Which DAC measurements do you like to see next?

[FunkeXMix]

I ordered the TempoTec DH1000 aka Hidizs DH1000 from aliexpress. Will let you know how it is.

 

[Simon740]

What about Nuprime DAC 9?

Regards,
Simon

 

[777]

Nuprime HA10

 

[Graph Feppar]

I want to see Chord DAVE, I saw Stereophile measurements and it showed highest performance they ever measured. I think this might be the highest performing DAC currently in production.

 

[amirm]

Nuprime HA10

I assume you mean DAC-10H. Regardless, they are pretty expensive so I suggest dropping them a message telling them you like to see it reviewed here. Sometimes that gets them interested in sending in a loan unit.

 

[amirm]

I want to see Chord DAVE, I saw Stereophile measurements and it showed highest performance they ever measured. I think this might be the highest performing DAC currently in production.

I am on the lookout for one so hopefully one becomes available....

 

[bakker_be]

I am on the lookout for one so hopefully one becomes available....

Insanely expensive though

 

[777]

I want to see Chord DAVE, I saw Stereophile measurements and it showed highest performance they ever measured. I think this might be the highest performing DAC currently in production.

Auralic Altair is in the same league of measurements with Chord Dave in Stereophile.

 

[DuxServit]

How about TEAC UD301?
It's below USD300 and has balenced output.
Seems a good choice to pair with THX amp.

The NT505 DAC & Network player looks like the current generation:

https://www.teac.co.jp/jp/support/news/5845
https://www.teac-audio.eu/en/products/nt-505-149454.html

 

[wiggum]

Why is the A45 cheaper than A35?

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-NW-A45-...=UTF8&qid=1544946363&sr=1-1&keywords=sony+a35

Did you buy it? If you review it, it will be the world's first objective review of the A45.

 

[Bliman]

I would like to see the SMSL M8A. I thought you had one to test also.

 

[VintageFlanker]

What about Nuprime DAC 9?

Regards,
Simon

Hum... I owned the DAC-9 during 1 year (driving 2 STA-9 amps) and had a very bad experience about the USB Input. This is not at all "isolated" or such and take the 5V power from the computer.

Once I turned on my PC, I heard a very audible "pink noise" in my speakers. Even worse when my PC was loading or gaming (or use USB transfer to external hard drive), all of these electronics noises were audible via the DAC-9. Nothing to complain about SPDIF inputs, though. I end up by using a Aune X1S as an USB to COAX interface to solve the issue.
I would like to se this as well in measurements. Or maybe my unit was defective.

 

[Willem]

I would like to see a test of the DAC part of a mid price integrated amplifier by one of the big Japanse mass market brands like Yamaha etc. I think for many consumers on a normal budget but with sound quality ambitions these roughly 2x100 watt amplifiers with digital inputs are the most economical serious quality option. They should leave plenty of budget for the part that matters most: the speakers.

 

[Snafu]

Meridian Explorer 2, i have been using one two years and it sounds excellent with hifi-system (connected to pre amp).
It sounds really good with Oppo PM3's too. Sound is so good compared to other DACs i have tried i'd like to know where the difference comes from.

Stereophile did some measuring, but it would be interesting to see Amir's test results and compare it to other DACs.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/meridian-explorer2-da-headphone-amplifier-measurements

I'm waiting my D50 to arrive and i will do H2H-tes.... eh... listening

 

[Veri]

Meridian Explorer 2, i have been using one two years and it sounds excellent with hifi-system (connected to pre amp).
It sounds really good with Oppo PM3's too. Sound is so good compared to other DACs i have tried i'd like to know where the difference comes from.

Stereophile did some measuring, but it would be interesting to see Amir's test results and compare it to other DACs.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/meridian-explorer2-da-headphone-amplifier-measurements

I'm waiting my D50 to arrive and i will do H2H-tes.... eh... listening

SINAD of the explrer around 90dB looks like :/ pretty average, around iFi nano level.

 

[Snafu]

^ exactly, i was wondering why it sounds so good vs other dacs i tried.
in my system (yeah, audible levels and all that) ME2 has been the quietest one.

(i have tube pre+power amps so it isn't 100% dead quiet system anyway, audible hiss ~5-10 inches from speakers, volume doesn't change that).

 

[Chiv]

It'd be nice to see a review of this EVGA Nu-Audio
https://www.evga.com/articles/01281/evga-nu-audio/

just to see how sound cards are nowadays, especially the latest ones

 

[DDF]

Hum... I owned the DAC-9 during 1 year (driving 2 STA-9 amps) and had a very bad experience about the USB Input. This is not at all "isolated" or such and take the 5V power from the computer.

Once I turned on my PC, I heard a very audible "pink noise" in my speakers. Even worse when my PC was loading or gaming (or use USB transfer to external hard drive), all of these electronics noises were audible via the DAC-9. Nothing to complain about SPDIF inputs, though. I end up by using a Aune X1S as an USB to COAX interface to solve the issue.
I would like to se this as well in measurements. Or maybe my unit was defective.

I wonder about USB audio's sensitivity to interface matching and think USB noise isolation tests would be valuable to weed out issues in DAC performance. Amir's USB set up would be too clean to uncover these types of problems. The following illustrates that "bits are bits" is overly reductive, all bits aren't created equal.

Your unit probably worked as designed, my Nuprime Dac10H did the same on 2 different Dell laptops (same model #s). Either an Arcam irdac or using a different model lap top were fine. The noise level would vary and even when inaudible as noise at the tweeter, the sound was rough but not detected as a hard drop outs like clicks (blind tested, 100% detection rate by untrained listener). The Windows settings were optimized for audio and DPC latency was low.

My Dell laptop has a dirty USB interface and a Usb optical isolator (OLIMEX) cured the sizzling but replaced it with hard drop outs (clicks). I permanently solved all problems by replacing the Dell's earth grounded power brick with a doubly insulated 2 prong brick. That bears repeating: floating the laptop off earth ground (safely) fixed obvious USB audio problems even when they weren't hard drop outs.

Waveform eye distortion is caused by jitter and amplitude distortions. This is as big or bigger interface issue than amp damping factor and deserves more scrutiny in industry reviews than just jitter tolerance testing. I wonder if the USB industry specifications aren't tightly enough controlled to ensure clean USB audio delivery.

 

[Oukkidoukki]

Tascam uh-7000

 

[atharva]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum and this is my first post.

Amir, first a huge thanks to you for having this site and doing the measurements. Most obviously it help us in buying decisions as we can see which components do well in scientific measurement as opposed to their market perception and price. Secondly, it also serves as good learning and of course, entertainment.

I didn't see measurements for NOS/R2R ladders (TotalDac, Denafrips, Holo Spring, Metrum etc). These are expensive so I guess you can only review them if you get one on loan from the company or a member. On the NOS front I'd like to request a review of the TeraDAK 1543 (with the 8 and 16 parallel 1543 chips) or any other NOS DACs.

Also, I'm not sure if the measurements can be used to compare whether NOS/R2R are really that superior to Sigma Delta ones. Would also like your subjective review on whether they sound better.

Cheers!