So this thing costs 43k....

[confucius_zero]

https://www.audiostream.com/content...KvXJtIw0KA5rEToXA6Kair-e9tARvUPVmrOOdGD4Di1rA

 

[MediumRare]

“You can take two pieces of equipment that measure virtually the same, and they sound wildly different,” Qvortrup said in an interview I did with him a couple years ago in Austria. “So what does that tell you about using measurements as a reference for sound? It’s completely worthless.”

I guess that has to be the starting point for the evaluation.

 

[gvl]

I always perceived Audio Note products as scam, but I'm ready to be proven wrong.

 

[Xulonn]

Excuse me, I think I'm going to barf...

(??? - What is "realistic alloy snap" and how is it measured?)

The DAC 5 takes what I’ve previously heard as slightly-flattened notes and lofts the piano flourishes so they float over/amongst the guitar and percussion that open the track like motes of dust twinkling in shafts of light through a dusty room. It does this with such exquisite tonal definition that I get mentally caught on it and I space for the next 20 seconds-or-so of the song before I’ve recovered. The slightly-gated mic effect on Pond’s voice as he comes into the mix creates a lush, trailing-edge space without any sibilance around his vocals in the upper registers and the commingling of Pond and Stevenson’s voices as she joins with him on harmonies around 1:10 into the song blend seamlessly tonally while remaining equidistant from one another in 3D-space. Timbre and tone to wood-bodied instruments or the slide guitar backing up Pond’s picking are a class apart and show the 5’s musical-translation pedigree, putting it up there with the very best I’ve had the good fortune to hear (totaldac d1-direct, dCS Rossini, LampizatOr Pacific). Bass guitar and drumming on the track are of particular note with tangible, organic tonal texture and color to both in the form of string separation and realistic alloy snap to the metronomic staccato of the high hat.

 

[Thomas savage]

Someone needs the write a psychology paper on self affirming bubbles, addiction and the resulting mental illness.

 

[Manbeard]

This thing has just about everything on the esoteric checklist. What more could an audiophile ask for!

It uses a carefully-selected-by-hand NOS (new old stock) Analogue Devices AD1865 18-Bit (Multi-bit) stereo DAC chip that has a conversion ceiling of 18/96, is no longer in production, has zero over-sampling, no jitter reduction and no re-clocking, noise shaping or filtering of any kind.

...it operates in Pure Class A with a Zero negative feedback, Single-Ended circuit topology and valve rectification. Legendary Black Gate and Cerafine Audio capacitors, along with Tantalum film resistors help conduct internal circuit paths with wiring consisting of Audio Note 99.99 per cent pure silver cabling.

 

[Thomas savage]

Ah so much to say but so little of it appropriate for the forum ha ha

 

[gvl]

This thing has just about everything on the esoteric checklist. What more could an audiophile ask for!

And an astronomical price to clear any remaining doubts.

 

[pozz]

They should send it in for measurement. Obviously the numbers will justify the price.

Audio Note collaborated with EVGA to produce this sound card Amir measured: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...d-measurements-of-evga-nu-audio-pc-card.9137/

 

[Soniclife]

They should send it in for measurement. Obviously the numbers will justify the price.

Audio Note collaborated with EVGA to produce this sound card Amir measured: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...d-measurements-of-evga-nu-audio-pc-card.9137/

I strongly suspect that's the best measuring device with audio notes name on it.

 

[audimus]

This is the kind of babble that gives a bad name to every listening experience even when valid.

 

[thomasjast]

What a crock of shit. It wouldn't even measure as well as a Topping D50s. I'd bet money on that.

 

[VintageFlanker]

What a crock of shit. It wouldn't even measure as well as a Topping D50s. I'd bet money on that.

You already won. The performance should be on par with the TotalDac. Oh wait, sorry! This one sounds even warmer...

I always perceived Audio Note products as scam, but I'm ready to be proven wrong.

43K$ for a thing limited to PCM 24/96 and no USB input. I'm afraid you where right.

 

[Juhazi]

Do we now have a product that could win the Ciunas dac in a listening test?

 

[Ron Texas]

$43K, you can have a 3 series BMW for that, or a Jeep Wrangler with some options.

 

[Sal1950]

$43K ??? A fool and his money are soon parted.

 

[dkinric]

They should send it in for measurement. Obviously the numbers will justify the price./QUOTE]


If (when) it doesn't, well, obviously the right things are not being measured

 

[confucius_zero]

What... the... hell?

 

[gvl]

TotalDAC suddenly appears in a completely new light.

 

[SegaCD]

Looking inside the DAC 5 one finds an ingredients list which many manufacturers would A) envy and trade their eye teeth for, B) emulate to some degree.

So, basically, the entire DAC is jammed on the tiny board that I circled in blue & everything else is for a bare-bones tube preamp w/ some extra transformers? What here is worth so much money? The chassis isn't even copper. The wiring isn't even neat!

Seriously, what the heck kind of loads do they think they're handling to require so many transformers of that heft & size? Honestly, any kind of theoretical(?) improvements they'd gain from having transformers for different stages of the amp will be lost due to inductive coupling from how close the transformers are to each other (even though they offset & rotated some of them somewhat). For this price tag, at least put them in a separate chassis...