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Kora Hermes or EVS Millenium or Audio Note DAC One.1x?

My search for a new DAC has come down to about 3 choices:

Kora Hermes 24/192
EVS Millenium II
Audio Note DAC One.1x (or perhaps the 1.2 kit)

Has anyone heard all three, any of them side by side? Any opions of suggestions regarding them? It is going to be impossible for me to audition them all, much less in a direct comparision.

The Audio Note DAC's are interesting, but somewhat confusing. They have been "upgraded" or revised to take 24bit/96kHz inputs, yet the main processor is still only an 18 bit chip. How do they resolve 24 bit input with only an 18 bit chip? Does this have something to do with their "1x oversampling", how does that work? It must be done somehow, given the raves I hear from people. How does the Audio Note DAC's use an 18 bit chip to provide resolution comparable to 24 bit DAC's? This is confusing me.
On the Kora Hermes 24/192, does anyone know if the output of the DAC are balanced XLR's, or only single-ends RCA's? All the inofmration I can find on the units (which is quite limited) never mentions the outputs. Also does anyone have any published spec's on the Hermes? The Kora website is not really the best at supplying information.

Are there any other DAC's around the $1500 and below level that I should also be considering? I will be using a very solid EAD T-7000 as my transport, and an Assemblage DSD-1 upsampler/jitter reducer/etc. The rest of the system is a Sonaic Frontiers Line 3 pre-amp, and an EAD PowerMaster 2000.

Any recommendations, insights, comments and suggestions on these DAC's would be helpful and most appreciated.

Thanks!
papertiger
formulaone98f3
16 posts
 
Papertiger,

I've owned only one of the DACs that are on your short list, which is, the Kora Hermes (18 bit version). There are XRL and RCA digital inputs, but only an RCA output; that, by the way, can be adjusted from 2 or 5 volts via the toggle switch on the rear. To be quite candid, the Kora Hermes has that much sought-after ability of allowing the emotion of the performance to shine through. Vocals-- especially female vocals-- are so full, lush and life-like that you'll wonder why the Hermes doesn't cost $4K (it did a year or so ago). The most fascinating aspect of this DAC's sound is its uncanny ability to make sung lyrics that were unintelligible before, perfectly understandable. I'm not affiliated with Kora, but simply enamored with their products' sound and value. Go get it, (paper) Tiger!!
ljgj
955 posts
 
Ditto on the above.
stealth93es
64 posts
 
Ditto # 2 !

I have the latest model on the way from Kora. Noting in this price range can get even close!

If you want more info, give Joe at JC Audio a call. He knows the Hermes inside & out. Good guy to deal with too.

Good Listening,
sean
6,229 posts
 
I would suggest contacting each manufacturer as directly as possible, explain what you are looking for and go from there. Let them do most of the talking, listen to what they have to say and how they say it. This will tell you if you think their product will be suitable for what your needs are and if you want to do business with them. Sean
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slawney
242 posts
 
For $1500 you could buy a 47 Labs Shigaraki DAC ($1250) and have $250 left over. Shigaraki is 4/5 the quality of 47 Labs Progression DAC at about a quarter the price. It beats by a long shot the Audio Note DAC 1 at its own game, and has a greater ability to communicate the affective content of music than the Kora, which sounds laid back, cool and veiled by comparison, without the frequency extremes, directness and honesty of the Shigaraki. Sorry for throwing another DAC at you, but it was one of your questions, and maybe some day--I hope--you will thank me.
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