The All Purpose Advice Thread

No? That was the distinct impression that I got, given the pricing, sound and so forth- enjoying the hearing the contrary now impressions now.

Also, I suspect that my opinion has been swayed by this guy:

See, now I am conflicted. Around here, I really trust @Marvey's ears, but I also have found that I generally like your take on things too. Short of smash and grabbing the relevant hardware and auditioning it for a month, what am I to do?

(I am not seriously jonesing to pick up a Bifrost Multibit- was offered a cheapish one and passed on it, and now am just trying to torment myself.. Short of another good used deal, if I grab a better DAC, it'll likely be a Gungnir Multibit.)

 

I've never owned the Modi Multibit, so I couldn't really make that comparison. The PCM-63K from the Parasound was definitely more along the lines of what the Yggdrasil is today. Keep in mind, I bought the Transdac after the Parasound and found the Transdac lacking in comparison. It also happened to be a warmer sound dac as well. However, the Transdac was still more impressive than all the DS dacs I had before.

 

How can an upgradable DAC become obsolete?

 

The MHDT Labs Atlantis and Stockholm v2 both go for under $1,000 and they are NOS implementations using R2R converter ICs.

 

For what its worth I used to own the MHDT Paradisea+ and it was without a doubt the worst audio purchase I have ever made. It didn't sound "Warm" or "musical" or "veiled" it sounded horribly muddy and awful. Go listen to the the HD650 out of a Line Out from a $50 boombox and you will have a close approximation.

 

I've not heard the Paradisea+ so I can't really comment on how that unit sounds; however, my expectations based on the converter IC it uses and the op-amp output would bias me against it. I'm most definitely not a TDA154X fan.

I have heard the Havana, Atlantis, and the Pagoda and then owned the Stockholm v2 and thought they were all thoroughly enjoyable. Of course, I generally like the way NOS DACs render (it is rather different to OS units), b) I had selected a suitable tube and c) I wasn't driving it via USB. Any of those could easily sway someone for/against such units.

And that last point ... on USB ... is, I feel, more crucial than usual as one thing I did find with the MHDT stuff was that the USB inputs were incredibly sensitive to how they were fed. I'm not a USB-fan at the best of times, but I wouldn't recommend them if they're going to be driven via native USB.

 

So many people talk smack about how "awful" my Dragonfly 1.2 is paired with anything that I pulled the trigger on the Modi Multibit.

The thing is tho I remember this 10 years ago. 10 years ago a certain vocal segment of head-fi said the NOS tube DACs were the bees knees.

So I spent $650 on a MHDT Paradisea+ DAC and man did that thing sound terrible. Even my very non-audiophile friend thought my X-Fi Elite Pro vastly outclasses the MHDT and said "The stereo in my car sounds better". She had a stock Honda Civic. So yeah.

I realize Schiit is not MHDT and the DACs are totally different but still, I'm really hoping the "moby" lives up to the hype.

 

just curious:

DAC-19 vs. Modi Multibit? How do they compare

 

damn.

 

AGD is pretty much one of the most overrated brands in audio with tons of audiophool marketing stuff. Matrix is at least honest that they are rolling op amps for warmth and is a lot cheaper for higher level Chifi sound if anyone wants that.

All the Sabre DACs from most brands are way overpriced too except for LH Labs compared to DACs that used other brands of chips like Cirrus (Wolfson), AKM, and Analog Devices.

 

Well the Modi Multibit came in and............eh...yeah. It does sound a bit nicer then the Dragonfly 1.2 but not some huge night and day difference like everyone was making it seem. People really like to hate on the Dragonfly as a DAC which makes me wonder if they have ever heard it.

 

I think part of the issue is that when we describe differences in DACs, we tend to highlight the differences in such a way that they seem like they should be obvious and immediately noticeable. But unless a DAC is really doing something wrong, you need to take time to get used to the sounds of whatever DACs you're comparing so you can begin to pinpoint those differences. Anyone looking for night and day differences is going to come away scratching their head.

 

I think it depends on the type of music you listen to. There are obvious things that stand out regardless of song, ex: warm, dry, dark, impact, grain, and then there are other things like imaging and staging that can be much more apparent when listening to the right tracks. The degree that these things change is dependent on supporting gear but MOSTLY the listeners ability to discern differences. Sometimes you might notice that something is different but you can't place what it is. It might take a couple weeks for it to sink in and numerous comparisons back and forth.

I'm sure your familiar with this, but in general, IMO the components that offer the greatest change in sound: Headphones/Speakers->Amp->Dac->state of mind->interconnects->power cords->special crystals

 

Any advice on where to start with home theater? I'm kind of baffled by the whole surround sound thing. It's never sounded very good to me.The only home setups I've heard have been those theater in a box things that were not properly arranged, in an untreated room, etc. I've gone to big box electronics stores to demo their home theater speakers, and I've never heard one of those that sounded good to me either. I even went to a theater with one of those fancy Dolby Atmos things and didn't walk away wowed. Am I missing something? Because based on my (extremely limited) experience, it almost seems like one would be better off with a decent two channel system.