This is a review and detailed measurements of the Orchard Audio Gala DAC. It is a brand new product just released and loaned to me by the company. Retail price is USD $500 but has an introductory price of $400.
The unit has unusual feature set. It has only balanced output outputs and S/PDIF digital input. And a volume control that works in digital domain. No USB input is provided but of course one can be added externally.
The enclosure looks somewhat rudimentary with blindingly bright blue LEDs that light up the ceiling of my listening room:
Unless Orchard has done market research to know that people like Blue LEDs, my recommendation is to dim them substantially (or off).
I like the feel of the volume control. It has traditional mechanical limits which is nicer than optical encoder since you can set it to your comfortable level and have it stay there through power sequences.
The enclosure is bent/stamped sheet metal which is out of character in this price range. In a world where people's "ears" are more biased by their eyes than sound, spending extra on a machined case would have been wise.
The unit is powered by a small switching supply.
Let's get into measurements and see how she performs.
Measurements
The lack of multiple inputs and outs made testing easy as there is only one configuration of balanced output and unbalanced digital coax S/PDIF input. Here are the dashboard results:
I like to see greater than 4 volts for balanced output which the Gala accomplishes. Distortion is competent but not class leading. SINDA (signal above sum of distortion and noise) therefore, falls in the middle of range of DACs I have tested. Orchard rates the unit at 108 SINAD. In one channel I am almost there at 106. The other is fair bit lower at 102 though. So that puts the average at 104.
I have highlighted SMSL SU-8 which I consider a closer competitor to Gala DAC with volume control and remote. We see that they essentially rate the same.
Let's see the jitter and noise performance:
The J-test signal has a 250 Hz toggle rate that seems to have created that pair of sidebands around our main tone at 12 KHz. It is benign though due to perceptual masking.
Noise level is a few dBs higher than desktop DACs.
Here is dynamic range:
Orchard specs this at 130 but that is with a-weighing (filtering) which improves the results. In that regard, we are seeing what it can do without filtering. Either way, it is a very good number which bodes well for its digital attenuation/volume control.
Intermodulation test revealed pretty odd performance:
As we see, at low input levels, we have a lot of noise, resulting in some of the worst IMDs I have measured. As signal level increases, predictably the performance improves, essentially matching state-of-the-art DACs like Exasound E32 and Benchmark DAC3. But then suddenly -- around -16 dBFS -- something starts to saturate and distortion rises quite a bit. A lot of DACs show some saturation but not starting so early and so sharply.
Lastly, here is the linearity results:
I like to see deviation of less than 0.5 dB at -120 dBFS input level (all the way to the left). The GALA DAC misses this by half a dB and is very well behaved at that. So not a whole lot to complain about.
Conclusions
The Orchard Audio Gala DAC is a bit of an odd bird. It has a narrowly focused feature set. In this day and age, I consider USB to be a mandatory input but is absent here. The enclosure and lighting inside leaves a negative impression with me. On the positive front, I like the idea of the digital volume control using an analog pot.
Performance is middle of the road and unfortunately not appropriate for a $500 DAC. Intermodulation distortion issues specifically need to be investigated.
With SMSL SU-8 retailing for just $250 with balanced output, remote control and multiple input, I unfortunately can't think of a reason to recommend the Gala DAC, the kind efforts of the designer sending a unit to me, notwithstanding.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
If you like this review, please consider donating funds for these types of hardware purchases using Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/audiosciencereview), or upgrading your membership here though Paypal (https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...eview-and-measurements.2164/page-3#post-59054).
The unit has unusual feature set. It has only balanced output outputs and S/PDIF digital input. And a volume control that works in digital domain. No USB input is provided but of course one can be added externally.
The enclosure looks somewhat rudimentary with blindingly bright blue LEDs that light up the ceiling of my listening room:
Unless Orchard has done market research to know that people like Blue LEDs, my recommendation is to dim them substantially (or off).
I like the feel of the volume control. It has traditional mechanical limits which is nicer than optical encoder since you can set it to your comfortable level and have it stay there through power sequences.
The enclosure is bent/stamped sheet metal which is out of character in this price range. In a world where people's "ears" are more biased by their eyes than sound, spending extra on a machined case would have been wise.
The unit is powered by a small switching supply.
Let's get into measurements and see how she performs.
Measurements
The lack of multiple inputs and outs made testing easy as there is only one configuration of balanced output and unbalanced digital coax S/PDIF input. Here are the dashboard results:
I like to see greater than 4 volts for balanced output which the Gala accomplishes. Distortion is competent but not class leading. SINDA (signal above sum of distortion and noise) therefore, falls in the middle of range of DACs I have tested. Orchard rates the unit at 108 SINAD. In one channel I am almost there at 106. The other is fair bit lower at 102 though. So that puts the average at 104.
I have highlighted SMSL SU-8 which I consider a closer competitor to Gala DAC with volume control and remote. We see that they essentially rate the same.
Let's see the jitter and noise performance:
The J-test signal has a 250 Hz toggle rate that seems to have created that pair of sidebands around our main tone at 12 KHz. It is benign though due to perceptual masking.
Noise level is a few dBs higher than desktop DACs.
Here is dynamic range:
Orchard specs this at 130 but that is with a-weighing (filtering) which improves the results. In that regard, we are seeing what it can do without filtering. Either way, it is a very good number which bodes well for its digital attenuation/volume control.
Intermodulation test revealed pretty odd performance:
As we see, at low input levels, we have a lot of noise, resulting in some of the worst IMDs I have measured. As signal level increases, predictably the performance improves, essentially matching state-of-the-art DACs like Exasound E32 and Benchmark DAC3. But then suddenly -- around -16 dBFS -- something starts to saturate and distortion rises quite a bit. A lot of DACs show some saturation but not starting so early and so sharply.
Lastly, here is the linearity results:
I like to see deviation of less than 0.5 dB at -120 dBFS input level (all the way to the left). The GALA DAC misses this by half a dB and is very well behaved at that. So not a whole lot to complain about.
Conclusions
The Orchard Audio Gala DAC is a bit of an odd bird. It has a narrowly focused feature set. In this day and age, I consider USB to be a mandatory input but is absent here. The enclosure and lighting inside leaves a negative impression with me. On the positive front, I like the idea of the digital volume control using an analog pot.
Performance is middle of the road and unfortunately not appropriate for a $500 DAC. Intermodulation distortion issues specifically need to be investigated.
With SMSL SU-8 retailing for just $250 with balanced output, remote control and multiple input, I unfortunately can't think of a reason to recommend the Gala DAC, the kind efforts of the designer sending a unit to me, notwithstanding.
-------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
If you like this review, please consider donating funds for these types of hardware purchases using Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/audiosciencereview), or upgrading your membership here though Paypal (https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...eview-and-measurements.2164/page-3#post-59054).
