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Neutral and transparent DAC – SMSL VMV D1 or Oppo Sonica?

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chairephon

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Why asking the question and not checking by yourself?

1) I still have to buy new xlr-> rca cables. 1.5m (not stacked) and 0.5 (stacked) ;) I dont't like to waste money. And I asked for a best practice advice ;)

2) How can I check this? Whether the toroidal tranformer is scattering or not? I have no idea. Is that something that one can hear?
 
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chairephon

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Thanks, amir.

This is how it looks like at the moment. On the left side is my headphone amp (Funk LAP-2) and on the right side the Oppo. A little bit waste of desk space :D

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chairephon

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And if it is with XLR, length should not be an issue. Then, if you cannot hear any difference, or if you hear a difference, you have the answer!

XLR is only at one end. My headphone amp only has rca inputs.
 

frogmeat69

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Same width and depth of the HA-1, just not as tall, or as heavy. No venting on top of the Sonica, so I would stack those babies!!
Wish my desk looked that neat and tidy, lol.
 
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chairephon

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So, I'm done. I connected the DAC and the amp with a rca cable (BS-2v2 ). The xlr and the rca output of the Sonica are nearly identical. Only the output level of xlr outputs are higher. The sound is fabulous. I play my music via roon. No upsampling or dsp just music ;)

IMG_3086.JPG
 

oivavoi

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The Swedish Audio Society did a blind test of the Oppo Sonica, and were able it to detect it on metronome/clicking signals - which means it's not completely transparent (it changes the signal in a way that can be audible). Probably sounds fine with music all the same, they couldn't detect it on the musical signals they used. That said, they were not able to detect at all the Yamaha WXC-50 in their testing. This unit is cheaper, and has more functionality than the Oppo.
(unfortunately, their tests are only available in Swedish in their printed magazine)

EDIT to the OP: Sorry, wasn't aware that you had already made the purchase. Congrats, I'm sure it sounds great!
 
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amirm

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That said, they were not able to detect at all the Yamaha WXC-50 in their testing.
Interesting. Would be good to get one to measure at some point!
 
D

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The Swedish Audio Society did a blind test of the Oppo Sonica, and were able it to detect it on metronome/clicking signals - which means it's not completely transparent (it changes the signal in a way that can be audible). Probably sounds fine with music all the same, they couldn't detect it on the musical signals they used. That said, they were not able to detect at all the Yamaha WXC-50 in their testing. This unit is cheaper, and has more functionality than the Oppo.
(unfortunately, their tests are only available in Swedish in their printed magazine)

EDIT to the OP: Sorry, wasn't aware that you had already made the purchase. Congrats, I'm sure it sounds great!

I'm a somewhat sleeping member of LTS, need to activate myself. In which issue did they test the Oppo?
 

oivavoi

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I'm a somewhat sleeping member of LTS, need to activate myself. In which issue did they test the Oppo?

I think it was two or three issues back. I try to keep all the back issues, but to my great chagrin my mom managed to throw out some of the latest issues (including this one) in an overly eager attempt to help me and my fiancée to clean when moving to our new house.
 

andreasmaaan

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I think it was two or three issues back. I try to keep all the back issues, but to my great chagrin my mom managed to throw out some of the latest issues (including this one) in an overly eager attempt to help me and my fiancée to clean when moving to our new house.

o_O
 
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chairephon

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The Swedish Audio Society did a blind test of the Oppo Sonica, and were able it to detect it on metronome/clicking signals - which means it's not completely transparent (it changes the signal in a way that can be audible). Probably sounds fine with music all the same, they couldn't detect it on the musical signals they used. That said, they were not able to detect at all the Yamaha WXC-50 in their testing. This unit is cheaper, and has more functionality than the Oppo.
(unfortunately, their tests are only available in Swedish in their printed magazine)

And that means? What means "detect"? And what means it changes the signal in an audible way? How? Did they measured it after the detection session? I can't imangine that. Metronome/clicking signals – what? Generated by?

These horror news scare me. What should I do now? Sold my Oppo because the Swedish Audio Society are able to detect the Oppo Sonica in a blind test? Buy the Yamaha? Maybe is because of the ESS chips? I don't know.
 

oivavoi

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And that means? What means "detect"? And what means it changes the signal in an audible way? How? Did they measured it after the detection session? I can't imangine that. Metronome/clicking signals – what? Generated by?

These horror news scare me. What should I do now? Sold my Oppo because the Swedish Audio Society are able to detect the Oppo Sonica in a blind test? Buy the Yamaha? Maybe is because of the ESS chips? I don't know.

Sorry, I really didn’t mean to generate any audiophile neurosis...:) As I said, I thought you were still considering which one to buy, otherwise I wouldn’t have said anything. My personal view is that the chance that you (or me) would notice it if somebody switched out the oppo with the Yamaha without you knowing is zero. As far as I know few people listen to metronome clicks for prolonged periods of time.

How these Swedes do it, is basically to compare the output from the most transparent and best-measuring dac they know of (can’t remember which one, only that it was hideously expensive) with the output from the device under test. If they are able to detect any differences between the two, they assume that the device under test adds something to the signal. If not, they can at least conclude that they were not able to detect any difference on this occasion between the device under test and their super-duper excellent dac.

So you can see it this way: compared with a super-expensive dac, the oppo wasn’t as good at converting metronome clicking from digital to analog without adding anything at all (simple rhythmic signals like that, or simple pink noise, is usually better for detecting subtle differences than music). But then again, many of the dacs they have tested have also been “detected”, and the Yamaha is one of the very few cheap ones which wasn’t detected at all. On music, they couldn’t notice any difference between the oppo and the other dac.

But again, sorry for bringing this up just after you bought the oppo! It seems to me like an excellent dac.
 
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frogmeat69

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And that means? What means "detect"? And what means it changes the signal in an audible way? How? Did they measured it after the detection session? I can't imangine that. Metronome/clicking signals – what? Generated by?

These horror news scare me. What should I do now? Sold my Oppo because the Swedish Audio Society are able to detect the Oppo Sonica in a blind test? Buy the Yamaha? Maybe is because of the ESS chips? I don't know.
How about enjoy the music??? AND RELAX. I have the 205, it ain't going anywhere, Swedes be damned!
 

Thomas savage

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I think it was two or three issues back. I try to keep all the back issues, but to my great chagrin my mom managed to throw out some of the latest issues (including this one) in an overly eager attempt to help me and my fiancée to clean when moving to our new house.
I think we all feel your pain here, every man has had his shit thrown out by their mum, girlfriend, wife or in your case fiancée ( don’t belive the whole “ mum did it “ story they cooked up),, they all do this and pretend like it was a accident or just plain deny it but don’t believe a word it’s all part of their ‘plans ‘ for you.

You need to nip this behaviour in the bud before she becomes Mrs oivavoi , so next time you go on holiday put the wrong label on her bag .. she will soon learn how bad it is when your stuff just goes missing.

Agony uncle savage is here to help any time you need.
 
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