VMV D1se2 Stereo DAC Review

[Ken Tajalli]

Adding on, we get better dynamic range as a system if we increase the output voltage from the DAC. Would be great to have DACs with 15 to 20 volt output while maintaining the same low distortion. Then we can feed this into power amps without a gain stage to get the best dynamic range possible.

Well yes and no!
To feed poweramps without a gain stage, direct to the output stage, also requires the said 15V to 20V to have a low output impedance, to be able to drive that section.
Such a DAC can even drive sensitive speakers direct.
Reminds me of one of your favourite DACs.

CHORD Hugo TT2 Review (DAC & HP Amp)

This is a review, detailed measurements and listening tests of Chord Hugo TT2 DAC and amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $6,725. The product looks and feels like it was designed by a committee with multiple design styles from globes to dot matrix green (!) display. Labels...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[CedarX]

Well yes and no!
To feed poweramps without a gain stage, direct to the output stage, also requires the said 15V to 20V to have a low output impedance, to be able to drive that section.
Such a DAC can even drive sensitive speakers direct.
Reminds me of one of your favourite DACs.

CHORD Hugo TT2 Review (DAC & HP Amp)

This is a review, detailed measurements and listening tests of Chord Hugo TT2 DAC and amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $6,725. The product looks and feels like it was designed by a committee with multiple design styles from globes to dot matrix green (!) display. Labels...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Isn’t about adding a (super clean!) HPA to the D1se2 and using its output to drive an amp output stage?

 

[Multicore]

What does the connector labeled I2S do?

 

[Ken Tajalli]

What does the connector labeled I2S do?

digital input.

 

[Veri]

I'll be honest, I've had a lot of good digital converters over the past 20 years. I now have new DAC with ES9039Pro, and it's the best DAC chip I've heard so far, its audio performance is so good that it outshines the older multibit chip or even modern R2R DACs.
I would be very happy if there were more different devices with the new Hyperstream IV series from ESS.

Which one did ya end up with? Just curious.

 

[Veri]

What does the connector labeled I2S do?

HDMI I2S see https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...etter-for-dacs-than-s-pdif-or-usb.7105/page-2

 

[HarmonicTHD]

It’s fine and state of the art but there are plenty of choices of well measuring (and even cheaper) DACs. At this price point I would expect some more features (but just a remote and a nice box).

 

[Lambda]

Its beyond me why a DAC needs A c13/14 power cabel...
Could easily be USB Powered and see the last Shit DAC.

Why the Remote?!
How is this intended to be used you have a remote for your digital source ( i assume?) and then you have a second remote for your DAC? (why)
Do you also have a Remote for your Amplifier?

 

[Rednaxela]

Why the Remote?!

Volume and source selection. And power on/off.

Possibly among others.

 

[Rednaxela]

From the manual:

 

[DilbertPugh]

No mention of MQA but the ES9039MSPRO is the MQA variant of the new chip.
SMSL literature has a chest beating feature about the triple unfold of MQA in the VMV D1se2.

—"Once the blur in the recording is removed,MQA will use what we call a "musical origami" process, Cleverly makes this large resolution file easy to manage and can compatible with any service or playback device."—


So they call it "musical origami"

There are a few other names for it too!

Are they still paying a license?

 

[JeremyFife]

Adding on, we get better dynamic range as a system if we increase the output voltage from the DAC. Would be great to have DACs with 15 to 20 volt output while maintaining the same low distortion. Then we can feed this into power amps without a gain stage to get the best dynamic range possible.

Would that give an audible benefit, or would it only really apply to 'difficult' loads and edge-cases?

 

[Short38]

Interesting thread. As SMSL et al move up in price and market, Weiss is moving down in price with a $3K unit I assume to compete with Benchmark. Looks like “perfection” will hit at around $1.5k with 10 peq settings, 8 channel x over, room correction and perhaps an air fryer. Great time to be listening!

 

[dtaylo1066]

Its measurements are so good I get jittery and my thoughts distorted just thinking about it.

 

[shuppatsu]

Ho hum. Another day, another transparent DAC. This one with unnecessary I2S, no triggers, and a display that looks like some of my Android layout tutorial attempts.

For my $700--first, I would not spend $700 on a DAC--I'd go with the Topping D70 Pro every time. Better looking, triggers, much nicer display, identical performance. Only downside is the crappy remote but honestly I would use a universal remote for both if I used a remote at all for anything other than initial configuration.

Where should we go from here? What's left in DAC improvements, facilities aside?

PEQ would be nice (shout out to RME). I'd like to see some standard for letting the DAC and the amp talk to each other. Otherwise digital and analog input switching are spread out across two different devices speaking different languages.

 

[RangerAudio]

I want to like this product as it obviously is a well-performing product, but with other products around the same price that are either cheaper, have a better screen, or a headphone amp as well. Just doesn't seem worth it. I'm not sure what the appeal is over such competitive products. If anyone can enlighten me, please do.

 

[Robbo99999]

Very expensive for "just a DAC", even if it is a very well measuring one. I think other features like parametic EQ need to be added if you're gonna charge $700 for a DAC. DACS are too much of a done & dusted deal from a performance perspective to charge that much for just a DAC. (I marked it down in the poll for those reasons).

 

[Trell]

Agree—Apple, Microsoft, and Google would behoove themselves to adopt LDAC as the standard for wireless audio transmission, damn their “not invented here” phobia.

My guess is that there are license/patents issues involved. The LDAC encoder library is open source, but not the decoder which is proprietary.

LDAC (codec) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[heraldo_jones]

Great review as always and really great product. Would love to se your in deep review and measurements of the VMV A1 Class A Amplifier. Looks like SMSL has put a lot of extra effort in this.

 

[notsodeadlizard]

Great review as always and really great product. Would love to se your in deep review and measurements of the VMV A1 Class A Amplifier. Looks like SMSL has put a lot of extra effort in this.

Everyday Practical Electronics, October 2008
20W Class A module