For the past 2 weeks, I have been listening, listening and then as an after thought, compared it to my current Dac.. Then, I had to remind myself (now this is a first!) to compare it to the Vinyl rig…
So, before you read on, you got to understand that I am an out & out analog guy… and for me having a DAC is just to listen to some odd discs that I don’t have on LP or for stuff that was never printed on vinyl… (like, Moonrise over the Silk Road- Shujaat Husain Khan - Kayhan Kalhor).
So, last month after a lot of continuous bombardment (which has been all over the nets for R2R) I decided to consider upgrading my DAC (one I have been fairly ok with for over 4 years – Chord 2qute)…
Many DAC’s came up for consideration, including the erstwhile favorites – HOLO Spring DAC, Audio-GD, etc, and of course the ubiquitous Dena Frips range….
Then one reference was made by FM yogibear about a DAC that is famous in the DIY forums – Fractal Dac by EC Designs.
He even helped me source it …
Now, why would I jump for it? Especially since I have only Yogibear’s and over 600 pages of DIY forum’s pages word for it? Well, I am a bit kooky like that… Esp since a fair amount of folks there seem to have compared it to Terminator and other even more expensive gear and it seemed to come out on top of ‘em all…
So, am I naïve? Too trusting? To many, it would appear that way. But, believe me, it was pure agony for me those 2 weeks of armchair research.. Esp since this seemed to be raved about as a DAC that seems to satisfy many a Vinyl head like me…
So, could it be, will it come close to the vinyl gear that I have? Can I finally listen to my Shujaat Khan album on a setup that brings the SQ as close as it gets to Vinyl?
Now, for some who get the emotion, I think will agree, just trying to answer that question, and succeeding would be more than worth it….
So, how many of you want to get the answer quickly? Well, I had to wait and listen for a few weeks. While I got the answer within the first hour… the why of it gets answered on every listen…
So, what will follow is that journey… A journey that allowed me to give my vinyl rig a good ong rest!
But, that story we will begin on another day…
For now, let me get back to the R2R conundrum and the fact that the Fractal Dac was an unknown factor to consider… With virtually no fanboys tom-tomming its ability to bring down the heavens with the angels singing operatic paens of hitherto unheard of scales that make the holy ghost bluster in disbelief – how the heck did these puny mortals design such a DAC?
So, with just the DIY and few other computer audiophile forums talking about this – it was a difficult decision…
But boy am I glad I took it.
So, before I go today, let me leave you with this:
1. It is a DAC that will not go anywhere soon
and 2: I promise to let you all in with detailed reviews about why I love it so!
Here are a few pictures:
This is the Passive Volume Control - SVC24
The below are the DAC - DA96ETF and the Digital Audio Reference Source- U192ETL
So, before you read on, you got to understand that I am an out & out analog guy… and for me having a DAC is just to listen to some odd discs that I don’t have on LP or for stuff that was never printed on vinyl… (like, Moonrise over the Silk Road- Shujaat Husain Khan - Kayhan Kalhor).
So, last month after a lot of continuous bombardment (which has been all over the nets for R2R) I decided to consider upgrading my DAC (one I have been fairly ok with for over 4 years – Chord 2qute)…
Many DAC’s came up for consideration, including the erstwhile favorites – HOLO Spring DAC, Audio-GD, etc, and of course the ubiquitous Dena Frips range….
Then one reference was made by FM yogibear about a DAC that is famous in the DIY forums – Fractal Dac by EC Designs.
He even helped me source it …
Now, why would I jump for it? Especially since I have only Yogibear’s and over 600 pages of DIY forum’s pages word for it? Well, I am a bit kooky like that… Esp since a fair amount of folks there seem to have compared it to Terminator and other even more expensive gear and it seemed to come out on top of ‘em all…
So, am I naïve? Too trusting? To many, it would appear that way. But, believe me, it was pure agony for me those 2 weeks of armchair research.. Esp since this seemed to be raved about as a DAC that seems to satisfy many a Vinyl head like me…
So, could it be, will it come close to the vinyl gear that I have? Can I finally listen to my Shujaat Khan album on a setup that brings the SQ as close as it gets to Vinyl?
Now, for some who get the emotion, I think will agree, just trying to answer that question, and succeeding would be more than worth it….
So, how many of you want to get the answer quickly? Well, I had to wait and listen for a few weeks. While I got the answer within the first hour… the why of it gets answered on every listen…
So, what will follow is that journey… A journey that allowed me to give my vinyl rig a good ong rest!
But, that story we will begin on another day…
For now, let me get back to the R2R conundrum and the fact that the Fractal Dac was an unknown factor to consider… With virtually no fanboys tom-tomming its ability to bring down the heavens with the angels singing operatic paens of hitherto unheard of scales that make the holy ghost bluster in disbelief – how the heck did these puny mortals design such a DAC?
So, with just the DIY and few other computer audiophile forums talking about this – it was a difficult decision…
But boy am I glad I took it.
So, before I go today, let me leave you with this:
1. It is a DAC that will not go anywhere soon
and 2: I promise to let you all in with detailed reviews about why I love it so!
Here are a few pictures:
This is the Passive Volume Control - SVC24
The below are the DAC - DA96ETF and the Digital Audio Reference Source- U192ETL
