Soekris "dac1541": DAC/Amp - Stream of Consciousness Impressions

I'm interested if there's a group buy too. Thanks.

 

I guess someone has to organize group buy. I think there are enough. @porkfriedpork , @GoodEnoughGear , @TheIceman93 , @TMoney , @Daveheart , @rigo and me? though I have to cancel my dac1421 to make it happen. Should be enough. I can volunteer to organize it and ship them out. If a more trusted member wants to do it, I would be happy to let them organize it.

 

The offer for an US SBAF group buy is still valid and it seems like you're up to at least five people. But somebody have to organize it, that's the whole point of a group buy.... And we do currently have stock.

 

@soekris, I'm in South Africa, but interested nonetheless. Any chance I could pay additional shipping for you to send mine straight here?

 

I'm organizing the group buy of the dac1541. Seems the buy will happen soon so if anyone wants to hop on the buy, please send me a pm in the next 5 days.

 

Initially I had this impression as well, but then I decided to let it run for a couple of days into headphones without listening, and I found it much smoother when I came back.

Roberto

 

I received my dac1541 from the group buy and started listening. I got it for my desktop system (headphone+nearfield), to replace a Jot with internal DAC. First impressions on my HD6XX with balanced cable: it sounds really good! Everything is a marked improvement — resolution, extension, dynamics, naturalness of sound. Listening to Bruno Walter's Mahler 1, I'm picking out inner voices that I hadn't paid much attention to before.

I've accepted compromises in staying with one box solutions — I'm switching from Jotunheim, a good amp with add-on DAC, to dac1541, a good DAC with add-on amp. As I was hoping, in this case the improvement in DAC far outweigh the differences in the amp section. Actually I'm finding the 1541 to have quite a good amp. After I get back from Thanksgiving, I'll feed the preamp output into the Jot for comparison

Other notes:

• The volume display is really bright and I'll have to put a tinted sheet over it.
• Physically, the Jot and dac1541 are fairly close in size, but the Jot is much heavier (probably its power supply). The Jot feels much more solid and substantial, and IMO looks more premium.
• As an all-in-one box, the dac1541 fits my needs better than Jot w/DAC — multi digital inputs and a switch to flip between headphones and pre-out.
• The dac1541 doesn't come with a power cord. Probably to simplify inventory for worldwide market.

 

Also received my group buy dac1541. It is intended as a possible work DAC/amp, where I currently use a Bifrost Multibit+Jot stack to power MrSpeakers Æon closed. I got the dac1541 out of curiosity, knowing that I'd then give my increasingly audiophile daughter the "other" setup. I'm not yet ready to declare that dac1541 >> Bifrost Multibit+Jot, but I'm liking what I hear, and the smaller size is a real benefit even if the difference is not huge for the music I listen to (mainly modern jazz, modern classical, medieval/baroque, various African and Middle Eastern). Subjectively -- and not on a careful A/B comparison -- dac1541 sounds very clean, contained, glare-free across the frequency range. I'm currently feeding the dac1541 with an RPi via USB. When I have a bit more time I'll try to interpose an Eitr to check if I need to improve the source (if I do, likely with an Allo DigiOne Pi hat). Anyway, so far, so good!

 

I was recently offered a loaner of this unit from @JoshMorr. After reading up a bit on impressions here and taking a look at the design I was pretty skeptical but I reluctantly agreed to try it out just for fun. I received it this afternoon and I've been listening to it ever since, both as a combo unit and as a DAC only versus/with my regular chain of Gungnir Multibit>Valhalla2>HD650. I am thoroughly impressed with this unit thus far and think it deserves some more recognition. As a pre-face, it's important to note I have had growing discontent with my own setup and a desire to replace it with something less colored across the board, though I didn't expect to be as taken with the dac1541 as I have been.

Build and physical layout leaves little to be desired. I am a fan of utilitarian design on equipment and I find the minty green chassis and retro green volume display endearing, though an option to dim the display would be much appreciated. The buttons on the front are solid but don't provide any satisfactory feedback on push, so you have to pay attention to the LEDs. The chassis is also so light at ~1kg that pushing the buttons to change input or filters can cause the unit to slide back a little. In/outs on the back are neatly laid out, though I'm not sure the digital coaxial input is rated for 75ohms as it appears to be identical to the line outs. The volume control is digital which I'm normally averse to but it seems to be a decent enough implementation here. The pot or encoder that controls it is a little insensitive and not the smoothest to turn, it has a tendency to make 2-4dB jumps when you're looking for small adjustments only. It appears it also supports 3rd party remote controls for volume adjustment which is very cool.

My sonic impressions come with the caveat that 95% of listening was done fed by an Arcam CD73 as a transport via RCA coax, only testing USB briefly. I am a big HD650 fanboy for its linearity throughout the mid-range and lack of timbre fuckery, though I am acutely aware of its shortcomings as a transducer. Overall I think the dac1541 is highly competent in nearly every relevant sonic measure that I can think of and I believe I prefer it to the Gungnir Multibit that I have owned for 9 months. Tone is quite good, it clearly does possess the liquidity and treble timbre resistor ladder designs are known for. I do not at all hear the glare or hardness described by a few others, neither in the treble nor transient over-sharpening, but again I am listening to a non-USB source with headphones that have relatively colored treble to begin with.

The dac1541 is audibly cleaner, clearer and more focused than the Gungnir Multibit; both in terms of the contrast between instruments and their background; as well as the transient definition by which macro or "outer" details become realized. The differences here are not massive but as this was something I was already starting to grow quite displeased with the Gungnir Multibit's performance in it stood out to me immediately. The dac1541 is not quite as authoritative, elastic or flexible with regards to dynamics either macro or micro but is also free of the Gumbys obvious bass boost, fatness and slight softness. Mid-bass is more articulate (but still not the tightest I've heard) with the soekris unit, and lower mids less masked with artificial euphony. I completely toss cop-out descriptors like "analytical" and "musical" out the window as they don't mean shit to me or describe sound in any meaningful way. The dac1541 is to my ears less colored and lets me hear more of the recording than the Gungnir Multibit, which I always view as a good thing.

I won't comment on stage and/or imaging too much as I don't have any speakers to properly assess these attributes. What I will say is that I think all staging with headphones (headstage) is "fake" and with them I prefer more than anything a presentation that doesn't draw attention to itself in an unpleasant way. The dac1541 is not exactly flat in this regard and while it doesn't have the width of the Gungnir Multibit I have recently felt that the Gungnir Multibit portrays things a little too panned and "larger than life", though I will not doubt that it is more resolving of ambient and spatial cues in the recording this feels pretty irrelevant on headphones. In terms of separation or layering in a standard multi-tracked recording the dac1541 appears to keep up a bit better when the mix gets complex thanks to its more delineated transients and less low mid/upper bass warmth.

I don't know why some have been so hard on the built-in headamp as it sounds fine to my ears. Solid state falls into two categories for me: 1) un-listenable 2) listenable, and this is certainly listenable. Sure the DAC can do better but as a combo unit it's totally fine even for critical listening. There wasn't a massive difference between going 1/4" or XLR out. After some experimentation with the filters I've concluded the differences are subtle and I stay on either the "red" (linear phase) or "off" (soft) filters depending on the recording. I usually find filter toggles and crossfeed features to be gimmicky but in this case it's cool to have the option to switch.

The USB implementation was not an afterthought, it seems to be a licensed XMOS chip with class compliance so no drivers required on Windows 10. This is very good as I imagine many people will be using this as a more transportable solution where better sources are not available. The USB sounds OK, it has the usual drawbacks versus a low jitter S/PDIF source, and I found myself reaching for the soft filter more when listening to USB to offset some of the added digititus. In terms of warm-up I thought the unit was listenable out of the box with a little 6-7k hash/artifacting but that went away after an hour or two of on time.

I think this unit is a real winner and I'm actually strongly considering acquiring one. Those of you who got it for the pre-order or group buy price got a great deal. For the current retail price, given the form factor and lack of hassle I will give the dac1541 4 spicy Popeye's Louisiana Tendies out of 5. For reference, given my current aversion to artificial warmth I can only give the Gungnir Multibit 3 tendies out of 5.

P.S. @soekris any chance of organizing another group buy? I have at least 3 people who are interested and could probably rally some more if so.

 

I'd definitely be interested in this, since i zoned out and missed the first announcement.

 

I'm sort of interested to see if the dac1321 performs anywhere close to the dac1541.

 

Thanks for the nice review. As long as we don't have an US rep yet and the USD/EUR exchange rate is not that good, I'm open for additional group buys, the same terms apply:

Special factory direct group buy for US based SBAF members.... EUR 1070 (USD 1270 at todays exchange rate). That offer would be based on minimum 5 pcs, with free shipping to one US location, and prepayment by one wiretransfer. We currently do have ok stock. One person here need to organize it.

 

It will sound close to the dac1541, basically same digital circuit and analog buffer, although things have been cut down a little to keep cost down, like fewer bits, less precise resistors, cheaper oscillator, simpler user interface, no headphones support, no remote support....

And I know the dac1321 have been delayed, way more than I would like, but we just got the production boards and will get the cases in a couple of days.... So shipping will start soon, could arrange for a unit for a tour, if there is interest....

 

I'm certainly interested.

 

Sorry if this has been answered already. Is the dac1421 the same situation, or is it literally the 1541 with a single-ended topology?

 

The dac1421 is basically a dac1541 but singled ended, with the R-2R networks cut down from two per channel to one per channel and all the other balanced parts removed. I actually designed the dac1421 by taking the dac1541 board and do some cutting.... There are also a little less precise resistors in the dac1421 R-2R resistor networks compared to the dac1541, I doubt anybody can hear it.... But the dac1541 is of course the best

The dac1321 is a completely separate board, you can compare the dac1541 and dac1321 board pictures on the soekris website.

 

Ah, thank you. That makes me wonder if the 1421 might be a good buy with the Aficionado (to save some money,) or if I should stick wtih the 1541.

 

If there's a group buy count me in for a 1321, 1421 if the price is right. I actually sent an email last night inquiring as to the cost.

 

Just realized I forgot to type up any impressions on the 1541 as I was part of the loaner tour. As you can see from K4's review above, I liked the loaner soooo much I begged Soren to let me buy it. The main reason for buying was for further analysis and to send to a few friends as I has pretty different impressions from some of the better known reviewers here. To confirm (or completely blow up) my suspicions, I had to send it to a few friends who have a similar frame of reference and know how to read my impressions and tell me if I was a deaf dumb idiot (jury still out). As always frame of reference is everything. I was mainly comparing this dac to Gungnir Multibit which I've owned for 18 months or so, and pretending I don't care about digital even though I'm constantly looking for a dac that better represents my preferences. I've tried quite a few dacs in the last couple of years, but I was mostly comparing in my head to the Amethyst that I reviewed a few weeks back. I was more focused on this unit as a balanced dac than an all in one unit as I have my main amp all figured out, but the fact that this was also had a built in head amp was cool feature I could use to listen to youtube cooking videos or when I didn't feel like firing up the big ol tube amp. Impressions done on HD800/HD650 and my Omega speakers - both through an Aficionado.

A lot of my feelings mirror my Canadian brother from a moosey mother @k4rstar - so sorry for redundancy I will try to outline how I feel differently or point out things I feel like weren't mentioned. First thing I noticed was how right this felt. It has an extremely black background with lots of space between the notes. Stage was immediately more intimate than what I was used to listening to Gungnir Multibit, had good depth / width / height but was smaller than what I usually listen to in the Gungnir Multibit. That said, Gungnir Multibit is huge stage - feels artificial at times, but I like that effect where Gungnir Multibit has you looking over your shoulder for where a hard panned voice is coming from.

As I continued to listen, it really stuck me how clean and clear the bass was on this device. Not a ton of punch per say, but not weak sauce wet noodle like the Amethyst was. I think I would gladly trade away some slam for a cleaner less wooly low end. In my mind, this is the difference between true neutral and Moffat Bass (TM) and 100% preference. One drier cans or speakers I prefer the added bloom of Gungnir Multibit, other times true recreation of the Soekris. Now this isn't to say the 1541 doesn't have soul, life, or sweetness to it (or the other terms K4 labeled as bullshit), it has them in spades. Just like when I first heard Gungnir Multibit, it has that special quality where you don't want to stop listening and keep on justifying one more track.

One area that I feel the 1541 falls slightly behind Gungnir Multibit in is that spooky micro detail Gungnir Multibit stuck me with when I first heard it. Its not a big difference, but when listening to a live recording full of le plankton, I could hear certain things more clearly on Gungnir Multibit than 1541, lets call it less than 6.9% difference so most people shouldn't concern themselves and it only becomes apparent when a/bing back and forth certain albums. I wouldn't call this a make or break difference, just nitpicking.

I tried out the headamp in balanced mode with hd650 and hd660s. Its more than adequate and the best all in one unit I've heard (which admittedly had a low bar). For non critical listening, distracted listening, workplace listening, etc etc I think this amp is really pretty good. 69% better than what I found the warm messy amp on the amethyst to be. Volume control was perfectly fine - and reading the manual you can connect a apple remote to control volume / select inputs (AWESOME).

I gave my final impressions first - I purchased this dac / combo unit. I feel like it was overlooked and a really solid option out there for people looking for balanced dacs in the $1000 - $1500 range. Very different presentation from the Schiit I was used to, and while I've tried lots of "different" I haven't found anything I could live with. Everything had a fatal flaw per say. The Soekris 1541 is the first that gets close or surpasses what I already had, and that to me said enough that I couldn't let it go.

 

Hi Søren,

would it be possible to have an EU Group buy w the same price (I guess it's including the VAT, or?), too?

Edit: and.. any chance for a DAC 1321 EU Group buy?