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Steve Guttenberg says this R2R DAC sounds like Vinyl

Amir should jump at the opportunity to review this one as it’s a common recommendation in audiophile circles due to its relatively low price. Luckily for me I discovered this site and never feel for the r2r meme.
 
I think Bob already did a good job measuring the device and show all the weakness.
poor USB implementation.
Clipping
No headroom
maybe 2 or 3 members here will love the sound of this one. :p
 
My DAC sure sounded like vinyl last week when I played an LP through it.
 
solderdude said:
I think Bob already did a good job measuring the device and show all the weakness.
poor USB implementation.
Clipping
No headroom
maybe 2 or 3 members here will love the sound of this one. :p
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Perhaps you can comment on how much it misses the claimed specs. I'm afraid that I might read Bob's measurements wrong.
 
Digital sounded a few steps closer to vinyl, and if that translates as more "analog-like," so be it.'
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Well the amount of distortion is closer to vinyl than a proper DAC and if that translates as more "analog-like," so be it.

The sound is big
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Distortion and clipping as well.

The Ares innards instead house a Denafrips designed discrete, high-precision resistor ladder (R-2R) digital converter. I've never before seen one like that in a less than $2,000 converter.
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I have ...

The internal power supply boasts a large custom-wound toroidal transformer and a bank of 72 small capacitors.
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moar is better, you know that.

The Ares sound wasn't anything like any other digital converter I've tried at home
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Steve G (or is it Steve O ?) might be right.

I can't comment on how much it misses any specs.:rolleyes:
I understood from a select few members specs don't matter so also not how far they are 'off' from claimed ones.
Besides, I trust Steve G and any subjective talk over measurements anyday as one should listen to and look at DACs and not look at boring plots. :D
 
badboygolf16v said:
Anyone says "sounds analogue' or 'sounds digital' in a gear review, browser tab is closed down tout de suite.
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But it didn't just lift one veil it lifted multiple ones "the music popped into focus, as if veils had been lifted. " I don't know how that can be topped.
 
invaderzim said:
But it didn't just lift one veil it lifted multiple ones "the music popped into focus, as if veils had been lifted. " I don't know how that can be topped.
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There are always more veils to be lifted... That's one measurement that hasn't been invented yet: just how many veils are there?
 
pkane said:
There are always more veils to be lifted... That's one measurement that hasn't been invented yet: just how many veils are there?
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There are seven. Once the seventh veil is lifted you see everything, and I do mean everything. (You still have to have a good seat though).

PS My source is the Dance in Salome by Strauss.
 
Zog said:
There are seven. Once the seventh veil is lifted you see everything, and I do mean everything. (You still have to have a good seat though).

PS My source is the Dance in Salome by Strauss.
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The libretto to the Richard Strauss opera is a German adaptation of Wilde's play (which Wilde wrote in French). ;)
 
Ron Texas said:
https://www.cnet.com/news/this-digi...oving-audiophiles/#ftag=rss.audiophiliac.ftag

Claimed specs:
Frequency Response: 20-70KHz -3dB
THD+N: 0.004%
S/N Ratio: 115dB
Dynamic Range: >119dB
Stereo Crosstalk: -124dB

I'm skeptical. It looks like a Luddite fantasy to me along with vinyl and tubes. I did not find any measurements.
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There is actual science and evidence to support tubes as having a more pleasing sound.

https://www.kenrockwell.com/audio/why-tubes-sound-better.htm
 
Ken Rockwell, are you pulling my leg.
 
I'm confused. Have we now advanced to the point of simulating random static discharge between the disc and the stylus? And the hiss from dust? Can they simulate that zap from your friend sneaking up behind you with a ZeroStat gun? And the random skips from the hair that dropped on the platter because you were so diligently trying to clean it? Is the simulation referenced that of a direct drive or belt drive turntable? How do you play a DAC backwards, by the way? I guess it's easy to imagine how to accomplish the slow degradation of a favorite record from playing it a lot... I'm assuming we're trying to reproduce a gymbal-weighted tonearm, and prolly the little reflective bits in the side of the platter so you could fine-tune the rpm exactly... But what would be most representative for most people? Who is even alive that has any reference point for such a simulation?

Nope. Color me skeptical. I don't see how it would be possible to work all that into a DAC. (Ahhhh, the good old days!!!)

(P.S. The veils seem to be a reference to Hustler and I thought this was a family blog. :facepalm:...)
 
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