Matrix X-Sabre - DSD for us cheapskates..?

[Claus]

Any thoughts on the X-Sabre?

After all the talk about DSD (now that 24/192 is no longer enough!) I came across this DAC on the Danish forum. It seems to be very popular on Headfi.org forum, and is getting great reviews all over the place.

It's going for around 850 euro plus shipping and duty depending on where you get it.



http://www.matrix-digi.com/en/products/49/index.html

Or would it be better to save up for the HUGO?

[tony]

Maybe your dac provider might rise to the challenge?

[markof]

Don't know the X-Sabre but am interested in this one, IFI iDSD Micro- just out:



Details at: http://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/micro-idsd/

I'm really enjoying it's younger brother, the nano.
Plays just about everything and is battery powered too.

Mark.

[tony]

How does it compare Mark to your JKDAC32? Is it in the same ball park or better?

[Claus]

Wow that ifi looks cool as well. Pretty much set on the Hugo in terms of value and build quality. It also adds portability, which might come in handy. Must see if I can get a listen to Ken's..

[Ivor]

Wow that ifi looks cool as well. Pretty much set on the Hugo in terms of value and build quality. It also adds portability, which might come in handy. Must see if I can get a listen to Ken's..

The guys in The Listening Suite do the iFi stuff.

[markof]

Wow that ifi looks cool as well. Pretty much set on the Hugo in terms of value and build quality. It also adds portability, which might come in handy. Must see if I can get a listen to Ken's..

The guys in The Listening Suite do the iFi stuff.

Unfortunately, The Listening Suite had stopped selling iFi products when I spoke to them about 6 months ago.
A UK distributor - Select Audio - covers Eire now and the owner, Stephen Riddick, is a good guy to deal with but it's just not the same as having a local outlet.

Mark.

[Ivor]

Wow that ifi looks cool as well. Pretty much set on the Hugo in terms of value and build quality. It also adds portability, which might come in handy. Must see if I can get a listen to Ken's..

The guys in The Listening Suite do the iFi stuff.

Unfortunately, The Listening Suite had stopped selling iFi products when I spoke to them about 6 months ago.
A UK distributor - Select Audio - covers Eire now and the owner, Stephen Riddick, is a good guy to deal with but it's just not the same as having a local outlet.

Mark.

That's a pity alright.

[Claus]

Yeah that's a shame as for once product could be demoed before making the jump...

[Fran]

I'm not convinced at all by DSD. First of all there's the complete lack of material - re-releasing a classic album in DSD ain't gonna make it sound better. Think of how comparatively few 24/192 albums there are for instance. Then there's the size issue - I downloaded a test track from 2L before Christmas - and 15 min classical track that was 9Gb!

And none of that would make eg Sketches of Spain sound any better I think....




Fran