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WoodyWoodruff
55
Nov 9, 2019
checkVerified Buyer
Screw the measurements
Update (12 days since delivery): Wow, I never heard my PrimaLuna sounded so dynamic in triode mode. This DAC added so much detail, space, slam and bam back in but retaining all the sweetness that triode offers. Really loving it. Cello pieces sound mesmerizing with it. Days of burn in is KEY KEY KEY. ———————————— If I had followed the measurements as gospel like a good engineer should, I’d never given this a chance and bought one of those top of the class Toppings with straight As instead. After reading every subjective and objective arguments online repeatedly a dozen times I decided to trust my success in assembling a system based on subjective comments from listeners who share my objectives in music reproduction, not numbers. I listen to all genres, as long as it’s music to my ears, from small to large scale classical pieces, folk to Americana, blues to jazz, rock-pop-alternative, chants and acapellas, solo guitar/violin/cello/piano/organs/drums, male to female vocalists, and some new age electronics. I have a Senn HD600 but only use them once a blue moon. My main consists of a PrimaLuna Integrated with KT-120s, driving Proac 1SCs with Nordost Frey 2 speaker cables, and a REL S/3 SHO, which I only turn on occasionally when the music can use it. The main analogue sources are VPI Classic with SoundSmith, Manley Chinook phono pre with Audience cables. This is the reference sound that I try to get close to with the digital sources, minus the pops and add more dynamics. Digital players are a Musical Fidelity CD transport, Wadia 171i and Wadia 121 DAC for decoding digital sources. Cables are Creative Coaxial and AZ MC2 AES/EBU, and Cardas Clear USB. The Airist R2R is meant to replace the analogue like sound of the aging Wadia 121, without adding any brightness that the Proac and speedy Nordost would pass along without objection. I was also hoping it’d add a little more low end range and emotion than what the Wadia did. I always warm up any new component for at least 120 hours before any comparisons. However, I did sneak in and listen a few times in the early hours to make sure the unit is not missing a channel or something. I must say I was concerned with that I heard in the early stages of burn in. Noise. Plenty of staticky noise especially when there’s cymbals and tambourines. (The Wadia had no noise even when new.) Bass was punchy, almost too punchy compared to what I was used to. It was really forward and somewhat fatiguing. I thought I might have to return it. I was patient and check in once a day to see how it’s progressing. Luckily, it was heading in the right direction, as it should. Four days later, I’m extremely happy to say it is as quiet as it can be to my ears, soundstage and imaging are at least as good as the Wadia was, tone is equally natural, and the bass, the BASS. OMG, it’s really letting the KT-120s, Frey2 and Proacs shine in the attack of low end transients. Rhiannon Giddens’s Spanish Mary was hard hitting and full of drama. The distant bells in Russell Holzgraf’s Bells of St Anne de Beaupre were really at a distant, and the low and loud bass from the big pipes were unrelenting. For $350 this is a keeper for sure in my setup and musical tastes. The 8x8” square replaces the Wadia perfectly! Would I want to try some higher end R2Rs later, like a Metrum/MHDT/Lab12? Sure but I’m in no hurry because I’ll be too busy rediscovering all my digital music again with the RDAC. Brilliant. It’s a gem.
(Edited)
Recommends this product? Yes
adeadcrab
258
Nov 13, 2019
WoodyWoodrufflove the review!
WoodyWoodruff
55
Nov 15, 2019
Sad thing is there are probably a lot of people who won’t experience what the airist R-2R has to offer because of Amir’s SINAD ranking chart. Such a shame. Such a disservice to true music-philes who are not interested in test tones. As far as I know, we use the entire neural network of our brain to process music, including the motor and limbic regions for emotions. No scope comes close to what our brain can “hear”. So use it. It’s the best music analyzer and it’s yours for free. Calibrate it by listening. The truth is between your ears.
Artismo
461
Nov 15, 2019
WoodyWoodruffOur goal was to make a DAC that does everything an audiophile would want a DAC to do: deliver accurate reproduction with resolution... Introducing distortion, and a failed multi-tone test with anomalies from 3khz-4khz and again from 10khz, is not “accurate”. So, no, they failed the engineering purpose of their stated goal and a DACs intent to reproduce the digital signal to analog accurately. For the price, it failed that goal and there is better technology out there. I wouldn’t buy it for accuracy, but recognize that it isn’t as true-to-source as better designed DS DACs and just enjoy it for my perceived sonic enjoyment.
jaffe
272
Nov 16, 2019
Artismoyou do realize you're just making the same argument we were laughing about, right?
Artismo
461
Nov 16, 2019
jaffeSure, I’m still laughing because to claim their engineering produces an accurate representation of the source, when it clearly doesn’t, is counter to the narrative of accurate when distortion is present - whether or not one can perceive it. The measurements in several of the tests, including harmonics, were at audible levels. Any of those sounds and measurements are what a music producer looking for “accuracy” wouldn’t want, especially when it’s audible ABing against my RME ADI-2 or Focusrite Clarett, and this is before there were ASR measurements of the device. If they remove “accuracy” from their imperative, it wouldn’t be misleading, it’s a poor implementation that would and does fail even at the music production level, regardless of skill or budget. I’m not saying the R2R should be or is up to the task for accuracy or music production, but the engineers failed. At least when one buys a tube preamp or amp, they usually aren’t advertised as “accurate” and people recognize it as a purchase for desirable distortion.
(Edited)
rastus
1391
Nov 27, 2019
ArtismoI think the term accuracy is being used to forward the relationship, to the reproduction of digitally stored music,, as music... not a graph... The Airist/drop R-2R is $350, you can’t get to specmanship numbers at that price point in R-2R. What you do get, is a taste of the life it can bring to the reproduction of music, and the vocals,, damn... $350 would buy you approximately 21 of the hundreds of “ladder” resistors used in a typical totaldac... just the resistors mind you... R-2R at a high level, well,, simply costs, then you can play in specmanship... I just want to hear one of these things, after hearing my Denafrips Ares.
search

http://www.totaldac.com/D1-six-en.htm

http://www.totaldac.com/fichiers/fft-d1-six.gif
(Edited)
WoodyWoodruff
55
Nov 27, 2019
rastus$350 barely buys a foot of my speaker cable.
Artismo
461
Nov 27, 2019
rastusAccuracy isn’t a fluid term. It’s either, or. There are definitely better R2R solutions out there for thousands, but this DAC still fails that imperative. At the measurement level and listening level. If I can’t produce with it, it’s not accurate. For enjoyment, sure.
Artismo
461
Nov 27, 2019
WoodyWoodruff$350 either gets you what you want, or doesn’t. I hope those cables deliver.
WoodyWoodruff
55
Nov 27, 2019
ArtismoThey do deliver in spades. I bought into Nordost’s marketing of sheer speed and transparency for their cables. Unfortunately, the drawback is it can also make the music sound to bright, shrill even if up and down stream components are also bright sounding. (Sounds similar to the challenge of finding the right DAC?) Although I have a tube amp in back to warm things up, my Proacs in front are known to be forward and quick with transients. The previous cheaper Nordost Red Dawn cable I tried allowed the Proacs to deliver its promise of excellent imaging and soundstage, but the highs were a bit much and bass was lacking. I had to run my tube amp in triode mode to tame it down, at the cost of earlier roll off in bass. In comes the Nordost Frey 2 at $2500 (price has gone up since), it flatten the highs, added ample bass, expanded the soundstage and further improved the imaging. It’s the missing link that ties everything together. Now I have perfect synergy between amp and speakers. Everything else, regardless of price, will have to fit in or not. So far the RDAC is a near perfect fit in terms of musicality. I do still hear some complications with multiple high treble instruments playing together. But for $330 (after discount code), I’m not complaining. I can always spending more to get an even better DAC but I’m in no hurry because it’s a steal for the enjoyment it gives. The whole system and my ears are happy.
rastus
1391
Dec 7, 2019
Yes, they have cleaned up the DS noise field, so throughly, to appease the the acolytes of the 1KHz Test Tone Temple, 1TTT, that they can no longer hear the bell, for the SINAD silence... Love numbers, we need esp. since we are losing brick & mortar,, but the tree/forest thing & blinded by (your) science, slippery slope is ever present... Design to test, to a tone, and make a nice clean pure spire for the temple, not to listen to the music, is actually easier... If I were designing a DS DAC, perhaps I would want it to sense a continuous test tone(s) and act accordingly to accommodate...;) You know,, how Volkswagen’s sensed being hooked up to an emission tester, and adjusted to please the poop chute qualification process folks...
(Edited)
Mapman
9
Sep 6, 2021
WoodyWoodruffIf measurements mattered, vintage hifi would be worthless.
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