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Review and Measurements of Auralic Vega DAC

Daverz

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I do play around with them usually and note what I find. Longer term, i plan to do a detailed study of how the volume control in different places affects performance.

Looking forward to it! :D
 

Alt-Wrong

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I've had my Vega for over 4 years now, so a report on some of the problems I've had for those who might want to buy one
sorry to hear about your issues with the vega, Daverz.
i’ve had my vega about as long as yours, and here’s its info:
hw vers: 1.3
sw vers: 1.9
s/n: 5407
run: 22286hrs

the only time i have issues with exact clock mode is with long runs of usb, which exact mode needs time to settle into, after which (~5-10mins) the dropouts stop. never had exact mode issues with any of my spdif sources, including an hdmi de-embedder’s spdif 24/192 output (from a dvd-audio). all the gear gets its power from a common balanced transformer (cinepro), which may be making things easier for exact mode.

i tried using neutrik xlr-rca adapters (the ones that came with my lavry da11) to reduce the vega’s xlr output by half, but i get distortion after only a minute or two of playing it that way.

i too am curious what its digital attenuation does to the s/n and distortion figures,
and wonder how close these tables are to real world application...
A95937DF-177B-4288-AA36-77019BBCD618.png


i believe each numerical increment equals 0.5db on the vega, e.g., a reading of 70 would mean -15db of attenuation.
 

Daverz

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sorry to hear about your issues with the vega, Daverz.
i’ve had my vega about as long as yours, and here’s its info:
hw vers: 1.3
sw vers: 1.9
s/n: 5407
run: 22286hrs

the only time i have issues with exact clock mode is with long runs of usb, which exact mode needs time to settle into, after which (~5-10mins) the dropouts stop. never had exact mode issues with any of my spdif sources, including an hdmi de-embedder’s spdif 24/192 output (from a dvd-audio). all the gear gets its power from a common balanced transformer (cinepro), which may be making things easier for exact mode.

Thanks for the comment. I think the issue is only with USB, I haven't tested recently. I keep the DAC on the "Auto" clock setting. It will be interesting to test with the Raspberry Pi 4 I have coming, as that is supposed to have less interference on its USB bus.

i believe each numerical increment equals 0.5db on the vega, e.g., a reading of 70 would mean -15db of attenuation.

Yup, 0.5 dB per step.

I've stopped worrying about digital attenuation; since the DAC's noise is way below the amp and room noise, it's those that will determine the dynamic range. Nor do I seem to hear the subjective issues with settings below 60 (-20 dBFS) or whatever that others report.
 
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