Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

After my experience with MSB, Lampi, AMR, Chord and Playback Design i am no longer in the camp that believes the more you pay the more you get. No longer do I rely on Magazine Reviews or Forum Hype that one DAC destroyed another.

My playback designs runs circles around more higher priced DACs. This was a eye opener for me. I am yet to try out very cheap DACs to compare but I believe the FPGA and R2R dacs at the moment are reigning suprema in the digital domain.

Forum Hype is a dangerous marketing tool for the uninitiated with limited experience.

Every month a new DAC company will prop up and everyone will claim this is the next best thing. Enough with the crap...

High price does not always equal better!! This is a fact. There are $8k DAC’s (ODSE & APL DSD-SR for example) that I would chose without hesitation over many $12, $18k, $24k or $35k DAC’s. As an example, the new Reference Emm DA-2 was disappointing to say the least. I bought it, I auditioned it, and I traded it. But experience has taught me that there is also a pseudo-floor of about $8k below which currently nothing exists to compete favorably with the top tier DAC’s. If someone wants to prove that wrong please send me their sub $8k giant killer for audition and I will be happy to report my findings. That all said, I will gladly admit that the Davinci Light Harmonic DAC (which is around $35k) is the best damn DAC I have ever had in my system and mine will be arriving in about 3 weeks for permanent residence, or until something better dethrones it.

Which hits on my next point, just made by Dragon_Vibe, and he’s 100% correct. BE CAREFUL OF RAVE REVIEWS IN MAGAZINES, ON-LINE REVIEWS AND FORUMS. You would be shocked to see how many reviews are essentially just paid advertisements, how many on-line raves are subsidized and how many forums are fed info by people with motivations to sell product.

FROM DAY ONE, I HAVE PUT MY OWN MONEY OUT TO BUY EVERY DAC (and now have some sent to me for honest audition) I HAVE AUDITIONED! I DONT REVIEW, I AUDITION AND COMPARE TO WHAT I CURRRNTLY HAVE. IF ITS BETTER, IT STAYS. IF ITS NOT BETTER, IT GETS SOLD (or sent back). My opinions are 100% sincere and unbiased. If a company wants to send me something for audition they better be comfortable with me reporting to you guys that I don’t like it. Period. You get the whole truth!! Also, NOTHING gets auditioned without cooking for a minimum of 500 hours in my room to make sure it’s well burned in, settled, and has the best opportunity to sound its best.

With a new flow of DAC’s coming out, I’d love to get my hands on a top tier Playback Designs to audition, especially with Dragon_Vibes comments, and I look forward to CTSooner bringing his prized Ayre DAC over this summer for a good listen. I have no interest in buying a Golden Gate, but I’d still love to hear one in my room so I have an educated reference for you guys.

That all said, I will today be auditioning and comparing my (yes i purchased it to audition it) Chord DAVE DAC. A friend is coming over and we will be comparing it to my current reference ODSX. We will also be comparing the Aurender N10 I am borrowing to a Micro-computer running Windows and JRiver through a Micro-Rendu. That should also be a cool comparison. I don’t believe any fancy power supplies are involved so it should be a fair off the shelf comparison.

Thanks everyone for keeping this thread fresh and interesting!

Guys, I"ve had the Yggy in my system on two occasions.  One for was about 5 days.  I had a Codex in the house and did my own listening.  I then invited a few friends over to hear both units.  The Codex won every time.  The people listening weren't really audiophiles, just music lovers an one was a pro musician.  They never asked which piece was which, ,but it also wasn't a scientific test.  

The Codex threw a wider stage, went deeper in the bass and has much more detail.  The pace and rhythm was there in spades.  There was a male vocal (forget who) that had a reverberation in that lower mid that sounded right on the Codex.  The Yiggy was close, but it didn't give the same emotion that the Codex did.

I can see why Schitt has a following. Great products for reasonable cost.  I spoke to two owners of the units who post on Computer Audiophile I believe it is and they both had posts about the Yiggy besting the Codex etc...  I PM"d them and spoke to both.  Neither had ever heard the Codex let alone had one in their system.  I found that strange.  When I talk about a product it may have been hearing it once in a shop or someone else's system and me not liking what I hear right up front.  Could be many reasons, but I'm not the type to get excited about the TV on the floor at Best Buy that's the brightest of the bunch and stands out because of it.  

If you feel the Yiggy is better than the top DAC's Matt has had in his system, then that's awesome.  My post wasn't meant as a mean spirited comment to you, but I did dismiss it based on my own listening (The Codex isn't in the same league as the QX5/20 so I made an assumption that the Yiggy can't hold a candle to the QX5/20).  The QX5/20 isn't quite as good as some of the DAC's in the 18 and above, but better than a few I"ve heard.

If you want to get Matt  Yiggy to go up against the others, I'm sure he'll plug it into his system for a day.  If we can set that up for the day I get to visit with my Ayre piece then that would be great too.  Maybe I'll hear differently in Matt's room (can't wait to get there Matt).

I would love to hear the Areas Cerat Kassandre DAC as the design of it appeals to me. Sadly no dealers near me in the UK. Anyone here heard it?

Sunandmusic - haven’t heard it sorry.

The group of people that regularly post on this thread seam to have a lot of experience hearing many different DAC’s. If any of us make a comment, it’s pretty reliable (here) that the statement is being made with auditory experience to back it up. Otherwise most of us just say we havent heard it.

Also, we all have different tastes. So a lot of times it’s more important to ask "why"’something was preferred then "what" was preferred.

I just finished a 2.5 hour comparison of the ODSX and the DAVE and have some impressions. I don’t have time to post them now. But the why, and sonic descriptions will likely be more useful to many then which I chose as "better"....

stay tuned.