Valab NOS Dac VS. Cambridge Azur DacMagic

I have a Valab that I bought to play with. I did the cap upgrade as mentioned on the Hi Fi forum. The DAC is REALLY good compared to my Wavelength Cosecant V3. It's going to make my dad very happy with his new computer audio setup that I'm giving to him.

Ok, after a week of silence, I had another few hour session of comparing. I've always found I can't compare sound quality, very well, after prolonged listening, due to confusion. I get a better sense of what I'm hearing on a "first impression" basis, like I'm listening to someone's system for the first time. After a week of not listening, my memory, and expectations, for what my stuff sounds like is pretty much gone.

Anyways, after listening to the Valab, for a few songs, and then going back to my CDP's internal DAC for the same songs, I figured out what the Valab is lacking, in my system. It's the "blackness" of the background that's absent. Yes, the Valab is easy to listen to, but it sounds more like I'm listening to music being reproduced within my room. By comparison, my CDP creates a whole new "space" from where the music emerges from, and I find it easy to suck myself into this space, and listen from deep within. With my eyes closed, I feel as if If I'm somewhere else. I think this sense of space is what most of us are striving for. With the Valab, I feel as if I'm still sitting in my own living room. It just sounds more 2 dimensional. I'm sure some modding or cable swapping would help, but do I wanna go down that path?

On the other hand, I found if I got up and walked around to other areas of the house, the Valab sounds more listenable, and more what people would expect a stereo to sound like. It's like, if I was going to have a party and crank some tunes, I would use the Valab. Hmmm.... Maybe I'll just stick with my CDP, for now, and use the Valab for my "party DAC", cause I can crank some loud hard core music through this thing without things sounding objectionable, but for solo critical listening from my sweet spot, my CDP has the edge, by a wide margin. Much more fine detail being heard, but somewhat tilted towards the top.

So, how does the DacMagic fit in? Compared to my CDP, it does have a fuller, and probably more realistic sounding midrange, but it seems to push the midrange forward, somewhat masking the top and bottom extension, and also masking that sense of "space", I've grown accustomed to. The space is there, but it's harder for my brain to drift into it, kinda like the forward midrange is acting like a wall, keeping me out. I think my CDP's seemingly recessed midrange forces me to pull my focus deeper in. My CDP gives me more of a "dished" sound, and my original goal was to find something to pull some midrange out, but I think the DacMagic might be pulling out too much, for my tastes.

BTW, in case anyone was curious, my Valab is a March 2009 version, and my analog interconnect of choice is TMC Whites.

Rooski,

Having had the Onix XCD-88 for a while (few years), it mostly acted as a transport as I found the internal DAC lacking. Not sure what kind of digital cable you have going from transport to DAC, but quality there makes a huge difference (Acoustic Zen MC2 on mine). In my system, the Onix was never competitive at all with either the Valab or any of my previous DACs.

Again, in my system, the Valab bested a BC DAC3 and all others I've tried--more analog-like, non-digital and very fullsome, 3D sound with flesh and blood feel the vocal presentation. Admittedly, it isn't as silent as the OS DACs but it preserves the original intent of the music better.

But hey, if you can do sans DAC, put the dough toward more software instead.

Kenobi

Kenobi,

I did put better opamps in my Onix, and the interconnects I matched with it help out, greatly. Remember, my rig is tweaked around the sonic signature of the Onix, so swapping in another source would likely require re-tweaking the rest of the chain. Maggies can be very resolving, and I've always found it easy to hear the slightest sonic changes. I may not pinpoint the difference, but something in my brain will always tell me "somethin' ain't right".

For a digital cable, I started with the popular Blue Jeans Belden/Canare cable. Lately, I've been trying another cable I built.

Everyone keeps saying "sounds like analog", and honestly, I have not heard "high end vinyl" reproduction in about 30 years. I don't use vinyl, and I don't have any "audiophile" friends. My only reference for music is an occasional live performance.

Anyways, I know my Onix as a stand alone player has many weaknesses (and I hear them), but "in my system", it has certain attributes which I've grown fond of, mainly the depth it creates. It can give me a sense of "music in my head" instead of just "music in my room". So far, with the Vlab, I gain certain musical qualities, but I'm losing the depth and some fine detail. At least, in my system, in my room and in my head :-)

Oh.......I forgot to mention, all the cables I use are known to have some top end roll off, and my maggies are older models with a planar magnetic tweeter, and have a natural sharp roll off above 16k. All this treble roll off probably compliments the sound of the Onix, which many have described as being sometimes heavy in the top end.