DAC-11, It's Here!

[blackraven]

I just hooked up the DAC-11 to my Class D Audio digital amp and I am stunned at the sound. It is absolutely fabulous. The amp made the sound more neutral but the bass is powerful, deep, articulate and well controlled. The combo has tremendous air and transparency without losing any depth to the music. Treble is crisp, clear and well defined. The midrange is liquid without any sharpness. To tell you the truth, I was not expecting it to sound this good. The sound is very natural and detailed. Now I have not tried out the straight analog input bypassing the DAC nor have I tried the USB input, but based on the DAC and Preamp section through the tube outputs I would easily pay $700-800 for the DAC-11. One of the great things about this unit is that you can tube roll different varieties of tubes. I am going to replace the stock 6N11 tube for a Telefunken ECC88 and maybe an Amprex Bugle Boy or Mullard. Other tubes that you can use are 6922,6H23N and CCa's. I like my sound to lean slightly to the warmer side.

[mlenda]

No I dont. I have my MMG's pushed out to the corners of the room with sound absorbing material directly behind the MMG's. The bass is pretty darn deep with this placement with no boominess and the Class D amp puts out a lot of tight, deep bass.

Interesting. I was at a HiFi store in Denver yesterday where a salesman demoed some B&W 685s ($650/pr + $100/pr stands) for me going through a $600 NAD integrated amp. Luscious sound and good bass without any subwoofer. I was very impressed. Probably had to do with the quality of the room I was in. I looked up their specs and their frequency range is nearly identical to that of the Maggies, and the Maggies have many more rave reviews.

Anywho, that's for another sub-forum...

I just hooked up the DAC-11 to my Class D Audio digital amp and I am stunned at the sound. It is absolutely fabulous. The amp made the sound more neutral but the bass is powerful, deep, articulate and well controlled. The combo has tremendous air and transparency without losing any depth to the music. Treble is crisp, clear and well defined. The midrange is liquid without any sharpness. To tell you the truth, I was not expecting it to sound this good. The sound is very natural and detailed. Now I have not tried out the straight analog input bypassing the DAC nor have I tried the USB input, but based on the DAC and Preamp section through the tube outputs I would easily pay $700-800 for the DAC-11. One of the great things about this unit is that you can tube roll different varieties of tubes. I am going to replace the stock 6N11 tube for a Telefunken ECC88 and maybe an Amprex Bugle Boy or Mullard. Other tubes that you can use are 6922,6H23N and CCa's. I like my sound to lean slightly to the warmer side.

Out of curiosity, what is your audio source? If you're not using USB or the analogs, you must be using the Optical or S/PDIF... right?

-m