Comrades

This morning i conducted a little test, which i must say i was fearful of a bad result!

I wanted to ascertain whether my CDs actually sounded better played on my beocentre 2 or via my mac mini and cambridge audio DAC (which is connected up for NRADIO and NMUSIC). I was expecting the result to be CDS sounded better via mac and DAC. To my pleasant surprise the beocentre 2 won out, with a tighter more refined sound. The bass was tight, the mid and treble crisp but not overpowering. My partner also listened and we both agreed on the result. 

The MAC/DAC sounded fine, but not as sharp, somehow it seemed a little sloppy if that makes any sense at all??

Regards from a grey and wet Sydney

David

Can't tell the difference personally. But I am getting old!

Quite lately I've been finding the differences among DACs rather larger than I expected. I listen on Adam A7s, and find they reveal every flaw in the signal they're fed, including the DAC they're driven with.

At the moment, mine are driven from the outputs on the back of an RME Fireface 800 (which sounds excellent), but I don't think I'm doing them justice. I've been looking at the Mytek Stereo96 DAC. Ugly as sin, but it'll be hidden in a rack purely for monitoring purposes!