :)

John

launche

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 1315
  • ...on being an audiophile...no.
Re: My TADAC Review
« Reply #27 on: 30 May 2008, 04:42 pm »
Ajzepp,

...and other TADAC owners if you are so inclined could you share your experience using the TADAC as both DAC and Preamp.

I've been listening this way for months with no desire to insert a preamp.  Yes, they may offer a different flavor and/or go a step further in some/many respects or maybe not but I think Paul's design of this unit and his use of the volume control in the design is just stellar to my ears.  I will suggest again anyone looking for a DAC near this price range give the TADAC strong consideration.  Obviously I'm not saying it's a SOTA DAC etc... but its price/performance ratio peaks very high.  It is a highly musical piece that to me ears lives up to Paul's description (and they one that I read had me saying "yeah right".) If you do not have a very good preamp already (or even if you do) the TADAC may just be your ticket.

Now my reference source (that I've spent time with but not in my system) is the AMR CD77, for almost all that I want in a one box source.  But at that price at this time, not gonna happen. For the foreseeable future I'm happy with the TADAC.

I am at fault here for not previously writing a review.  I've owned this unit for several months and enjoy it immensely.  I did mention it to a few people but given what you get for your audio dollar with the TADAC it's just a piece that could live wonderfully in many systems.  It's a piece I feel very proud to own, I get what the designer was trying to communicate, respect to sane pricing, feels he delivered on his claims (within all normal reason) and the piece brings me closer to the music.

Now with the money I saved on the new preamp I was going to buy, I can now get back into Vinyl.

Highly recommended.

ajzepp

Re: My TADAC Review
« Reply #28 on: 30 May 2008, 09:53 pm »
Hi Launche:

I'm definitely going to play around with the TADAC as a preamp too, if for no other reason that curiosity. My Mapletree tube pre is a nice little piece, and exceptional for the bucks, but it'll be fun to see if there is any difference with the TADAC serving double duty. I don't know if I mentioned it, but Paul said he's soon coming out with a higher end model that will have the TADAC technology plus a more robust preamp section. Might be something to keep an eye on! 

pardales

Re: My TADAC Review
« Reply #29 on: 8 Nov 2008, 12:45 pm »
You guys still enjoying the TADAC. The only other product I can think of that is similar to it is the Hagerman Chime. Further thoughts would be appreciated.