Rega DAC-R DAC Review

[Tangband]

rega people like the rega sound

that's it

this unit does have a remote... there's a manual too

lot of reviews.... what hifi loves it, so does stereophile stereonet and even darko so i dont know whats wrong with ASR not liking it.. inconceivable!

This Rega R dac dont use any IC at the analog output. Its a discreet design. It mirrors the sound of an older Linn Klimax DS, almost the same dacs used ( Wolfson 8742 and 8741) and using filter 2 on the rega has about the same filter caracteristics as a Klimax.

Regarding the Rega , its a very polite sound without any digital glare combined with a very good and tight bass drive .
Maybe a coloration, but its a good one

 

[Tangband]

rega people like the rega sound

that's it

this unit does have a remote... there's a manual too

lot of reviews.... what hifi loves it, so does stereophile stereonet and even darko so i dont know whats wrong with ASR not liking it.. inconceivable!

I dont like their amplifiers.

 

[DSJR]

I dont like their amplifiers.

We discussed this I believe - they need 45 minutes or so to stabilise and tame a 'liveliness' up top - this over several samples of most models over the years, even the Osiris 'Reference Range' model. Those using an Elys 2 or Exact 2 pickup won't ever notice though although the upper model Apheta cartridges will show it Oops, wrong thread really, sorry

Nothing to see here chaps, move along, move along


P.S. Maybe none of you would understand this, but it's damned painful to see icon brands like this gradually taken down, but that's life I suppose.

 

[Soria Moria]

Regarding the Rega , its a very polite sound without any digital glare combined with a very good and tight bass drive

 

[Rja4000]

Interesting review, thanks.

My 16 bits Sony PCM-R300 DAT recorder from the 90s has better SINAD and performance on its DAC part (and also overall).
The only exception is the noise (97dB vs 104dB here)

So age is for sure not an excuse.

 

[wwenze]

2015 isn't even that old... 100dB SINAD was already easily available - I bought my Xonar DX in... 2011? Wow time flies.

 

[antcollinet]

So it seems to have very similar performance to this thing I've had for a few years, if you compare the reviews.

Difference is, this dates from 2 years earlier (2013) and cost me about £50 when I got it.

Similarly the contrast between the Rega, and the one reviewed immediately prior, couldn't be more stark.

 

[Palladium]

So it seems to have very similar performance to this thing I've had for a few years, if you compare the reviews.

Difference is, this dates from 2 years earlier (2013) and cost me about £50 when I got it.

The contrast between this device, and the one reviewed immediately prior, couldn't be more stark.

Yeah, but have you heard of the very original Russell's Teapot arguments from golden ears yet?

 

[Mart68]

I kind-of knew this day would come

Rega prices are obscenely high away from the UK market and visuals aside @Mart68, you'd need to sit down and properly evaluate a Technics modern vinyl deck with a Rega 3, let alone a 6 which may not have as good a drive, but the RB330 arm is in a different world - and does actually measure close to the very best in terms of friction and resonances which the Technics tonearms never will!

I have done exactly that comparison!

The Rega owner was...dispirited.

Yeah, tonearms, but they can be changed.

 

[Nango]

Owner tells me that this DAC had a well-respected reputation (hence the reason I accepted testing it). That doesn't seem well deserved to me.

It is always the same: If you paid that 1000£ back in 2015, it has to have a well-deserved reputation and even more than this. Autosuggestion.

 

[Jimbob54]

I own one of these. Sounds fine. Far too big and feature limited. Clearly not worth the price then or now.

EDIT- mine might be the V1 Think it might have just been the DAC- not the DAC R.

It has the 5 filter options on the front

Very much doubt it performs better than this though.

 

[raif71]

ooo, "Regalated" to the red

 

[ocinn]

Beyond the poor performance which I won’t even bother commenting on… What is going on with that case design?

Looks like someone drove over it. Or a vinyl record left out in the sun unsupported… and the bottom isn’t even convex, so it’s not like the curves would match/mesh in a stacked config??

Rega has made some pretty solid turntables over the years but this is just plain old embarrassing.

Alexa… play another one bites the dust by queen

 

[VintageFlanker]

Wondering why I'm not surprised one bit...

 

[Stokdoof]

If you are looking for a pure performance racing motorcycle you usually do not shop for a Harley. I think this is the same for Rega audio equipment. Sorry for having an opinion.

 

[Leeken]

Not for me at all,but I suppose that it appeals massively sound wise to fans of the brand,so for the fans of the brand and the company it’s a golfing panther,one man’s trash is another man’s treasure etc

 

[DSJR]

If you are looking for a pure performance racing motorcycle you usually do not shop for a Harley. I think this is the same for Rega audio equipment. Sorry for having an opinion.

Can I suggest something which may be shared by Jason at Schiit? Maybe for the Rega designer, doing a discrete output stage is better for his soul than just slapping in a chip or two on the output? I suspect the distortion in the DAC-R is all or mostly in the analogue output stage? Jason seems to have shown how he can design a discrete stage to not disgrace itself in simpler op-amp territory, but the Rega really is from an earlier age where 'good enough' is all that's needed perhaps? I'd all but forgotten about measurements until more recent semi-retirement times when I discovered the Sereophile tests and now here and so on. Few UK dealers would care let alone visit to read here and that's very sad.

In a subjective practical sense, the DAC-R improves the Apollo R player sonically, I could never hear any difference in the filters but I have to say that when visiting my dealer pal, the Saturn R player was the box of choice to play CD's on (Lord knows how that one performs and you know something, these days I really don't want to know!).

As for me, I'm comfortable that an SMSL SU-1 will do the decoding job perfectly for my needs, technically and sonically and, being a little black box, I can hide it away so *nobody* can see it

 

[Grotti]

Not for me at all,but I suppose that it appeals massively sound wise to fans of the brand,so for the fans of the brand and the company it’s a golfing panther,one man’s trash is another man’s treasure etc

A fanboy is strongly biased towards the brand by definition. As always a properly conducted level matched blind comparison would almost certainly bust the myth of the "brand sound".

 

[Tangband]

I dont care which brand I use - If the music sounds better to me, it is better. Maybe thats why I have a WiiM pro, a second hand Rega dac R combined with a new hypex ncore amplifier. I would switch immediately if I found something that makes music listening more enjoyable in my system. This summer I had a Rega amplifier for comparison and the hypex was clearly superior, just as the Rega dac R was superior sounding to my Yamaha wxc50 dac. Big differences.

 

[Sokel]

2015 isn't even that old... 100dB SINAD was already easily available - I bought my Xonar DX in... 2011? Wow time flies.

That's a 2008-9 one,not then,today,this very minute after all this years of (hard) use :



2015 DACs were doing much-much better.