Hello,
my first post here, I happened to hit ASR by casually looking for the SEG's reviews and, oh my, destroyed!!!
I got one like 3 years ago, Stan also sold me first rev of the Dorado (...), I hate cables, lights and superfluous stuff and as such the thing looks plain horrible to me not to mention the thin gold paint job which makes it even worse not to add the led which make it always feel like xmas...
Back in time, as stated along this thread, it got many praises for quality vs cost and after many readings and budget considerations along with a very flexible array of inputs (I use the two optical along with the usb) I got sold on it and bought; the Dorado broke in less than a week and got one back, as said several times, labelling is confusing, 12V-15V (!!!), only Stan knows...
I once made a listening test, CD playing on my old but improved Sony CD-P X505ES, optical to the DAC, switching the preamp knob from DAC to CD, the Sony is way more pleasant to my ears nonetheless almost 30 years old (bought in 1991, went all the way 200Km off of home to get it), sure I had a skilled tech to make some upgrades to the output stage but, still, subjective impression is that I like it better.
Back to the SEG, "Sound Signatures" (...), really? Press and hold, remember how many blinks = what...
I can't really judge sound as I never got another DAC but, inputs flexibility aside, I won't buy it again.
Same experience with clicks on bitrate change, I listen to compilations and when next tune has a different bitrate I hear the click which is annoying, I wrote Stan who said, after quite some attempts, a new firmware won't probably fix it (I run FW 2.9 but gave it one last chance and ordered the rev.5 in the hope it can still keep up for a bit before I move on).
Long story short, why not to put it all in a single enclosure??? Really, a mess of cables, power brick (no linear PSU here!!!) to Dorado, Dorado too SEG... really, what is into that little brick which couldn't be fit into the ugly SEG case and sell the whole for a few pounds more?
Details, SEG's and Dorado's switches inverted, may sound silly as one can open the case and revert it but it's also little details which make a reputation
Do any of you think there is a way to improve the sound of the thing or better leave it there and go past it? By the way, I am curious to see what is inside the Dorado, I think that since it got cold and rainy (nope, not in the UK, Italy here, southern Italì) I'll plug the not-so-audiophile brick straight to the SEG and open the Dorado to find out what does the magics...
Have a great weekend and thanks for the review
Giovanni
p.s. as expected, a couple transistors and a bunch of caps...
p.p.s. the switch can't be switched upside down to match the SEG's orientation, details, details...