I had assumed the two central RCAs are also inputs, so AES, USB and co-ax. I may be wrong though.Hmmn, interesting in the copious number of input options. Everything is catered for as long as one likes AES or USB. Bet it sounds amazing though!
I had assumed the two central RCAs are also inputs, so AES, USB and co-ax. I may be wrong though.Hmmn, interesting in the copious number of input options. Everything is catered for as long as one likes AES or USB. Bet it sounds amazing though!
”Boing!”, said Zebedee In excitement.
I suspect it is me that is wrong and I had made an assumption when I saw the RCA connection. Well spotted!I had assumed the two central RCAs are also inputs, so AES, USB and co-ax. I may be wrong though.
And where can we listen to and buy your DAC?I compared dcs Bartok, Mola Mola Tambaqui, MSB Discrete + the top MSB model and Rockna Wavedream to each other and my own built DACs. The only one I could live with was the MSB Discrete. The dcs Bartok IMO represents good value at its secondhand price of circa £7.5k but is no way worth £16k. The MSB Discrete with the inputs I need cost around £16k too, but sound better IMO. None of these DACs outperform my own DAC with tube output stage retailing at just over £3k so that's what I'm sticking with
Was it ever? (I always love a good absolute)Tonality and system matching aside (as we all are susceptible to that, and we all have a preference). Is the DAVE regardless of cost the best DAC that money can buy still in 2022?
I think that is the $64m question. I'm keen to hear one.Tonality and system matching aside (as we all are susceptible to that, and we all have a preference). Is the DAVE regardless of cost the best DAC that money can buy still in 2022?
Shouldn’t you be delighted, knowing your system can sound no better?I think that is the $64m question. I'm keen to hear one.
I'd be pretty gutted if I'd hit the end of the road of what I can upgrade to.
Exactly. Where's the fun in that?I'd be pretty gutted if I'd hit the end of the road of what I can upgrade to.
I openly admit I enjoy searching for the next big upgrade. It's a hobby as much as a quest.Shouldn’t you be delighted, knowing your system can sound no better?
This is true. Tastes can change, often as a result of hearing other possibilities, and we know hearing changes as we age (hopefully gradually over many years rather than rapidly).Exactly. Where's the fun in that?
Also, my tastes, preferences, knowledge, insight, experience and hearing change with time.
Your last paragraph is worrying. Different can be exciting of course, but if it isn’t also a difference which is better then you’ll be swapping kit faster than makes financial (or audiophile) sense. The skill in this hobby is, I think, in not only recognising better but in distinguishing short term better from long term better.And new components (to me) are always appearing, making last year's hit become this year's latest ad in the classifieds.
What's best now might not seem so golden in a little whiles time.
Anyway, different can be just as much fun as better.
Oh dear.Your last paragraph is worrying. Different can be exciting of course, but if it isn’t also a difference which is better then you’ll be swapping kit faster than makes financial (or audiophile) sense. The skill in this hobby is, I think, in not only recognising better but in distinguishing short term better from long term better.
Yes, I think our approaches are different in their focus though not entirely. I’ve done lots of “different” in my second rig, as much to experiment and learn as anything: valves and solid state, passive and active pre’s, various speaker types, classes A, A/B and D in the power amp department. But in my main rig, it’s definitely about improvements.Oh dear.
I didn't mean to worry you.
I did say that different can be just as much fun as better.
Actually, I think we just have somewhat different hifi hobbies.
My hifi hobby isn't generally about the pursuit of an ever closer approach to perfection. It's about gaining different perspectives on the music by investigating different audio presentations. More often than not a change is an obvious backward step, but not always. And sometimes a presentation isn't clearly better, whatever better might mean to you or me, but it is enjoyable for a while. Then I try something different.
Bet it sounds amazing though!
Yes, a change is as good as a rest sometimes. In much the same way as it was good to hear music in different concert halls and whilst we may have our favourite versions of the great composers, sometimes hearing a different approach enhances our enjoyment of what we have come to accept as best for us.Oh dear.
I didn't mean to worry you.
I did say that different can be just as much fun as better.
Actually, I think we just have somewhat different hifi hobbies.
My hifi hobby isn't generally about the pursuit of an ever closer approach to perfection. It's about gaining different perspectives on the music by investigating different audio presentations. More often than not a change is an obvious backward step, but not always. And sometimes a presentation isn't clearly better, whatever better might mean to you or me, but it is enjoyable for a while. Then I try something different.