• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Review and Measurements of Totaldac d1-six DAC

Kane1972

Active Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2018
Messages
298
Likes
103
Weather or not this DAC measured badly, this guy’s review still sounds like pure nonsense. Who the hell sits and listens to square waves and believes they can sound beautiful etc? Lol
 

solderdude

Grand Contributor
Joined
Jul 21, 2018
Messages
15,891
Likes
35,912
Location
The Neitherlands
Weather or not this DAC measured badly, this guy’s review still sounds like pure nonsense. Who the hell sits and listens to square waves and believes they can sound beautiful etc? Lol

the slanted italic words were not the original words ... I replaced them to be funny... replace the slanted italic words with 'music
 
Last edited:

JJB70

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Aug 17, 2018
Messages
2,905
Likes
6,148
Location
Singapore
I actually think that the deeper issue, which has created the opportunity which shysters like TotalDAC are happy to exploit, is the obsession with DACs. I view the DAC as a mature technology which achieved transparency years ago and which has been thoroughly commoditised. There really is no reason to spend much on a DAC unless you just want an expensive DAC. Dongles work fine, on-board DACs of devices work well, CD players made 30 years ago had good DACs. However the audio industry and magazines have done a splendid job convincing the audiophile world that the Audio DAC is some sort of cutting edge tech and that you have to spend spend spend if you don't want some god awful DAC which is probably orders of magnitude better than any other component in terms of measured performance to kill your music. This TotalDAC rubbish takes it to extremes but I have reached a point where I put the whole mystique around DACs in the same box as magic stones and cables.
 

daftcombo

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 5, 2019
Messages
3,687
Likes
4,068
the obsession with DACs

Absolutely. When I went to the Hi-Fi store last year and bought my first "serious" amplifier & speakers, and when the seller asked me if I had a "DAC", I learnt the word.
Then I became obsessed and thanks God I found this site before pulling the trigger on a 3000$ device as good as a 9$ one.
 

AudioSceptic

Major Contributor
Joined
Jul 31, 2019
Messages
2,691
Likes
2,534
Location
Northampton, UK
Not sure how I feel about his "quitting" audio. I think it would be better if the information here convinced the hardcore subjectivists to take a more rational approach to the hobby.

But I'm glad he's not out there continuing to misguide others with his reviews.
Although I think it's good that the total amount of nonsense written about audio has reduced by a tiny amount, I find it quite implausible that ASR could have had anything to do with it. There have been science-based audio sites and blogs for ages and they don't seem to have had any great impact. Am I wrong, and the tide is finally turning against all the nonsense, which is not just ignorant of the science, but also ignorant of any logic or critical thinking? Are there any figures for membership of the various forums, and do they show any trend?
 

daftcombo

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 5, 2019
Messages
3,687
Likes
4,068
Although I think it's good that the total amount of nonsense written about audio has reduced by a tiny amount, I find it quite implausible that ASR could have had anything to do with it. There have been science-based audio sites and blogs for ages and they don't seem to have had any great impact. Am I wrong, and the tide is finally turning against all the nonsense, which is not just ignorant of the science, but also ignorant of any logic or critical thinking? Are there any figures for membership of the various forums, and do they show any trend?

I think that ASR has a lot of impact on Topping sales (deserved). Why not the contrary for crap?
 
OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,368
Likes
234,388
Location
Seattle Area
Although I think it's good that the total amount of nonsense written about audio has reduced by a tiny amount, I find it quite implausible that ASR could have had anything to do with it. There have been science-based audio sites and blogs for ages and they don't seem to have had any great impact. Am I wrong, and the tide is finally turning against all the nonsense, which is not just ignorant of the science, but also ignorant of any logic or critical thinking? Are there any figures for membership of the various forums, and do they show any trend?
I would say sheepishly that we -- I and all of you -- may have created something that has not been done before. Forums are random chatter and have little collective effect. The combination of hardcore, focused and comparative objective reviews and feedback and spread of news by you all is creating an impact. I see it in audiophiles who are in the middle for example starting to believe the value of measurements.

Industry wide, the effect is quite mild but I see it in the way companies starting to want the type of coverage we bring.

In some sense it is a hopeful sense that logic, data and science does have value in audio. And that a lot of people and companies underestimated this in high-end audio.

Long way to go but we have started down the path.

As to Michael quitting having anything to do with us, I don't know. In person he seemed like a find individual in his videos. I go about my work here without emotion or prejudice. If he had adopted that, I don't know why he would want to quit what he was doing. Then again, getting critical mass with a new site is tough and he may have seen the reality of that and decided to quit.
 

AudioSceptic

Major Contributor
Joined
Jul 31, 2019
Messages
2,691
Likes
2,534
Location
Northampton, UK
I think that ASR has a lot of impact on Topping sales (deserved). Why not the contrary for crap?
Because overpriced crap is not in general bought by people who come here, or are influenced by measurements anyway? They live in a parallel universe where $thousands can, and indeed must, be spent on cables, including digital ones, and they are trying to tweak their digital playback to match the ultimate experience, vinyl. ;)
 

AudioSceptic

Major Contributor
Joined
Jul 31, 2019
Messages
2,691
Likes
2,534
Location
Northampton, UK
I would say sheepishly that we -- I and all of you -- may have created something that has not been done before. Forums are random chatter and have little collective effect. The combination of hardcore, focused and comparative objective reviews and feedback and spread of news by you all is creating an impact. I see it in audiophiles who are in the middle for example starting to believe the value of measurements.

Industry wide, the effect is quite mild but I see it in the way companies starting to want the type of coverage we bring.

In some sense it is a hopeful sense that logic, data and science does have value in audio. And that a lot of people and companies underestimated this in high-end audio.

Long way to go but we have started down the path.

As to Michael quitting having anything to do with us, I don't know. In person he seemed like a find individual in his videos. I go about my work here without emotion or prejudice. If he had adopted that, I don't know why he would want to quit what he was doing. Then again, getting critical mass with a new site is tough and he may have seen the reality of that and decided to quit.
Let me say straight away how impressed I am by the sheer volume of reviews you do. Not only that but you also find the time to reply to individual posts in these forums. Do you have any minions helping you out?

I really, really, hope you are right that this is making a difference, but if so, why has it taken so long? 'The Audio Critic' was doing something similar ~30 years ago (not online then of course) but didn't seem to be able to push back the tide of irrationality. JA's measurements at 'Stereophile' often seem to contradict the subjective parts of their reviews but that hasn't made too many audiophiles question the validity of the "high end" industry.
 

solderdude

Grand Contributor
Joined
Jul 21, 2018
Messages
15,891
Likes
35,912
Location
The Neitherlands
Archimago and NwAvGuy also did make some impact and exposed some stuff for what it is.
Nothing changed.
TotalDac is still in business and probably has had even more sales due to more exposure.
IMO the vast majority of audiophiles (audiophools) doesn't believe anything that is preached here anyway and rather believe the audiopress.

I don't mind. People are warned and perhaps some folks were detered and bought another wonderful (and very expensive) audiophool product.
Some may have bought cheap stuff and came away disillusioned.
Some have really saved money and went with well performing gear.
Those are the ones that are really happy with ASR.... the rest either disregard ASR or laugh at it because their ears know better.

I for one am glad ASR exists, just to have another voice contra the mainstream concensus (that ears are the only thing that matters)
 
Last edited:

AudioSceptic

Major Contributor
Joined
Jul 31, 2019
Messages
2,691
Likes
2,534
Location
Northampton, UK
Archimago and NwAvGuy also did make some impact and exposed some stuff for what it is.
Nothing changed.
TotalDac is still in business and probably has had even more sales due to more exposure.
IMO the vast majority of audiophiles (audiophools) doesn't believe anything that is preached here anyway and rather believe the audiopress.

I don't mind. People are warned and perhaps some folks were detered and bought another wonderful (and very expensive) audiophool product.
Some may have bought cheap stuff and came away disillusioned.
Some have really saved money and went with well performing gear.
Those are the ones that are really happy with ASR.... the rest either disregard ASR or laugh at it because their ears know better.

I for one am glad ASR exists, just to have another voice contra the mains stream concensus (that ears are the only thing that matters)
I'm a long time reader of Archimago and also Dr Aix (Mark Waldrep). For anyone who does not know them, <http://archimago.blogspot.com> and <http://www.realhd-audio.com>. Mitch Barnett is also worth reading <https://audiophilestyle.com/profile/8172-mitchco/>.

Edit: correction to make sense!
 
Last edited:

solderdude

Grand Contributor
Joined
Jul 21, 2018
Messages
15,891
Likes
35,912
Location
The Neitherlands
I am very glad people like that exist that tell it like it is and are sharing their views.
All of them have stepped on quite a few toes and have exposed things/products as to what they are.
They provide a great service for a lot of (mainly less subjectivistis oriented) people.

The audiophile brands and nonsense hasn't become less and given the huge amount of (usually very expensive) nonsense stuff that is still sold today it doesn't make much impact in this audio segment I am afraid. Their loss... the info is out there.
 

BillG

Major Contributor
Joined
Sep 12, 2018
Messages
1,699
Likes
2,266
Location
Auckland, New Zealand
I would say sheepishly that we -- I and all of you -- may have created something that has not been done before. Forums are random chatter and have little collective effect. The combination of hardcore, focused and comparative objective reviews and feedback and spread of news by you all is creating an impact.

I'm a moderator of an audio streaming group on Facebook, and just about every streaming related product that's been reviewed here I post a link to for our members, which number around 3,300 as of today. ASR is also being referenced by a number of audiophile focused Reddit groups from what I've seen. So, we are indeed having an impact... :cool:
 

splattened

Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Sep 15, 2019
Messages
65
Likes
112
Location
St. Louis
Nothing changed.

I don't think you'd want to base the success of the NwAvGuys and ASRs of the world on winning over the subset of people you were probably never going to win over to begin with. For everyone else, as you acknowledge, these are invaluable resources. Even if it doesn't slay all the dragons overnight, I think it contributes to a longer term grass roots wealth of information and discussions that anyone digging a little beneath the surface has a chance to find. All of that contributes to real tangible change, I think.
 

Figuy1017

Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2018
Messages
20
Likes
12
If the fact is to achieve technical brilliance is highly cost effective and the subjectist motto is sound first, how can a engineer put such a premium on “sound shaping” after all, to engineer a technically great dac doesn’t cost a lot of money, building a beautiful chassis doesn’t cost a arm and a leg either. So their muddling up is a art form in which requires thousands added for the time it takes to tune “ urg ..detune by ear? Fascinating. So I should trust your opinion instead of evidence as my source of truth. I tried that philosophy, it had me constantly buying selling because the next one is so much “better” that is the madness of being subjective
 

Frank Dernie

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 24, 2016
Messages
6,445
Likes
15,780
Location
Oxfordshire
next one is so much “better” that is the madness of being subjective
Quite so, in the presence of flowery language and buzz word trendiness of subjective audio there is always temptation to believe the next, more expensive, item is much better whereas cold subjectivity shows that most electronics has been audibly transparent (IMO) for decades and the differences are features, styling. reliability and so forth, not sound (though there are plenty of popular components with sound effects built in).
 

Herbert

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Nov 26, 2018
Messages
527
Likes
434
I think our hobby is well defined: High Fidelity. Adding no garbage to a music signal and reproduce
it faithfully. Unfortunately this means that one could happily stick to a product more than three decades old
which led to this TotalDAC nonsense, trying to sell new crap...
Which is very funny indeed -
anyone expects from a car-afficionado to know what he/she talks about but High End afficionados
are allowed to wail in ignorance...
 
Top Bottom