Coventry DACoff - Sunday 26th June 2022

[bencat]

First of huge thank you to Ian for being a very generous and patient host today was fun and i got to meet and chat with other people who did not look blank when i asked what the cable was. Will post more views tomorrow I am getting old and that sort of drive has left me feeling too tired to be cogent about my comments.

Thanks to all for putting up with my chatter it is harmless but i do know I can go on a bit . More Anon .

 

[ian917]

From my seat and with my ears, all of the DACs were more than adequate for the job. I preferred some DACs over others and these may be different from the choices of other folks in attendance. I like DACs that engage me; as long as it does that, I can live with less than 'perfect sound'. I've heard high-end DACs that are technically impressive but the sound just doesn't gel for me and cheap DACs that make me want to sit and listen.

The best DAC on the day was the Holo Spring 3 Kitsune. I've heard conflicting opinions on this, so it was good to hear what it could actually do in my system. It was both impressive and listenable. I wonder how good the Holo May is?

Group 2 was the DiDiT, Audial, and Denafrips. They engaged me better than the last group.

The last group was Arcam and Rega. Not bad by any means but just not for me.

 

[bencat]

Okay done my gym visit this am and feeling a little more in the right space to make some comments .

Firstly all of the DAC's used were good or better . There was none of them that I would say I could not live with and I am sure in isolation they are all excellent performers.

For what it is worth my preferred choice was the Denafrips, DiDit , Rega , Holo Spring . Now all of these were what I would call musical in that they got out of the way and let you hear what is being played . They all had differences in presentation and a/b showed this but it was also very noticeable that after a quite short time you adjusted to the differences. One thing which was for me very startling was that in the Arcam demo Jules was using his phone as source plugged directly in to the Arcam via the iPhone usb . This meant that because of the system routing this would play but would not use the Mutec M3 reclocker . Out of interest we played one track via the above routing and then the next using the CD which would route the signal via the Mutec and then in to the Arcam AES/EBU input. The difference was not subtle one comment was that this sounded like a completely different track which I could easily understand as things were so much better with the Mutec in circuit . For all the other demo,s the Mutec was in circuit so only the DAC's were different .

Just for completion and to follow up on what we agreed here is a list of the tracks I used for anyone interested .

Blind Boys of Alabama - Jesus Gonna be Here - Spirit of the Century
Shack - Tie me Down - On The Corner of Miles and Gil
King Crimson - Easy Money - Larks Tongue in Aspic
Ezio - Just to Talk to You - Black Boots on Latin Feet
First Aid - Stay Gold - Stay Gold
The Blue Nile - Tinsletown in the Rain - Walk across the Rooftops
Les Negresse Vertes - Hey Maria - Acoustic Clubbing
The Rankin Family - You feel the same way too - Endless Summer
John Martyn - Glorybox - The Church with one Bell
Black (AKA Colin Vearncombe) - Now Youre Gone - Comedy
Bob Marley (Sam Redmores Acoustic Takedown) - Is This Love - Band Camp - Sam Redmore Remixes

I also heard and liked a Lucinda Williams album which I ordered on the strength of the track i heard and that arrives today .

So great fun and Alan as usual put the group to shame with the loudness of his strides which were a true vision . The Pizza was a lovely and generous treat from our host but sadly due to my Diabetes the Pavlova could only be looked at longingly by me , everyone else seemed to be loving it .

Just to say that the Arcam DAC was mine and had been sold to Jules and in my system at home i had preferred that to the Denafrips . Well on this day and this system I found the Denafrips to sound for much better and was in fact my favourite DAC of the day so systems , synergy a different room can all influence things . Nothing is ever just black and white it almost always a frustrating infinite shade of grey .

 

[bencat]

As things go you learn new things every day but Ian on the day thought my Denafrips Pro8 used the same chip set as the Arcam D33 and he seemed to be very accurate in his knowledge . Well it seems that this is not the case as far as i can find out the Arcam D33 uses Texas Instruments PCM1792A chips a pair one for each channel . However the Denafrips as has been confirmed by Alan who is using it at the moment the chipset is 8 x Burr Brown PCM1701 chips 4 per channel (hence I suppose the Pro8 name) . From a quick search these are reckoned to be a very chip when used singly or in pairs using eight is a little OTT but will allow for some smoothing .

 

[Zaiden]

Thank you everyone, especially Ian. I had a really great time and it was awesome meeting everyone and sharing in our love of audio!

Unfortunately had a very bad sequence of luck after the Bakeoff where the trains from Coventry/Canley/Tile HIll were all cancelled and barely caught the last train back to London after getting a bus to Rugby, getting back at 1am then spending an hour taking the bus back to my place because the last tube goes just a bit after midnight, meaning I reached home at 2am.

I'll get my impressions out there sometime but since I'm also recuperating today, do not expect them that fast.

 

[freefallrob]

Thank you everyone, especially Ian. I had a really great time and it was awesome meeting everyone and sharing in our love of audio!

Unfortunately had a very bad sequence of luck after the Bakeoff where the trains from Coventry/Canley/Tile HIll were all cancelled and barely caught the last train back to London after getting a bus to Rugby, getting back at 1am then spending an hour taking the bus back to my place because the last tube goes just a bit after midnight, meaning I reached home at 2am.

I'll get my impressions out there sometime but since I'm also recuperating today, do not expect them that fast.

Oh blimey! That’s a shocker of a journey, anyway good to meet you

 

[ian917]

Thank you everyone, especially Ian. I had a really great time and it was awesome meeting everyone and sharing in our love of audio!

Unfortunately had a very bad sequence of luck after the Bakeoff where the trains from Coventry/Canley/Tile HIll were all cancelled and barely caught the last train back to London after getting a bus to Rugby, getting back at 1am then spending an hour taking the bus back to my place because the last tube goes just a bit after midnight, meaning I reached home at 2am.

I'll get my impressions out there sometime but since I'm also recuperating today, do not expect them that fast.

Nice to meet you too!

Sorry that you had such a terrible journey home. You can tell your friends just how bad public transport is outside London.

 

[Jules_S]

I know I said that I wouldn't like to pick a "best" from the bunch; I've been re-thinking about the day earlier on and come to the conclusion that if I was forced at gunpoint to pick one DAC out of all those we listened to, I'd actually probably take the Rega. Was it the most revealing? No. The most detailed? No. The most accurate? Nope. In traditional audiophile terms it was nowhere, but in the most important task of making enjoyable music, I felt it hit the spot really well. I was more engaged with the music via the Rega than any of the others, including my Arcam on the day. (N.B. - now I've got it home in my own system and it's not replaying music via my phone, the difference is substantial, but that's kind of irrelevant in the context of this decision).

Maybe I'm looking for a very different result from my system, but to my ears many of the other DACs did the "hi-fi" thing exceptionally well, with bags of detail, clarity, soundstaging and so on, but somehow to my ears threw the baby out with the bathwater. I'd trade all of that for musical involvement any day, although naturally I'd like it all! I did find Ian's Audial had a lovely smooth midrange and a nice presentation of vocals and enjoyed that too.

@Zaiden sorry to hear about your travel nightmare!

 

[bencat]

@Zaiden Sorry to hear you had such a poor time getting home we all understand you will not be posting until you feel a little more human .

@Jules_S I know what you mean about the Rega being easy to listen too and also how any DAC can sound different when in another system . As i mentioned I preferred the Arcam over the Denafrips in my system which is why I used the Arcam (The Arcam was only replaced by a dCS Delius / Purcell combination which is a whole world of cost above the Arcam) system still plays a part . On the day in the room we were listening to I liked the Denafrips much more than the Arcam both on the CD four fixed tracks and what was played after . I am convinced had the system been changed there may well have been a chance that my view was different . All the DAC's were for me units I could learn to live with and I am sure that some units only really show their true quality and strengths over a longer and more relaxed listening period.

 

[Zaiden]

Great time all around. Thank you Ian for the pizza as well as organising the entire thing, Julian for giving me a lift back to Coventry central, and Rob's wife for the wonderfully delicious Pavlova! As a side note, Rob may now find me looking to attend bakeoffs where I can have the chance to sample more of Ms Rob's baking.

Enjoyed the standard tracks. I've added Across the Lines and Ashes to Ashes to my music library. There are some others I'd like to add, will need to do some digging and listening to other people's personal tracks to find the particular songs I really enjoyed.

For anyone interested, if not for lacking the RCA to 3.5mm interconnect, my 25 minutes of tracks would have consisted of:

Hit Me - Dirty Loops
nATALIE - Lemm
One Flight Down - Norah Jones
Kaikai Kitan - Eve
By Your Side - Sawada Kaori
Kaen - Ziyoou-vachi

My provisional impressions of the DACs paired with Ian's setup were as follows in order of testing:

Didit DAC - Soundstage felt constricted. But it filled up the confines of those restrictions with noticeably significant body. If most cases, a wider soundstage feels like the sound emanating out and gradually fading as the distance travels out. With the DiDiT it sounded like there was no fading and the proximity of the soundstage was filled up to the brim. Vocals were recessed for my liking, but it definitely had the most engaging processing of instruments/acoustic effects. Personally, I prefer a more natural sound but even then, the DiDiT had me tapping my feet at processing effects. I would actually describe it as having a tube-like funkiness that is more aggressive than laid-back/warm.

Arcam D33 - Sounded a tad too analytical to my ears, and the mids were not as recessed as the DiDiT, but recessed all the same. Detail was fantastic. I feel the speakers of the day, Q Acoustics Concept 300, are more on the analytical side of the sound spectrum to my ears, and that the Arcam would pair well with a warm, naturalistic sounding setup. My vocabulary isn't very good but basically I definitely thought the Arcam would pair quite well with something like an electrostat configuration which tends to present immaculate detail/imaging in a more relaxed way.

Rega DAC - Imaging was quite impressive on this one. Felt like it was on the opposite spectrum of the DACs which sounded right, but not in a bad way. The 'right' sounding DACs feel like they'll tell you how the music is, no frills, and not hide anything bad. The Rega gave me the impression it would make mediocre things sound good. From cursory reading, this is mentioned as a 'warm DAC' by many on the internet. I also know I have an innate preference for warmer sounds. On the day, I think the Q Acoustics Concept 300's analytical panache balanced out the warmth of the Rega to produce excellently balanced synergy. Which says a lot about system synergy, considering how much cheaper it is compared to some of the other DACs we sampled (similar price-wise to a Mojo I believe if not more expensive). My pick for king of 'Bang for your Buck'.

Denafrips Pro 8 Mk1 - Sounded 'right'. Lovely soundstage and made sure to not miss any devils in the details. Imaging was a step up from the Rega. There was no personality I could ascribe to this other than 'balanced'. Sounded like the performers were in the room with me.

Audial S5 - Extremely smooth to my ears and the vocals were very luscious on these. I think this was the only DAC which sounded 'mellow', not trying to bring any details to your face. In that sense, it was the politest of them all. But on tracks where vocals were not the focus, they struggled to keep me engaged and were a bit too laid-back. If theoretically you could combine the Audial S5 and the DiDiT into one package where you had the Audial's vocals/soundstage and the DiDiT's everything else, that would be one hell of an emotional DAC that has it all across the board, which would be on the complete flipside of the spectrum from the Denafrips/Holo DACs. In isolation I'd say they fantastically complement each other as listening experiences. Not taking amplifier into consideration, I think this would pair well with KEF/Tannoy speakers.

Holo Spring Kitsune - Very lively personality. The sound textures were pristine. Sounded 'righterest' of all the DACs and holographic (best soundstage that was so immersive it sounded very 3D) to boot. Imaging was even more of a step up from the Denafrips Pro 8 MK1.
Sounded even more like the performers were in the room with me as well.

--------------------------------------

If I were to only have one standalone DAC out of the lot, I would absolutely choose the Holo Spring Kitsune/Denafrips Pro 8 MK1. Then again, my listening preference tends towards naturalistic/smooth sounds.

I don't think the Chord Mojo would be a slouch at all. I think it would lose out on soundstage, but show up in a similar way to Rega in terms of making bad recordings sound pleasant too with the caveat of also sounding revealing due to Chord's FPGA implementation. But I guess that's something for us to find out next time/in the distant future.

Once again, it was great meeting and awesome to see everyone. I would like to thank everybody for being accommodating and welcoming of me - especially Ian for being a brilliant and kind host - and I hope to see everyone once again at some point in the near future