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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
almarg's avatar
almarg
8,673 posts
 
@Charles1dad
Thanks, Charles. I suspect that I’ll eventually sell the VAC, but I won’t decide until sometime after I receive it back. The XA25 is definitely a keeper, though, for the long term. It comes amazingly close to the VAC with respect to dimensionality, imaging, liquidity, and other traditional fortes of high quality tube amps. It’s a bit less rich sounding than the VAC, but I interpret that as an increase in accuracy, which is fine as far as I am concerned.

There are also some non-sonic factors favoring the XA25, including the likelihood of greater reliability in the years ahead considering the age of the VAC; the fact that even though both amps operate in class A the XA25 puts only 240 watts of heat into the room compared to what I believe is upwards of 700 watts for the VAC; and the cost that would be involved in re-tubing eight 300Bs if and when that were to become necessary.

This is the first time I’ve had a high quality solid state amp in my system in about 25 years, and I believe I’ve picked the right time and the right model with which to do so again.  Thanks in part to Terry's review.

Best regards,
-- Al
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
6,996 posts
 
Al,
 Your rationale is easily understood.  The only reason to keep a tube amplifier is if it's clearly superior sonically to the solid state component.  In your assessment of the Pass XA 25 it is the sonic equal of the VAC.  That is an obvious compliment for the XA 25.
Charles 
d2girls's avatar
d2girls
641 posts
 
If you leave the Pass on 24/7 it will most likely need a complete recap in about 10 years that would approach the cost of new tubes.

Also my dealer is offering me an audition for the lab12 dac1, but no refund if I don’t like it, only credit. Sigh.
rja's avatar
rja
2,112 posts
 
So teajay is enthusiastic about a product and everyone has a fit about it?
almarg's avatar
almarg
8,673 posts
 
@d2girls, thanks for the tip!

The manual for the XA25 states that it takes about an hour to fully warm up, and that coincides with the amount of time I have observed it to take to reach a stable temperature on its heat sinks. So rather than leaving it on 24/7 my usual practice is to simply turn it on about an hour or so before I do any critical listening.

For break-in purposes, Mark at Reno Hi-Fi had suggested leaving it on 24/7 for 5 days to fully break it in. But out of an abundance of caution, especially given that it is a brand new amp, I left it on for most of the 24 hours of each of day, until it reached 120 hours, but not while asleep or when no one was home.

Thanks again. Best regards,
-- Al
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