I've posted this comments about, to my knowledge, the first Bolder modified M-Audio superDAC in another thread but there it may go unnoticed. I repeat it here, due to the potential musical relevance and fellow enjoyment of the topic involved.
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Hi everybody:
I am the chilean gentleman about wich Wayne talked. The real gentleman is him, though.
Everything happened as he stated. Only, I didn't confess I planed beforehand to convince him doing the mods
The superDAC (aka, "the unit") arrived only 3 days ago, after a long trip by boat, to our shores. So far I am VERY pleased with it. It is sounding better and better . Please forgive me that I use common "audiophile" terms to refer to its sound: I don't know any other means to do it.
First, my humble system: cheap DVD player as transport -->DH Labs D75 digital cable-->Monarchy Audio DIP upsampler--> Signal Cable ($35) balanced digital cable--> superDAC-->NAD T761 receiver (acting as stereo preamp)-->Monarchy Audio SE100Deluxe Monos-->Bybeed cheap Jamo speaker cables--> Tannoy Definition 500 speakers. The philosophy behind this is trying to find the best price/performance items within a budget. I listen almost only to classical music.
The first thing I found is a very open and soft sound (compared to NAD's internal DAC), with lots of detail and armonical richness. Highs are extended and sweeeet, something shared with Monarchy's amps and Tannoy's Dual concentrics. Mozart's complete string quintets, with Grumiaux trio et alter (Philips; $15) are "ADD" CDs that are actually sweet sounding. The superDAC revealed lost armonics and resonances of each instrument and enhanced music's "breath", wich I think is very important for a natural sound. First violin lost some prominence because all partner instruments were better delineated and aquired deserved weight. It was a delicious experience.
Midrange is also detailed and colorful. I like strings to have 50/50 string and wood sound, wich this unit does. Horns and tubas from Berlioz' "Symphonie Fantastique" (Bernstein; Sony; 24bit reissue) almost deranged my hair-cut! Double basses had proper weight and were rich sounding: my system hasn't the lowest bass possible but it is a very thight, agile, textured and detailed one (of course I would love to have better sub-bass
)
My amp-speaker tandem is quite good in the spatial positioning department. With superDAC, it excels... Soundstage is wider than previously and players are more separated in space. In Beethoven's 9nth Symphony (Solti; Decca; not my favorite one but the best recorded that I own) 4th mouvement, soloist singers are easily located in front of the chorus, on a wide stage. In chorus entrance (after tenor part), the famous "freunde götter...etc" (you know what I mean) voices seam to extend beyond my living room boundaries (I might be exagerating a little
). They are powerful but soft sounding voices, with not a hint of congestion even at high volumes (Class A amps). It is relaxing that when loud passages come you only hear more music not more distortion. Different drums are distinctly located in stage's depth and have the right "twack". Dynamics and agility improuved a lot.
Bass is improuving day by day. I am patient.
Maybe by chance I found a good partnership in Maudio/Monarchy/Tannoy trio.
I have never listened to HiEnd analog, and never heard (nor probably never will hear) the ART DI/O: it's up to Wayne to answer about such comparisons. Forced by me, in my long wait, he told that the superDAC didn't dissapoint in front of his (high cost) analog front end. I hope he was not playing around with your humble narrator's hart
The only fair comparison I can make is with Creek's top-of-the-line CD player and amp (forgot version) at Tannoy's dealer: it's a very dynamic combo, with great PRAT, but can't compete with my set-up in "engaging-ness", musical voluptuosity and the "see into" factor.
Taking into account that this unit supports balanced ins and outs (appart conventional ones) and that it is easily tweakable, I don't see why anybody would pass this oportunity to get one and mod it.
The bad news for Wayne is that he will have to build balanced digital cables because (in my first comparisons) I found the cheap Signal Cable balanced better sounding that my beloved DH Labs D75 (with Cardas connectors). I think this is a format difference, though.
I hope readers don't get as tired reading this as I got writing it!
I am in such an "audiophile isolation" that every chance I have I over-react!
Everything can't be good: I will find drawbacks, I promise! (Virgo, you know)
Mauricio.
(I hope I can post this correctly )
