have been wanting to upgrade my amp and get a new dac for a while now but took me sometime to decide which way i wanted to go. i had a nad c272 paired with monitor audio rs6 speakers. a while ago the cambridge 640c cdp packed up and have been listening to music on a nad dvd player since.
for the amp i purchased the acoustic portrait thiyaga 200w per channel pre and power. had been to fm nikhil's house a few times and he helped me a great deal in the decision. infact made it very easy for me since he had the same amp (albeit with a tube pre). lugged my speakers to his house one day and had a listen. really loved the sound signature which is very neutral and a few steps above from the nad, and at a price similar to the nad. much better definition all around with sharper and more distinct sounds through the entire spectrum. i wont go into defining each instrument and vocals - its just a few grades better throughout. gives you a much more 'live' listening experience. dealt with siva and jeya at acoustic portrait in bangalore. was a very good experience and didnt have any problem while purchasing the amp. they were patient with my questions and tried to accommodate in any way possible. though i must add that if you have any requests that will interfere in the music reproduction, siva will not entertain it in anyway
. dont go to him asking for convenience over SQ
as for the dac i went an unconventional route. had researched quite a bit on the assembled kits that were available. initially didnt understand much about it at all but with the help of fm sarith, i started understanding what the important components of a dac were. also with help from diyaudio forum, settled in on a well established and recognized dac. there is a guy called weiliang that has designed quite a few dac boards and sells it right from totally unassembled, to assembled components to fully assembled dac. i went with the fully assembled one (since i do not have any experience with soldering and electronics). went with the ak 4118 input section (for spdif and coaxial), ak 4495 dac chip, xmos usb card (for usb input section) and LM49860 for the output amp section. the dac is very solid in the way its built as you can see from pics and pretty heavy as well. it also comes with a toroidal transformer. i loved the sound quality. very transparent and dynamic. really opened up the amp when compared to playing it on the nad dvd player. streets ahead. and def quite a few steps better than the cambridge cdp that i had. if i had to pick a small defect (or perhaps just a personal preference), i wouldve liked the vocals to be a little bit warmer. but just a little. the good thing about this dac is that you can experiement with the output amp chips. you can buy one for under 10 dollars and this will give you different sound signatures.
purchased it from minishow on ebay who came well recommended. he was very professional and answered questions for over a month before i made the purchase. exchanged atleast 30 emails with him. accommodated me in every way possible and item was received well packaged. totally costed me about $300 plus import duty
below is the link of the dac i bought with internal pictures
Finished AK4495 AK4118 DAC Decode LM49860 High Quality New Design for Audio | eBay
the xmos usb card is not included in the link and is extra
for the amp i purchased the acoustic portrait thiyaga 200w per channel pre and power. had been to fm nikhil's house a few times and he helped me a great deal in the decision. infact made it very easy for me since he had the same amp (albeit with a tube pre). lugged my speakers to his house one day and had a listen. really loved the sound signature which is very neutral and a few steps above from the nad, and at a price similar to the nad. much better definition all around with sharper and more distinct sounds through the entire spectrum. i wont go into defining each instrument and vocals - its just a few grades better throughout. gives you a much more 'live' listening experience. dealt with siva and jeya at acoustic portrait in bangalore. was a very good experience and didnt have any problem while purchasing the amp. they were patient with my questions and tried to accommodate in any way possible. though i must add that if you have any requests that will interfere in the music reproduction, siva will not entertain it in anyway
. dont go to him asking for convenience over SQas for the dac i went an unconventional route. had researched quite a bit on the assembled kits that were available. initially didnt understand much about it at all but with the help of fm sarith, i started understanding what the important components of a dac were. also with help from diyaudio forum, settled in on a well established and recognized dac. there is a guy called weiliang that has designed quite a few dac boards and sells it right from totally unassembled, to assembled components to fully assembled dac. i went with the fully assembled one (since i do not have any experience with soldering and electronics). went with the ak 4118 input section (for spdif and coaxial), ak 4495 dac chip, xmos usb card (for usb input section) and LM49860 for the output amp section. the dac is very solid in the way its built as you can see from pics and pretty heavy as well. it also comes with a toroidal transformer. i loved the sound quality. very transparent and dynamic. really opened up the amp when compared to playing it on the nad dvd player. streets ahead. and def quite a few steps better than the cambridge cdp that i had. if i had to pick a small defect (or perhaps just a personal preference), i wouldve liked the vocals to be a little bit warmer. but just a little. the good thing about this dac is that you can experiement with the output amp chips. you can buy one for under 10 dollars and this will give you different sound signatures.
purchased it from minishow on ebay who came well recommended. he was very professional and answered questions for over a month before i made the purchase. exchanged atleast 30 emails with him. accommodated me in every way possible and item was received well packaged. totally costed me about $300 plus import duty
below is the link of the dac i bought with internal pictures
Finished AK4495 AK4118 DAC Decode LM49860 High Quality New Design for Audio | eBay
the xmos usb card is not included in the link and is extra
