A Proper DAC Shoot Out!

This adventure started with simple intentions… Let’s listen to all of the DACs that we have in stock and compare how they sound. Part of our motivation was to have the EMM Labs vs Ypsilon experience, both being among the very best cost-no-object options available to audiophiles. The other was to see how different types and applications of technologies translated to sound quality and hopefully address the often asked question “Is spending more money really worth it?”. It’s rare that so many DACs of this calibre are assembled in one room so this was going to be a special night!

The Reference System

The system we used to listen to this range of DACs is one of our reference systems which includes a Taiko Audio Extreme Music Server, Ypsilon PST100SE preamplifier, Ypsilon Hyperion monoblock power amplifiers, Wilson Benesch Eminence Loudspeakers, Stage III Concepts Proteus/Kraken power cords, Gorgon interconnects and Medusa Speaker cable wiring system. Most of the components in the system are flagship offerings and this is one of the most sonically accomplished systems that can be experienced, certainly in Australia. So we were confident that it was capable of revealing subtle differences in DACs. Apart from swapping out the DAC’s, we didn’t change anything in the system during the comparison.

The Music

We played the following selection of music with each DAC:

• • Anette Ashvik – Under the Tallest Tree (Liberty Album): Beautiful sparse piano and strings with vocal and synth harmonies. Delineation of space and reverb, micro detail from keyboard and foot pedal work.
  • Cari Cari – Nothing is older than yesterday (Amaanda Album): Reverb and spatial effects, guitar amp distortion buzz, tom toms and drum effects, vocal harmonies separation and positioning on mics.
  • Lyle Lovett – She’s already made up her mind (Joshua Judges Ruth Album): Atmosphere and male vocal details with guitar and percussion, leading edge on cymbals and piano mix.
  • George Frideric Handel – Part III “I know that my Redeemer Liveth” to “The Trumpet Shall Sound” (Messiah)
  • Ray Brown Trio – Cry me a river (Soular Energy): Great straight up jazz.
  • Gus Gus – Simple Tuesday (Mobile Home Album), with guest vocals by Margret from Vök: Complex multilayered electronica with driving rhythms and deep synth bass. Pushed the bass capability.

Considerations

I’m not going to comment on the technologies used by all of the brands & models we listened to as that information is easily available both on our website and the manufacturers. Rather, I intend to share the listening experiences had by all who were present and provide a general commentary on our observations. Also, please remember that our observations are purely personal (subjective) and not definitive. I’m sure that if you were present (as I’d hope you will be at future evenings of this nature), you may have a different and equally valid opinion.

The DACs

Eleven Audio Sagra
Eleven Audio are a quality manufacturer of audio electronics that are often matched with Abyss headphones and has created a strong reputation in the high-end headphone and desktop audio world as being a giant killer. The Sagra is the only DAC offered by the brand. How will it fare in a serious reference hi-fi system?

Meitner Audio MA3
The Meitner Audio MA3 created a big splash when it was released earlier this year and is continuing to enjoy a lot of positive publicity because it represents great value. It is a DAC, a Streamer and a high Quality Volume Control all packaged into one neat box which gives it a lot of flexibility for those looking to minimise their box count while maintaining sound quality. The MA3 employs the Meitner MDAC2™ fully discrete single-bit, 16xDSD, D-to-A converters, coupled with their MDAT2™ DSP which performs real-time transient detection in addition up-conversion of all incoming audio.

Aesthetix Romulus Signature
The actual dedicated DAC in the Aesthetix Saturn range is the Pandora, however since we did not have one on hand at that time, we used a Romulus, which is a Pandora with a CD transport. We also selected the Signature range which sits between the standard Romulus ($13,200) and the Eclipse version ($24,700). These units are known worldwide for their sound quality, especially their tone and we are looking forward to seeing how the Aesthetix performs in this company.

EMM Labs DAC2X-V2
The EMM Labs DAC2X-V2 has been a perennial favourite among many digital aficionados around the world for many years because it offers a huge dose of that uber-performance of the 40K+ DACs for a lot less and is therefore considered to be great value. It features the latest generation MDAT2™ up-converting DSP, MFAST™ jitter removal system, MCLK™ master clock and Ed Meitner’s revised hand built DSD512/8xDSD proprietary discrete dual differential D-to-A converters, which are at the heart of the incredible sound quality delivered by this DAC.

YPSILON DAC1000
The Ypsilon DAC1000 is a non–oversampling, non-upsampling design with multi–bit dac chips. The carefully designed power supply incorporates high quality shunt regulators and I/V conversion is performed by by a specially designed, built in-house, transformer. Τhe analog stage uses single-ended class A transformer coupled triodes with valve rectification and choke regulation .
The valves are the high mu, high transconductance, low noise SIEMENS NOS tubes. This is one of the best sounding DACs in the world, thanks to the quality of the transformers used in the design.

EMM Labs DA2 V2
The EMM Labs DA2 V2 is their flagship DAC and simply one of the very best sounding DACs that money can buy at any budget. The MDAC2™ is the world’s first fully discrete single-bit D-to-A converter with an internal conversion rate of 1024fs (16xDSD) and is completely free of inherent non-linearity that plagues every mass market chip created to date. The MDAT2™ DSP performs real-time transient detection in addition to processing and up-conversion of all incoming audio before being sent to the MDAC2™ for conversion. This is a state-of-the-art DAC which produces an extremely natural yet dynamic & effortless, seamless sound.

YPSILON DAC1000SE
The Ypsilon DAC1000SE is a a DAC1000 with pure silver internal wiring and pure silver transformers implemented instead of the copper transformers used in the DAC1000. Ypsilon sources the silver from only one source in Switzerland that is capable of producing the purity that is required. The transformers are then hand-made in-house by Ypsilon and put through a number of treatments to ensure that their performance is maintained perfectly. Unfortunately, due to the significant amount of pure silver required to build these, the raw materials cost is very expensive so the SE version is almost twice the price of the standard model. Law of diminishing returns? Stay tuned.

The Listening Session

We started by plugging in the Eleven Audio Sagra, which looked a bit strange as it’s a relatively small, compact box with a small footprint and a rather stealthy, no-frills military equipment aesthetic sitting on a carbon fibre shelf of the Wilson Benesch R1 stand in our reference system. Known as a brand that makes electronics to perfectly match the Abyss headphone products, one wonders if the Sagra would ever be considered for non-headphone applications. Given its price tag and the fact it was being inserted into this rather ‘unlikely’ high-end system, we didn’t really have any preconceived expectations. In fact, the Sagra was more of a novelty choice to give us a baseline sound quality reference point that we could use as an initial reference.

It is fair to say that initial impressions were very positive. We all looked at each other and nodded, saying “Hey, this is very nice!”. It had lots of detail, very enjoyable tonal character and a believable soundstage. The resolution was fantastic and everything was balanced and natural. It presented each song with its own light and shade with plenty of dynamic contrasts and spacial cues were very well communicated. It seemed to get better and better, indicating that our initial warm up period of 30 minutes was not enough. This is a DAC that you need to leave on and its ability to reward you with tonal & timbral richness was absolutely stunning. By the end of our listening session, we all agreed that it had been very enjoyable and our notes were very complimentary. I mentioned earlier that we had no expectations but we must have had some expectations because we all mentioned “much better than I expected”. Thoroughly enjoyable!

We then inserted the Meitner MA3 and gave it some warm up time. This unit is all about value, as it combines the DAC from the MA1 with an NS1 streamer and a high quality VControl™ volume knob. We were only going to listen to its DAC function so we made a note that it may sound differently if you were to use it as it was intended with its own streamer etc. The MA3 has a different sound to the Sagra. The soundsatge became a little larger but the sound became more ‘hi-fi’, meaning it had more detail and less tonal colour, more extension but a flatter, more ‘modern’ sound. It wasn’t better or worse, just different. We felt that it had been voiced to combine well with some of the current trend lifestyle amplifiers which have a slightly forward presentation.

The sound had a slightly ‘sampled’ feel to it where you know that there’s some intelligent widardry working in the background, improving things, less raw, slightly detached but more ‘perfect’. This was a distinctly different sound to the Sagra and we felt that if you liked one, you probably wouldn’t like the other. Despite both being solid state designs, the Sagra had a more tube style warmth but the MA3 still had a sense of liquidity.

It was then time for the Aesthetix Romulus Signature to make an appearance, and this gave us a third distinctly different sonic experience. The sound stage expanded and the sound took on a much richer tonal quality. Every note had more body and texture, a more lifelike quality. The resolution and presentation of the micro detail was improved but this DAC was more about tone and timbral character. This is a polar opposite approach to the currently trending hyper-detail oriented, flatter sound that we’ve been witnessing, making most modern DACs sound like a PA system in comparison. We all relaxed in our chair and grooved to the music. There was an easier connection to the emotive message in the music and a sweeter, more well-rounded experience. In comparison to the two DACs that had come before it, we all felt that this DAC was more ‘organic’, more ‘human’ and easily more enjoyable.

After some time, one of the listeners asked “Do you guys think there may be too much of a good thing going on here?” and here’s the interesting paradox. The Romulus offered some qualities which made us sit up, take notice and feel that we were listening to a more natural, real presentation. It had warmth and richness which we happily absorbed like rays of sunshine on a cold afternoon. We opened ourselves up to the music and felt like the artist had entered the room for real. This was no longer a facsimile of the real event… we were being convinced. However, some of us were beginning to wonder if the DAC’s presentation was accentuating these warmer qualities. Maybe. Maybe not. Who cares? This is awesome.

When we slotted in the EMM Labs DAC2X-V2, we got our first glimpse of that rare balance between having enough warmth and tonal richness so that the artist sounded like a real human being but also plenty of detail and information to fill in the sonic landscape. The soundstage stayed about the same size as the Romulus but the sonic picture became a little more balanced and relaxed. It was at this point that virtually all the listeners commented that this was a viable alternative to the Aesthetix, which had previously placed us in a trance. This was perhaps a bit more ‘grown up’ and sophisticated whereas the Aesthetix was a bit more raw. Either would be an immensely satisfying result.

As we listened to more music, the EMM Labs slowly revealed that this little bit of sophistication was in fact a big deal. It’s like your ears and mind go on a journey and need some time to process what is going on. Then that becomes the ‘new normal’ and you start to hear deeper into it. In this case, the music came to life through the ‘correctness’ of all the elements. The PRAT, the micro-detail, the frequency extension (bass!), the tonal colours… you became conscious of the fact that this sound had everything. It was all there in its musical flowing glory.

We swapped in the Ypsilon DAC1000 and had some carefully curated Thai take away while it warmed up. What a wonderful experience the evening had been till this point and there were 3 super-DACs still to come!

The Ypsilon took us in another direction altogether and it caused a palpable ‘wow’ response in the first 10 seconds. The sound stage expanded further but the sound became more intimate, a lot more cohesive and articulate. It felt like the spot light had been focused on every word the singer formed. There was an ease and fluidity in the music that we experienced for the first time that evening but also a fluidity in the way the music was presented. The music felt pure and untampered with, like it had never been pulled apart, analysed or manipulated in any way. We found this to be very engaging, I would say beguiling in a way.

Every time a song ended, there was this solid silence in the room as we all wished that we could hear that again. This was not a steady improvement on the previous experience, it was another level altogether. When you find that you naturally get engrossed in the music and forget you’re listening to a hi-fi system, you know not only that you’re listening to great equipment but that you’ve realised the absolute aim of high-end audio. We sat in that space with the Ypsilon, having to forcefully remind ourselves to take notes, just closing our eyes and grooving. Cohesiveness, rhythmic flow, natural tone, realism. How could it get any better than this?

Perhaps an answer to that question may be offered by the EMM Labs DA2 V2 which was then introduced to our system. This moment was the highlight of the evening in some ways because it showed all of us how two accomplished audio designers approach the design of the DAC in such different ways. Where the Ypsilon had an intimate sound, the DA2 had an expansive sound. Where the Ypsilon could be described as pure and unprocessed, the DA2 used its technological sorcery to present a perfectly bewitching sonic landscape. The soundscape expanded again and the sound became completely effortless, easy, un-stressed. Where the Ypsilon focused the detail into the confines of each note, the DA2 unleashed the information to paint a sonic picture with resolution and finesse.

This was a pivotal moment in the evening as we looked at each other and realised that the Ypsilon & EMM Labs DACs were both immensely satisfying despite coming from two different paradigms. The DA2 had achieved a rare feat by extracting maximum detail and resolution from the music signal but managing to sound very relaxed and natural. There was a distinct non-mechanical nature about the sound, like it was completely flowing from the artist to our ears and bypassing the equipment.

When we plugged in the Ypsilon DAC1000SE, a healthy skepticism was expressed by all present. The previous two DACs had blown us away so how can this one be twice as good? Its price was almost double that of the standard DAC1000. How can this possibly be worth it?

The SE is a standard DAC1000 with pure silver internal wiring and pure silver transformers. We understand that these material costs are significant but come on… twice the price? The DAC1000SE sounded like the DAC1000 however it had a more refined, sophisticated, ethereal presentation. Cymbals shimmered in the air in front of you, vocals were hauntingly real and the atmosphere of the recording space was visceral. The greatest improvement though, is one of those things that you don’t know is there until you hear an absence of it. The SE removed all traces of tension from the presentation. The effortlessness was on another level. This gave the impression that the inertia existing within every note had been removed and even in busy passages of play, there was a sense of calm & grounded quality about the music. One listener called it a ‘luxurious’ sound.

Our Conclusions

There definitely was an overall improvement in the sound as you went up in price, but it was not a linear improvement. Rather, the different DACs seemed to be good at different things. It was frankly astonishing to all present how the ‘simple’ job of converting ones and zeros into analogue (sound) was approached so differently by the various designers. These differences were blatantly obvious in some cases, subtle in other cases and highlighted the importance of ‘voicing’ in a hi-fi system. After the evening finished, I asked those present “do you agree with those that say a DAC is just a DAC, they’re all more or less the same?” and there was a resounding “NO!” in response.

The soundstage width, height and depth increased with every audition as we moved through the different models. If this characteristic is vital to you then I have some bad news – it seems like the extra investment as you go up the chain actually does make a considerable difference.

There were no disappointing performances where we felt a DAC was missing something vital. As you move up the range, the first improvement is tonal quality, then there’s an increase in resolution while maintaining that tonal quality, then there’s a sense of space around the sonic elements and an ease where the sound is natural and unforced. These are the gross qualities that seem to be what you are paying for as you increase your investment.

The first highlight of the day was the little Sagra. It punched way above its weight and at around $5K, it will embarrass anything we’ve heard that’s $10K or under. The soundstage was constrained in comparison to the other DACs but it had a real flow and musicality which was very enjoyable. For such a relatively little known brand, this is a major achievement. Well done to the folks at Eleven Audio. How many $5K DACs can you plug into a million dollar reference system and have a room full of audiophiles say “very nice”?

The Meitner MA3 had a distictly ‘modern’ sound which I suspect has been aimed at a specific market by the company. Really different to the Sagra but I suspect this DAC along with its onboard streamer & volume control will be a popular seller.

The Aesthetix Romulus opened the soundstage (especially in depth) and sounded more three dimensional, tonally richer and downright enjoyable. If this is where my budget can take me, I’d be very happy. You feel that it has been designed by someone who REALLY loves music and they’ve created a device to share their passion with the world.

However, the two standout performers were the Ypsilon DAC1000 and the EMM Labs DA2 V2. They were very different to each other yet both were representations of the state-of-the-art in high-end audio today. In fact, this level of sound quality was literally unheard of 10 years ago at any price. I’ve heard 5-box digital sources that used to sell for $120K that can’t hold a candle to these two music makers. They both projected a soundstage that was real and believable.

The DAC1000 had a cohesive, unadulterated purity and the DA2 V2 had an expansive highly resolved truthfulness and neutrality that were incredible. Both are extraordinary digital storytellers with a different focus. We were unanimous in choosing these two as our favourites and agreed to disagree on many other comparative details. In fact, we would select one or the other depending on the rest of the system components and perhaps based on the preferences and personality of the owner. One is an intimacy & nuance king, the other is a resolution and sound stage king. It depends on which kingdom you want to inhabit.

The DAC1000SE had some magical qualities that were simply jaw dropping. It surely must represent a version of the summit of DAC performance. If you are either highly sensitive to those subtle qualities or are after the very best sound available regardless of the cost, then this is the choice for you.

However, we felt that there was a definitive law of diminishing returns operating here and that paying twice as much for those improvements could not be justified by most people who are shopping at this end of the market. Is this significant extra cost worth it? We feel that to the overwhelming majority of audiophiles, the answer would be ‘no’ however there will be a handful of us out there where those subtle differences are a deal breaker.

As always with audio, the companionship, laughs and comparison of ideas was the real highlight of the evening and the memories formed from these gatherings are priceless.

Let us know if you’d like to join us for another product shootout as we do them regularly at Nirvana Sound. Better still, write to us and share your DAC comparison experiences. We’d love to hear from you.