Listening Session - Dacs/CDPs

[jkeny]

Yea, Dave warned us they were highly trained ninja's - guess this proves his point?

[DaveF]

Just had Fran up this afternoon. Claus couldnt make it up but will return with the BAT player another day. Fran brought his NOS dac and the Sabre dac. The NOS was very very musical, very polite and one could spend hours listening to it without fatigue. The Sabre definitely had more presense more detail and vocals were more forward in the mix. The NOS would be more recessed in comparison but we both felt that the Sabre DAC was the better of the two.

After a few more changes, it became clear that the Lampi and Meitner were the two main contenders so we stuck with those for the rest of the session. A mix of Cassandra Wilson, Beethoven, Vivaldi, some French Baroque, Oboe Concertos, Tom Waits and Ted Hawkins were the main tracks in rotation. We did our best to level match with the phone app, not very accurate mind but probably better than doing it with ear.

As the session progressed it became clear that the Meitner was beginning to pull away from the Lampi. I was up bright and early this morning to some of my own listening done and I had a feeling that the Meitner was starting to emerge as the favorite. Yesterday I wasnt so sure, I thought the gap between the Lampi/Hugo/Meitner was very small but the Meitner just has this ability to be so detailed yet so warm and very musical and has the uncanny knack of making you want to just keep listening to it and not change to anything else. Whereas the Lampi has musicality and warmth in spades, it doesnt quite have the detail levels particularly in dense complex symphonic passages. Its a tough call, sometimes its apparent in certain recordings, other times the gap is non existant.

Getting back to the Hugo, I was hugely impressed with it. It kinda sits between the Meitner and the Lampi in terms of its ability. A tiny box and small money compared to the other two but more than up to the challange. On the Beethhoven passage from yesterday I thought the Hugo was the best out of the lot. Definitely one to audition if you're on the lookout for a DAC.

As for the biggest disappointment of the day, well that was the dCS Purcel and Elgar DAC (not the plus version). I was utterly gobsmacked how poor it was next to the others. The biggest issue I had with the Beethoven was the very very narrow soundstage. The outer bounds of the symphony were well in between the speakers. On this particular recording, the 4th movement has this very distinctive timpani drum pounding thats normally well over to the right speaker. But through the dCS it was almost straight down the middle of the soundstage. I picked up on it immediately as I know this recording really well. The other issue was the extremely overly analytical and overly detailed presentation.
Now I've heard dCS systems in the past and I've always regarded them as a reference source and I still do! But for whatever reason, this one just wasnt at the races at all. Maybe it was a filter setting or some other setting I'm not sure. I ruled it out of contention pretty early on and everyone else there on the day were in agreement.

Back to the Lampi vs the Meitner. At the moment I would say the Meitner has the edge but I'm gonna throw some less than stellar recordings at both later and mix things up a little, different genres etc. It could swing back in the Lampi's favor yet.

Once again big big thanks to all who came along over the weekend.

As for those who think all DACs sound the same......complete and utter bollox!

[nige2000]

That's great stuff
More proof that bits are not only bits

Now for usb cables, audio pc and santa ; )

[jkeny]

That's great stuff
More proof that bits are not only bits

Now for usb cables, audio pc and santa ; )

Don't you know - there is no sanity clause in this hobby?

[nige2000]

Sanity is overrated
Music sounds better in wonderland

[Ken Moreland]

Dave,
Very enjoyable day yesterday and glad I avoided being clamped, hard to beat living in the country. Comparing the Meitner/Lampizator/Hugo there's something there to satisfy all preferences. The Meitner is certainly a superb Dac and even for cable sceptics it was a surprise to me how much it improved by adding the Nordost cables. Worth your while building in all the future-proofing options for USB/ Hirez/ DSD and then you'll be ready to join the MQN community.
KM

[cvrle59]

Easy one for you Ken, you can carry your Dac in the back pocket, like teenagers do with the phones...:)))
You could even forget power supply home, your Dac would still get tested.

[DaveF]

I'm running out of popcorn for the PFM thread. :-)

Getting back to my own comparisons here, the system has been on since 8.30 this morning and room is a bloody furnace. I had the Lampi back in for a few hours and it was superb again particulary with some sparsely recorded blues and jazz CDs. Went back to some large scale symphonic work and just as impressive. I've just put the Meitner back in in the last hour and played the same symphony. I think Meitner resolves the more dense complex passages a little better and has a tighter grip on the bass. On the same piece, the Lampi was a little more wooly or marginally boomier in the bass but the midrange on strings etc had a richer and more full bodied sound.
I'm level matching as best I can just to keep things with some sort of consistancy.

This is going to be a tough one to call. Earlier I played a period instrument version of the Brandenburg Concertos. A sharp recording with lots of violins, trumpets and woodwinds. Never heard it sound this good before through the Lampi.

[jkeny]

I'm running out of popcorn for the PFM thread. :-)

I have a whole vat of it on the go at the moment if you need some supplies - nearly as entertaining as the tennis today (but in a different way - those two guys I admire)

[tony]

I'm running out of popcorn for the PFM thread. :-)

Getting back to my own comparisons here, the system has been on since 8.30 this morning and room is a bloody furnace. I had the Lampi back in for a few hours and it was superb again particulary with some sparsely recorded blues and jazz CDs. Went back to some large scale symphonic work and just as impressive. I've just put the Meitner back in in the last hour and played the same symphony. I think Meitner resolves the more dense complex passages a little better and has a tighter grip on the bass. On the same piece, the Lampi was a little more wooly or marginally boomier in the bass but the midrange on strings etc had a richer and more full bodied sound.
I'm level matching as best I can just to keep things with some sort of consistancy.

This is going to be a tough one to call. Earlier I played a period instrument version of the Brandenburg Concertos. A sharp recording with lots of violins, trumpets and woodwinds. Never heard it sound this good before through the Lampi.

You are hearing the same things as me Dave. The Meitner is a special yoke it has the detail and control of bass. The difference with the Lampi is what is often described in reports there is a mid range magic but that sacrifices some control on bass and absolute clarity on detail. Maybe the Level 5-7 would bring that. At that level the price comparisons are similar so maybe the extra quality in parts would work. MQn and a good audio pc is going to give you more on both dacs. Chord might be best of all worlds you can take it on your holidays. Not for this thread but does anybody use it as a portable?