A DAC that crushes price vs. performance ratio


I felt strongly that I wanted to inform the Gon members about a new DAC that ranks with the very best on the market regarding performance, but costs around $2,000.00.  The Lab12 DAC1 SE was compared to three reference level DACS that retail for over $12.000.00 in my review for hometheaterreview.com and was at least on the same level sonicly, if not better.  This DAC from Greece is not just "good for the money" but competes with virtually anything on the market regardless of price!

For all the details about the Lab12 DAC1 SE performance and what other DACS it was compared to take a look at the review.  If you are shopping/looking for a new digital front end to drive your system, you owe it to yourself to check this DAC out, unless you like to spend tons of more $ without getting better performance.
teajay
@nonoise

The fact that everyone picked that speaker only goes to show that despite it’s drawbacks, everyone liked it due to it’s flavoring and the ear of the the guy who designed it. Some designers are better at it than others.

Kinda grasping at straws there, aren’t you? No, it shows they picked the speaker that was closest to measurably ideal; any drawbacks were minimal compared to every other speaker tested, the “flavoring” added due to the fact that there is yet to be a speaker that measures ideally is of no consequence.  
 
Why do you think the new Revel F228Be is getting so much positive reviews? Because it’s Spinorama is superb (granted the measurement doesn’t show impedance/phase, sensitivity, distortion, etc., so it’s not a full comprehensive measurement).
@mzkmxcv,

No. No grasping at straws as the measurements show only part of the story. The only straw being grasped is the one you chose in saying that the measurement is definitive of what an ideal speaker should sound like without being there to hear it for yourself.

Hearsay is the ultimate straw man.

All the best,
Nonoise
Hey mzkmxcv,

I did start this thread, so I'll ask you politely to please start your own post regarding your ridiculous position about measurements being more important, or that they can predicate, how a piece of gear will sound to a listener.

You are entrenched in your position, so it's useless to debate with you.  My purpose at starting this thread was to share information on the Lab 12 and it was leading to positive sharing until you hijacked it into this meaningless BS. Go start your own thread so you can rattle on about this "dead horse" debate or subject, so we can go back to the intent of my thread.
@nonoise

@teajay

I’m stubborn to back down from my position as there are countless human trials showing that my position is valid. All your comments are dealing with what you believe or have experienced, which is invalid unless these comparisons between products were done double-blind, level matched, switched within ~10sec (humans can’t accurately remember sound past that point), etc. Many people believe digital audio is in stair steps and thus doesn’t accurately represent recorded music, that doesn’t make them right.

Don’t you think it’s odd how Revel, KEF, Magico, Focal, Sonus Faber, PSB, GoldenEar, Vivid Audio, Monitor Audio, Tekton, Dali, etc. all aim for measured idealness (transparent), and pretty much all solid state amplifier companies try to do the same as well? Whereas B&W and Wilson tune for their own house sound and their reviews are divisive (10kHz peaks for B&W aren’t as audible if you are >50)?

Answer me this, if you had a recording of a piano, are you saying you want some keys drastically different in volume than other keys? I want to hear my music, not my speakers nor my room (not anechoic of course, but to be within recommended reverb times), that’s also why I also use DSP to tame room modes mainly in the bass (as bass traps take up a lot of room and cost quite a pretty penny).  
  
If you feel I’m wrong, I welcome useful discussion. I’ve been proven wrong on some things I’ve believed before and welcome further learning. If one believes one solis state DAC can sound lifeless and another can have some more midbass slam, I’d like to be shown that that’s indeed the case, saying silver cables sound different than copper is also just wrong, silver is only better as it’s a better conductor, but a thicker gauge copper can easily have the same results for cheaper.
@mzkmxcv  From your above post, you are validating @teajay  's point regarding starting your own thread.

Your position is clearly well thought out and worthy of discussion, which is why starting your own thread on this is an ideal way forward. You will get the quality of debate and discussion you are looking for.