Review and Measurements of Totaldac d1-six DAC

[diegooo1972]

A completely different set of resistors are used with that slight shift in frequency.

Why that sounds to me too nostalgic ? I see an attitude out of time from this DAC.
I really don't understand why to do that in 2019.

 

[diegooo1972]

*sigh* here we go again...

I do not recommend or represent any manufacturer, be it tube amps or any specific topology, dac or anything else to that matter.

What I can tell with confidence is that acquiring an audio equipment based on measurements alone is just plain stupid.

Thanks, I do enjoy my system a lot.

You have just said "stupid" to all this forum.
You should understand how much tollerance is here.

 

[amirm]

What I can tell with confidence is that acquiring an audio equipment based on measurements alone is just plain stupid.

Well, it isn't. Not remotely so unless you are thinking of speakers or room equalization. There, measurements can be secondary to listening. Here though, measurements absolutely predict listening test results. With electronics, your concern should to be avoid products with design mistakes and errors and measurements absolutely show that. If they do not, then there was no good way to design said gear!

That said, if you perform controlled listening tests, then that is great too.

If you are performing sighted, typical audiophile testing, then that is definition of stupid. You can get any result you want out of that kind of evaluation. Bad, good or indifferent. Might as well make a random guess.

 

[BDWoody]

*sigh* here we go again...

I do not recommend or represent any manufacturer, be it tube amps or any specific topology, dac or anything else to that matter.

What I can tell with confidence is that acquiring an audio equipment based on measurements alone is just plain stupid.

Thanks, I do enjoy my system a lot.

I don't believe I claimed, nor do I believe, that you represent anyone. I also believe that you hear everything you claim to, and I absolutely believe you enjoy it.

Of course buying on measurements alone would be stupid. It should have good overall machining, maybe have a remote or other useful features...depends on my logistical needs. It certainly doesn't get evaluated based on how my emotions are pulled on.

Course, maybe I would be moved to tears if I had wasted that much money.

My listening test for a DAC involves gently shaking to see if I hear rattling. If it passes that test, it's good to go.

 

[gfm]

The goal of obtaining audio devices 100% neutral with respect to sound reproduction leads to the last consequence that each device is indistinguishable from the other, as no one impacts on the final sound quality. Once this is achieved, we obtained the perfect translation of what is stored in the medium or transmitted via streaming to sound waves (note: not the perfect sound). It remains to work eventually only on the listening room. But at this point, where's the fun?

 

[daftcombo]

On the french forum, even the guys who bought a totaldac are admitting that the rest of the products sold there (power supplies, 1.750€ cables) are a rip off.

Another, who used to have a totaldac a1, admits he couldn't tell the difference between it and a mass market soundcard.

 

[daftcombo]

What I can tell with confidence is that acquiring an audio equipment based on measurements alone is just plain stupid.

Call me stupid then, but I purchased the 9$ Apple dongle based purely on measurements.

 

[BDWoody]

The goal of obtaining audio devices 100% neutral with respect to sound reproduction leads to the last consequence that each device is indistinguishable from the other, as no one impacts on the final sound quality. Once this is achieved, we obtained the perfect translation of what is stored in the medium or transmitted via streaming to sound waves (note: not the perfect sound). It remains to work eventually only on the listening room. But at this point, where's the fun?

To make it louder.

 

[daftcombo]

Seek good music?

 

[daftcombo]

It is nice to see that nobody dares asking Amir complementary measurements of the totaldac anymore. Job well done.

Can't wait for a new review of a proper DAC to pop up on the homepage and the picture of this disaster disappear in limbo.

 

[diegooo1972]

The goal of obtaining audio devices 100% neutral with respect to sound reproduction leads to the last consequence that each device is indistinguishable from the other, as no one impacts on the final sound quality. Once this is achieved, we obtained the perfect translation of what is stored in the medium or transmitted via streaming to sound waves (note: not the perfect sound). It remains to work eventually only on the listening room. But at this point, where's the fun?

This is a misconception imho. Too much times I read people that talk about flat sound of perfect measuring equipments.
Like the music it self didn't exist. No arms intended. I Understand what you mean.
I'd love to hear what was in the main mixing room where something was registered or created.
How can be flat the music itself as it is created.
What's left on a perfect audio chain is the music.
More then enough for me. That's all I want.
If I want or need something different I'm still able to add effects where and when I want.

 

[daftcombo]

This is a misconception imho. Too much times I read people that talk about flat sound of perfect measuring equipments.
Like the music it self didn't exist. No arms intended. I Understand what you mean.
I'd love to hear what was in the main mixing room where something was registered or created.
How can be flat the music itself as it is created.
What's left on a perfect audio chain is the music.
More then enough for me. That's all I want.
If I want or need something different I'm still able to add effects where and when I want.

Yes, it is like saying the movie is boring when you don't miss some parts to go for a pee.

 

[amirm]

The goal of obtaining audio devices 100% neutral with respect to sound reproduction leads to the last consequence that each device is indistinguishable from the other, as no one impacts on the final sound quality. Once this is achieved, we obtained the perfect translation of what is stored in the medium or transmitted via streaming to sound waves (note: not the perfect sound). It remains to work eventually only on the listening room. But at this point, where's the fun?

In listening to your content! Once you have a transparent system, you can start enjoying music knowing that what you hear, is what is inside your music. If you don't like that, then try another album. Get a subscription service like Tidal and you will have millions of albums to choose. That is fun! Not constantly shopping of mythical characteristics in gear that in reality a) don't exist or b) are audible bad distortions.

 

[zalive]

I agree. This is precisely why measurements are useful. Measurements tell us you don't need to spend $13,000 to get a DAC done "the right way". You only need to spend $9.

I got myself a nice DIY R2R NOS based on AD1865 but it still cost me $150-200 when it all sums up, not quite as low as $9.

 

[solderdude]

The goal for audio reproduction differs from person to person.
All of them are 'correct' in their way of thinking.

1: When you want to hear what was heard exactly in the studio control room one needs to have similar acoustics and the same speakers and hope the mastering guy did not screw up.. Come to think of it when one wants to hear what the mastering guy heard. One also needs to play back at the same SPL.
2: When one wants to hear what was recorded you need 'flat' and well performing gear and a conditioned room with excellent speakers.
Deviating from this means the sound will be colored but one may not even realize this fully. But one can still like what they hear.
3: When one seeks for personal enjoyment it can be anything between 'neutral/accurate' and colored as hell but exactly to ones liking/personal taste.

This thread is about the TotalCrap. One thing stands out like a soar thumb. This DAC is not suited for folks looking for 1 and 2. It can be suited for those choosing option 3... that is when they could not care less about technicalities, price and if it has the sound those particular people are looking for.
It cannot be exactly what all '3' folks are looking for as tastes differ. Everything is O.K. . Just don't tell everyone else your taste/flavour is the holy grail and those wanting something else are mistaken.
We all are ... sound reproduction is merely a 'glimps' of the real thing.

 

[sweetsounds]

But my APx555 does. It goes way up to nearly 2.5 Megahertz (not a typo). This gives us a usable bandwidth of 1 Megahertz.

Our main tone again is 10 khz and everything else is extra/unwanted. Ignoring the high frequency spectrum (a lot of which is due to lack of filtering in the output of d-six) we see the same subsonic tones at 2, 4, 6 and 8 kHz. That is the same thing we saw before with AES-17 filtering at 48 kHz sampling. So problem is there independent of capture bandwidth in my analyzer.

But wait.... there is more! See what happens when I change the our tone frequency from 10 kHz to 10.05 kHz:

Hell breaks loose, that is what happens! Notice the addition of 150 Hz and harmonics.

amirm, thanks for posting this. All noise spuriae, jitter etc. are as was expected, earth noise can be eliminated as expected and these spikes are real, maybe people like @KSTR can help with an explanation.

Can't understand, what's happening at 10.05kHz. I share your idea, that there could be a clock inside the DAC (inside the FPGA?) which interferes with the original signal.

Time to move on.

 

[daftcombo]

I got myself a nice DIY R2R NOS based on AD1865 but it still cost me $150-200 when it all sums up, not quite as low as $9.

When you have the money you'll be able to upgrade to an Apple dongle.

 

[TomatoTBone]

New post from Vincent from Totaldac on HCFR. Guess what...

 

[VintageFlanker]

New post from Vincent from Totaldac on HCFR. Guess what...

J'ai la flemme d'aller voir...

Tell us!

 

[TomatoTBone]

Vincent answering a few questions from a member of HCFR (et j'ai aussi la flemme de traduire, too lazy now to translate ) :

(italics : cocogex, member of HCFR, normal : Vincent)

Pourquoi mettre en avant certaines mesures (flatteuses) sur les pages des produits ?​

Le spectre de bruit sur petit signaux montre le silence du DAC, un silence objectif, là on ne parle pas forcément du ressenti musical. Donc une compatibilité avec le haut rendement en particulier.
La mesure de réponse en fréquence était donné comme illustration du filtre TREBLE FIR.

Pourquoi remettre en question les mesures effectuées par ASR ?​

Parce qu'il montre que ma courbe de bruit est fausse, mais elle est vraie.
Il montrait aussi que la mesure de réponse en fréquence que je montre en page "principe" était fausse. Là aussi ce n'est pas vrai, d'ailleurs il a fini par la corriger, mais pas dans sa première page.

En quoi les mesures de TotalDac sont elles plus justes que celles d'ASR ?​

Je ne peux parler rigoureusement que des mesures que je montre aussi sur le site Totaldac, la réponse en fréquence et le bruit.
Pour la réponse en fréquence, il a fini par arriver à la même que la mienne.
Pour le bruit, je ne crois pas, moi c'est celle que j'obtiens ici. Le bruit change vite avec les masses et autres paramètres d'environnement.