Digital or analog or dac or vinyl or amp or speakers

[firearm12]

Hello guys,

Please help.I am scratching my head for a long time now over sound quality that I get through my setup. First i will explain first what I have.

Digital:

1). Dac is audio-gd dac 19 10th anniversary edition
2) amp is Naim nait xs2
3). Dali Mentor menuet speakers

Vinyl:
1) thorens 240-2 turntable
2) schiit Mani phono
3) amp is Naim nait xs2
4) Dali Mentor menuet speakers

When listening to vinyl, its the same speakers and amp but the sound is more full bodied and big with heavy with large soundstage. It sounds silky. The vocals are just wonderful and like someone is sitting in front of me. When listening to digital, although it's more detailed but it gets harsh and fatiguing after some time, sounds thin on vocals and not as heavy. Does this mean my dac has a problem or its just the reason why the world is running towards vinyl again. What do you guys think. I am never completely satisfied with playing my digital files. Sometimes, I think about changing amp or dac or speakers, but when listening to vinyl, I hold my horses and think it's just analog vs digital and I will never be able to get this kind of sound with digital. Do I need better dac than audiogd. What options I have for upgrading. I am not looking for vinyl sound from digital files but still I want my digital music to become more meaty and enjoyable.

 

[Selvin]

If you feel bright and harsh for all Digital tracks whenever you play digital formats then your DAC may be a bright signature one. Suggest you to try some early days 'Music India' CD's which are bit closer to vinyl sounding.

Come to Vinyl and Digital, already lot of debates over net.

I have many vinyls which are sounding better than other formats and also having few worst sounding vinyls.
I have bit number of CD's which are better than many good sounding Vinyls.
Even I have few mp3 cd's which are able to challenge some of the best sounding vinyls.

Recently along with two other FM's we tested side by side in my setup 1st pressing of near mint UK made vinyl with Japanese press CD of SADE Promise album and we didn't found any difference.

So what I understood is it is possible to make better music in any format.

I believe better sounding of music is all mater of the skills of Music Director, Skills and taste of Recording Engineer, Budget of the album which decides the studio, Mixing, Mastering and duplicating equipment's etc.

At last from my experience If I pick 100 vinyls about 60 are sounding in good to excellent (assume vinyls are perfect condition). When comes to CD's this will go down 20-30 numbers and when comes to mp3 it is 2-3. This number is matter.

 

[shibashis]

We should assume from what you wrote that your amp+speaker+cables, this combination is mostly at harmony since vinyls do sound nice and as you wish them to be. No need to tinker with these components I think, obviously this points to the DAC, more so because only problem is with the digital sources.
Audio-GD DACs have good following here but it just maybe that it is not the right one for you, try with a different DACs if possible. Perhaps other forum members from Noida can help you out by visiting with their DACs for some experimentation.

 

[firearm12]

At last from my experience If I pick 100 vinyls about 60 are sounding in good to excellent (assume vinyls are perfect condition). When comes to CD's this will go down 20-30 numbers and when comes to mp3 it is 2-3. This number is matter.

I think this is absolutely true. Its harder to find good sounding cd's than to find good sounding vinyls. In my case the overall sound signature of my setup is more fluid in case of vinyls than digital files. I did comparison of few tracks that I have both in vinyl and cd format, and vinyl sound wins, especially in vocals and midrange. Bass is obviously better in cds. Will it change for better if I go for a better DAC or rather should I go for change in amp/speakers, maybe my speakers and amp dont suit digital sounds (is there anything as such a thing?)

 

[Hari Iyer]

IME with DACs i have noticed that they have sound signature of their own. When i replaced my Marantz cd5400 analgoue output with my diy Burrbrown DAC the difference was night and day.

 

[mpw]

What's the interconnect between the dac and the Amp ?

 

[firearm12]

What's the interconnect between the dac and the Amp ?

Its furutech alpha line 2. Found it better than sound foundations olympus mk2 and audioquest golden gate that I have. don't think it's cable issue.

 

[Naturelover]

Reach out to local FMs to possibly try out other DACs.
What's your digital player?

 

[dheerajin]

IMO, your DAC is fine. It is better than any other sigma delta DAC available in the market. Audio GD is known for their analog sound.
Have you ever thought about source(CD Player or PC).

Recently I changed my source( Laptop heavily optimized for audio with 10GB RAM) to SOTM SMS200 and difference was mindblowing. Even Marantz SACD player was not upto the level of SMS200. Even I compared it with my friend's Esoteric Transport and winner was SMS 200.

So dont ignore the source(transport) and try to change the cable from transport to DAC.

 

[Naturelover]

Dheeraj, do tell us more on your experience of the SMS200 and the comparison with other transports.
What hard drive and DAC are you using?

 

[omishra]

BTW, if I am not wrong, Audio GD does has some jumper setting inside to correct dezired sound signature. Try to download manual and give a try.

http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/DAC1911/DAC19EN_Use.htm
In above link, at lower right corner it says sound becomes smoother and warmer with lower oversampling.

 

[dheerajin]

Dheeraj, do tell us more on your experience of the SMS200 and the comparison with other transports.
What hard drive and DAC are you using?

I have Holo spring R2R DAC, I prefer it to run in NOS mode. SMS200 Sounds best with Linear power supply and for that i am in process of getting SBOOSTER.

If you want to experience more about SMS200, you can try other forums, LIKE CA,HF etc..

 

[mpw]

Firearm

One reason I pointed to the cables was I think you need to look at source as well..

Maybe can you use a software equalizer and check?

Not into computer audio at present but me thinks the DAC needs to be looked at much later.

Good luck..

Edit.. FM OMishra has made a nice suggestion for you to explore.

Regards

 

[firearm12]

IMO, your DAC is fine. It is better than any other sigma delta DAC available in the market. Audio GD is known for their analog sound.
Have you ever thought about source(CD Player or PC).

Recently I changed my source( Laptop heavily optimized for audio with 10GB RAM) to SOTM SMS200 and difference was mindblowing. Even Marantz SACD player was not upto the level of SMS200. Even I compared it with my friend's Esoteric Transport and winner was SMS 200.

So dont ignore the source(transport) and try to change the cable from transport to DAC.

I use a Cambridge audio Stream magic 6 streamer which is connected by coax to the dac. music files are stored on a netgear Nas. Once I did a comparison from using a PC usb vs CA stream magic coax and found the stream magic to be a little better only but not much. Do you think I need a better coax cable. I am sceptical about coax cables. Currently I use a bandridge one.

 

[firearm12]

BTW, if I am not wrong, Audio GD does has some jumper setting inside to correct dezired sound signature. Try to download manual and give a try.

http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/DAC1911/DAC19EN_Use.htm

I have tried and played with all the jumper settings. All settings are a compromise of sound in one or other way. I have left it with pll off and 2x oversampling. I liked the pure NOS mode but that makes the soundstage too much compressed. I am looking towards a more relaxing sound. Pll on jumper fulfills the condition but then the bass becomes loose and not controllable and it Colors the vocals. very difficult to get satisfied.

 

[dheerajin]

I use a Cambridge audio Stream magic 6 streamer which is connected by coax to the dac. music files are stored on a netgear Nas. Once I did a comparison from using a PC usb vs CA stream magic coax and found the stream magic to be a little better only but not much. Do you think I need a better coax cable. I am sceptical about coax cables. Currently I use a bandridge one.

try to get one coax cable from friend to try. And one more thing to experiment is to ,,Raspberry Pi...it will definitely sound better than CA streamer. Ask anyone in your city who has this. I was on the same boat when I was using Laptop.I tried different cables and what not. Then I tried Raspberry with Hifiberry DIGI plus. After getting convinced that linux based ARM boards sound better..I jumped on to SMS 200 and I stopped thinking about any other trick to improve sound quotient.

 

[firearm12]

try to get one coax cable from friend to try. And one more thing to experiment is to ,,Raspberry Pi...it will definitely sound better than CA streamer. Ask anyone in your city who has this. I was on the same boat when I was using Laptop.I tried different cables and what not. Then I tried Raspberry with Hifiberry DIGI plus. After getting convinced that linux based ARM boards sound better..I jumped on to SMS 200 and I stopped thinking about any other trick to improve sound quotient.

I have an rpi. Let me see how can I get hifiberry digi plus

 

[dheerajin]

I have an rpi. Let me see how can I get hifiberry digi plus

I have hifiberry DIGI+PRO . If you know someone coming to Delhi from Pune then I can send .
My Standard set for RPi

RPI 2 MODB
hibfiberry digi+pro
IFI IPOWER 5V
Lifatec Toslink
Synergistic research Coax Cable
Wifi Dongle

 

[firearm12]

I have hifiberry DIGI+PRO . If you know someone coming to Delhi from Pune then I can send .
My Standard set for RPi

RPI 2 MODB
hibfiberry digi+pro
IFI IPOWER 5V
Lifatec Toslink
Synergistic research Coax Cable
Wifi Dongle

Thanks so much. Let me find out.

 

[SwaroopKS]

I have hifiberry DIGI+PRO . If you know someone coming to Delhi from Pune then I can send .
My Standard set for RPi

RPI 2 MODB
hibfiberry digi+pro
IFI IPOWER 5V
Lifatec Toslink
Synergistic research Coax Cable
Wifi Dongle

How does SOTM compare with pi+digi as a source? Very keenly interested as my source is pi.