Eastern Electric DAC

satfrat · « **Reply #440 on:** 22 Mar 2010, 08:25 pm »

Quote from: mcullinan on 22 Mar 2010, 08:08 pm

I enjoyed the EE DAC.. though Levi had a stanky tube in there. It was a GIANT KILLER!
Levi scared me when he said that.
M

Yeah, Levi had me looking over my shoulder also with his giant killing comments.

mcullinan · « **Reply #441 on:** 22 Mar 2010, 08:26 pm »

He had an evil stare and kept muttering G-G-Giant Keeeler! and I think one of his eyeballs was hanging out farther than the other. A little unsettling!

John151 · « **Reply #442 on:** 22 Mar 2010, 09:26 pm »

Quote from: Bill O'Connell on 22 Mar 2010, 08:07 pm

Heck ,I even tried the SS output and that was excellent also, Go figure

The SS is no slouch. In fact, one of the more modern tubes I have tried (Cifte 12AU7LC) sounded nearly identical to the SS mode. You really have to get an excellent NOS tube to better the SS output.

Jon L · « **Reply #443 on:** 22 Mar 2010, 10:00 pm »

Quote from: Bill O'Connell on 22 Mar 2010, 08:05 pm

If the NY rave folks would like to hear,I'd be more then willing to send a silverplate to Levi or Shek to bring to the next rave.
Let me know,
Bill

If you also have a Siemens 5814A early long plate, do let the good folks borrow that, too. I reckon many would prefer that even over the Siemens silverplastes

evan1 · « **Reply #444 on:** 22 Mar 2010, 10:42 pm »

Quote from: Levi on 22 Mar 2010, 05:18 pm

Bingo!

Buddy, I think you hit the nail on the head. In the March NYAR meeting at Mike Mattera, the only DAC that competes with BobM's Ayre modified CD Player is the EE DAC.

Regardless of the price, 90% love the sound of the EE DAC. The thread is at AN. The odds are pro EE.

Finally, If I am broke and cannot afford a good DAC, I will not waste my only $200 cash in my pocket. What I would do is keep the money in my savings instead. There are lots of good inexpensive DIY DACs out there for $169. However, EE DAC is something to look into.

--Levi

Now I have to chime in since levi has become a thread crapper. if I spend 80.00 on a tube for a 200.00 dac then I am still 500.00 ahead of you. Not bad for someone who is just using it to stream from a computer or SB. I at least stated what I am using the dac for.You my friend have not. So lets guess you spent 800.00 on a DAC for let us see.... Oh I know ,that 6000.00
CD player you have there. Oh gee what will a 800.00 dollar dac do for a 6000.00 CD player.
I guess may be your cd palyer is CRAP. Levi you have said the PS Audio was the best , then you went and said a MODIFIED Music Hall was the best. Now this. I am sure it is great but in no way am I going to spend 800.00 to stream. Testing the waters before i jump into computer audio in the future for which in that case I would have to spend close to what Satfrat has spent for computer audio. And you do not see me hooking my DAC up to my 2000.00 CD Player. So Levi stop blowing the smoke .

John151 · « **Reply #445 on:** 22 Mar 2010, 10:49 pm »

Guys - Please don't litter this thread with personal debates that don't relate to the the EE DAC.

satfrat · « **Reply #446 on:** 22 Mar 2010, 11:04 pm »

Quote from: evan1 on 22 Mar 2010, 10:42 pm

Now I have to chime in since levi has become a thread crapper. if I spend 80.00 on a tube for a 200.00 dac then I am still 500.00 ahead of you. Not bad for someone who is just using it to stream from a computer or SB. I at least stated what I am using the dac for.You my friend have not. So lets guess you spent 800.00 on a DAC for let us see.... Oh I know ,that 6000.00
CD player you have there. Oh gee what will a 800.00 dollar dac do for a 6000.00 CD player.
I guess may be your cd palyer is CRAP. Levi you have said the PS Audio was the best , then you went and said a MODIFIED Music Hall was the best. Now this. I am sure it is great but in no way am I going to spend 800.00 to stream. Testing the waters before i jump into computer audio in the future for which in that case I would have to spend close to what Satfrat has spent for computer audio. And you do not see me hooking my DAC up to my 2000.00 CD Player. So Levi stop blowing the smoke .

$2000 for a CDP???

Guess that's one way to make the Eastern Electric Dac look like the deal of the century Evan.

As always, let your ears judge which you prefer, a CDP or PC audio audio source. I made mine and have no problems standing behind it.

Cheers,
Robin

evan1 · « **Reply #447 on:** 22 Mar 2010, 11:06 pm »

Quote from: John151 on 22 Mar 2010, 10:49 pm

Guys - Please don't litter this thread with personal debates that don't relate to the the EE DAC.

That's what I said earlier

Mariusz · « **Reply #448 on:** 23 Mar 2010, 12:12 am »

Quote

PS: For the record; the EE MiniMax DAC isn't a rebadged DAC of any sort!

Bill
I wasn't insinuating anything by it or directing it towards people behind EE DAC. (I apologize if it was recieved that way)
Surely, EE DAC must represent great value and above average performance. What I said was in reference to Buddy's inexpensive DIY DAC.
The only reason I end up in this muddy situation must be because of some surprising (on the other hand, I should've known better) comments which caught me off gard.

Buddy

re-read my posts.
I did not make the references to DIY kits....... Levi did.
You might want to ask Levi for clarification?
Besides, I underline my point of view and I do not feel that I have to explain myslf ...... now do I?

Levi,

Never in my posts I compared DAC "A" to DAC "B & C".
Never did badmouth or said anything negative about EE DAC.
I just point out some flip/flapping and feverish behaviour.
Nothing better then start the year with new reference........enjoy it while it lasts.

Cheers
Mariusz

evan1 · « **Reply #449 on:** 23 Mar 2010, 12:30 am »

Right on Mariusz.

Mariusz I will talk to you later.I just got a deal on a $10,000.00 Macintosh system for my Toyota ,only problem is the wires were cut when it was pulled from a Honda.

etcarroll · « **Reply #450 on:** 23 Mar 2010, 12:48 am »

One 'guy' may have been me.

I found the VA and EE the best units. I think I said the VA had the best overall presentation. By that it did the most things right.

But the EE would be what I'd buy, as it did a few things 'head and shoulders' above all other DACS. Granted, it was one Jazz saxophone track over and over.

And with a different tube, who knows.

Meanwhile, I attended the RAVE to hear the M1 for use in my office, playing iTunes and CDs from my computer, and I think it would be excellant at that, as Evan points out.

So to re-iterate;

EE for my main 2-channel system, but maybe a different bulb,
M1 for computer use,
and if a box with a VA DAC fell off a truck in front of me, I'd scoop it up and run like a thief in the night.

Quote from: satfraiTunest on 22 Mar 2010, 05:44 pm

Gee Levi, I could have sworn I heard a few guys actually preferred the Van Alstine Insight+ solid state Dac over the EE Dac. At least 1 poster mentioned this over at Neversa.

Myself, I preferred the fullness of the EE Dac over the overall SS clarity that the Insight+ seems to have over tube Dacs. Then again I did leave my Mhdt Havana tube Dac at home so,,,,,,,,

Cheers,
Robin

goldlizsts · « **Reply #451 on:** 23 Mar 2010, 02:58 am »

Quote from: evan1 on 22 Mar 2010, 10:42 pm

Now I have to chime in since levi has become a thread crapper. if I spend 80.00 on a tube for a 200.00 dac then I am still 500.00 ahead of you. Not bad for someone who is just using it to stream from a computer or SB. I at least stated what I am using the dac for.You my friend have not. So lets guess you spent 800.00 on a DAC for let us see.... Oh I know ,that 6000.00
CD player you have there. Oh gee what will a 800.00 dollar dac do for a 6000.00 CD player.
I guess may be your cd palyer is CRAP. Levi you have said the PS Audio was the best , then you went and said a MODIFIED Music Hall was the best. Now this. I am sure it is great but in no way am I going to spend 800.00 to stream. Testing the waters before i jump into computer audio in the future for which in that case I would have to spend close to what Satfrat has spent for computer audio. And you do not see me hooking my DAC up to my 2000.00 CD Player. So Levi stop blowing the smoke .

Come on, guys, it's easy to misinterpret something written because we are not in front of the guy when he writes, etc. You know Levi as a nice guy (otherwise he wouldn't have let us into his raves

). I don't think what he wrote there was what he intended, literally. It was just him being humorous

SET Man · « **Reply #452 on:** 23 Mar 2010, 04:09 am »

Quote from: Mariusz on 23 Mar 2010, 12:12 am

...

Buddy

re-read my posts.
I did not make the references to DIY kits....... Levi did.
You might want to ask Levi for clarification?
Besides, I underline my point of view and I do not feel that I have to explain myslf ...... now do I?

...
Cheers
Mariusz

Hey!

I think you are the one that have to read your own post. You were the one that bought up my DIY DAC re-badged theory as an example in this thread of which have nothing to do to this thread.

I only responded to the fact of what you said about the "Rave impression" thing of which I don't have the same view as you and I'm sure most other Ravers feel the same way when we comparing something. Of course you did flip-flop it and turn it in to rave reviews here and other forums.

BTW... I'm not taking anybody's side here. Those NYAR Ravers some of whom know me for a few years now know that I tell it like is it. It just happened that I've heard the EE, but not in my system and it sounded fine.

Anyway, I'm out ain't got no time for this.

Take care,
Buddy

Mariusz · « **Reply #453 on:** 23 Mar 2010, 04:27 am »

Neither do I.

rajacat · « **Reply #454 on:** 23 Mar 2010, 05:18 am »

It would be interesting to hear how AVA's new Vision DAC would fit into the mix. Production of the Insight DAC is now history.

-Roy

goldlizsts · « **Reply #455 on:** 23 Mar 2010, 09:37 am »

Quote from: rajacat on 23 Mar 2010, 05:18 am

It would be interesting to hear how AVA's new Vision DAC would fit into the mix. Production of the Insight DAC is now history.

-Roy

Interesting indeed. None in our (NY Rave) group seems to have a Vision DAC. I was tempted when I was looking, since they have a 30-day policy. But, I got positive comments from a couple of friends about the Sabre chip, so I took the chance with the EE. The Vision DAC was designed around newer Wolfson chips I think?

Gopher · « **Reply #456 on:** 23 Mar 2010, 06:29 pm »

That 4003 tube described in this thread sounds right up my alley. Is it the Mullard or Brimar variant you guys are referring to? Any good online sources for them?

goldlizsts · « **Reply #457 on:** 23 Mar 2010, 09:16 pm »

Quote from: Gopher on 23 Mar 2010, 06:29 pm

That 4003 tube described in this thread sounds right up my alley. Is it the Mullard or Brimar variant you guys are referring to? Any good online sources for them?

Mullard. Good source is Upscale Audio, since they screen the tubes well I think. So far, their prices are competitive IMO. There are other tube merchants also, just Google it, and they'll show up. Some command much more $$$. Even try eBay, but there the quality may not compare with Upscale, tho you may find a bargain (with unknown results being possible).

Gopher · « **Reply #458 on:** 25 Mar 2010, 01:51 pm »

Thanks, I ordered up a Mullard 4003 platinum grade from them. Out of curiosity, is there any reason to go with the Platinum over Driver grade which specifically cites itself as being suitable for DACs?

Either way, I'm looking forward to it. My focus has been on my analog rig more so than digital lately, but I had the opportunity to fire this up again last night and its always a re-revelation at just how competent this DAC is.

woodsyi · « **Reply #459 on:** 1 Apr 2010, 01:00 pm »

Got mine yesterday. I didn't splurge for the air freight shipment. I have not had much time to do anything but I am looking forward to getting it fired up. I have to go through my tubes to see what I got that would work with it.

I am curious how this will stack up against my Northstar/Pacecar. The jitter reducing circuitry of the Sabre chip versus the asynch reclocker. It will be fun.