Aesthetix Pandora DAC

[Tomictime]

DAC hooked to NAIM Unitiserve 2TB server with Audioquest Eagle Eye BNC spdif to RCA.

Couple of hours playing ripped files from Redbook CD

initial thoughts vs. my now almost ten year old McIntosh CD player:

Greater drive, impact, detail and much wider stereo image. No loss of depth. Listening to Cowboy Junkies and Diana Krall so far. Piano sustain better but overall instrument is recessed vs. vocal...which is is awesome....lower registers of Kralls voice much better defined.

Will update when I get further into breakin which is as recommended substantial.

rest of system is AQ Eagle Eye , REF 5 SE, Ayre VX-R, Vandersteen 5 A with Model 7 HPass filters, AQ Type 6 in a shotgun bi-wire.

Other DACs I considered ARC, T plus A, Ayre, MSB, Ayon, CJ, .....etc.
Not saying this is better....just what it is.....so far, so good.

[cmalak]

DAC hooked to NAIM Unitiserve 2TB server with Audioquest Eagle Eye BNC spdif to RCA.

Couple of hours playing ripped files from Redbook CD

initial thoughts vs. my now almost ten year old McIntosh CD player:

Greater drive, impact, detail and much wider stereo image. No loss of depth. Listening to Cowboy Junkies and Diana Krall so far. Piano sustain better but overall instrument is recessed vs. vocal...which is is awesome....lower registers of Kralls voice much better defined.

Will update when I get further into breakin which is as recommended substantial.

rest of system is AQ Eagle Eye , REF 5 SE, Ayre VX-R, Vandersteen 5 A with Model 7 HPass filters, AQ Type 6 in a shotgun bi-wire.

Other DACs I considered ARC, T plus A, Ayre, MSB, Ayon, CJ, .....etc.
Not saying this is better....just what it is.....so far, so good.

Tomictime...thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Aesthetix Pandora DAC :thumbsup: Looking forward to your listening impressions as you log more hours on the unit.

[mdkim]

Nice!

I was pleasantly surprised when I auditioned the Aesthetix line. Warm and detailed without a lot of the bloat.

Keep us posted.

[bakerman]

Glad to hear the Pandora is working out for you. It's a good looking unit too. Keep us updated as things progress.

[Tomictime]

Sounding better all the time..but in general still highly variable, especially at low , mid low freq where frankly the REF5 SE shines !!!

Not so good source mtl shows..excellent source Mtl is a wonder. Krall live in Paris, Krauss Live, etc....Image depth is excellent..detailed but not fatiguing unless the source is that way....

Got some hi rez mtl from HD Tracks....Hotel Calif in 192 X 24 is sweeter than I remember.....The Garcia Grisman So What is spooky real...attack, sustain all good.

Next update at 200 hours or so....

[bakerman]

The source material definitely makes a difference. Is mtl, material?

What is the rest of your system comprised of?

[Tomictime]

Yes sorry, mtl is material

System is in first post this subject..


The source material definitely makes a difference. Is mtl, material?

What is the rest of your system comprised of?

[bakerman]

Yes sorry, mtl is material

System is in first post this subject..

Oops...:redface:

[sonusfaber@]

Hello guys.This is my first post here-sorry for my English!
Pandora with volume control going direct to Vitus SS-101 amp is making a wonderful job in my system.
Before that I had AMR CD-77 and Ayon CD5.Both fantastic units,but for me Pandora is much more enjoyable.
The rest of my system is SF Amati Anniversario,Wireworld Platinium speaker,XLR and USB cables and Macbook pro with Audirvana.The sound is so addictive!Pandora is very analog sounding without bloat or loosing dynamic impact.

[howiebrou]

Hello guys.This is my first post here-sorry for my English!
Pandora with volume control going direct to Vitus SS-101 amp is making a wonderful job in my system.
Before that I had AMR CD-77 and Ayon CD5.Both fantastic units,but for me Pandora is much more enjoyable.
The rest of my system is SF Amati Anniversario,Wireworld Platinium speaker,XLR and USB cables and Macbook pro with Audirvana.The sound is so addictive!Pandora is very analog sounding without bloat or loosing dynamic impact.

Wow. Can we see some photos??!!

A big welcome to you.

Howie

[sonusfaber@]

Thank you very much,but I really don't know how to upload photos.

[Masterlu]

Thank you very much,but I really don't know how to upload photos.

Follow these steps:

http://www.audioaficionado.org/general-audio-discussion/9349-how-embed-picture.html

[dcc]

Some Pandora pictures:
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/p480x480/62964_128813670503719_2905348_n.jpg
http://www.highfidelity.pl/foto_testy/1303/aesthetix/10.jpg
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/aesthetix/16.jpg

[Masterlu]

SonusFaber@... Welcome! :wave:

[sonusfaber@]

Thanks for the warm welcome.
For now I did it this way:
http://imageshack.us/a/img838/3594/5zu8.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img593/5299/m3il.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img838/3594/5zu8.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img593/5299/m3il.jpg

[Bodhisattva]

Hi SF, I had more than a passing interest in reading this thread as I recently bought an Aesthetix Romulus cd player myself on a whim, which is basically a Pandora dac with a transport. You considered some very good dacs before settling on the Pandora. I previously owned a modded Ayon CD-5s, so I am very familiar with the Skylla 2 dac. The most important thing to me is how the music sounds, not the bells and whistles. And by all accounts the Pandora sounds natural and musical.

Btw, from experience, Vitus amps sound best with a Vitus pre. In some cases, the improvement can be dramatic. You have the basis for an excellent system. If you're planning future upgrades, my advice would be to put a Vitus preamp at the top of your list.

ps: what is your name?

Cheers,

[sonusfaber@]

Hi. Pandora with VC sounds great direct to the amp and lets me have my system as simple as possible.I got interested in this dac after I read this statement in a review:

And the Romulus—or better, its creators—focused most of all on music's inherent beauty. That's what you get when you decide to drive a power amplifier directly with the Aesthetix. Indeed in my system I preferred the sound of Romulus driving my Soulution direct over using the ultra-minimalist but expensive Ayon Audio Polaris III preamplifier. Ditto for Dan D’Agostino's Momentum Stereo.

You can find it here:
6moons audio reviews: Acesthetix Romulus (http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/aesthetix/1.html)

With Ayon CD5 I reached better sound using it in bypass mode through Vitus integrated pre.
Pandora also benefited a lot from Acrolink PC-7300 power cord.

Cheers,
Leszek.

[Tomictime]

I think I have the Pandora broken in...at least 300 hours on it using the tube hour counter on the REF 5 SE pre-amp. i did some cable changes about 20 hours ago that I am still working my way thru...(changed out the Acoustic Zens for AudioQuest Niagara)...
Also changed rooms from East Coast to West. Sound is detailed yet relaxed. Much wider soundstange than old room with a bit less depth, which was MASSIVE before. Impressed with the DAC..have asked Aesthetix and dealer when DSD is coming since it is a card based design...no answer forthcoming....

[Tomictime]

Also..interesting but the picture of the Silver Pandora above in previous post does not match layout of my machine..silver unit has an extra vertical PC board between tubes and different caps and metal fins on two tubes.....?????

[PLK]

Impressed with the DAC..have asked Aesthetix and dealer when DSD is coming since it is a card based design...no answer forthcoming....

There will be Signature/DSD upgrades for Romulus/Pandora owners.

Look a the Aesthetix Romulus ad in the 10/13 issue of Stereophile. - "Now with DSD."

[Tomictime]

Thanks.....

There will be Signature/DSD upgrades for Romulus/Pandora owners.

Look a the Aesthetix Romulus ad in the 10/13 issue of Stereophile. - "Now with DSD."

[Tomictime]

Have the Pardo linear power supply on the way for the NAIM....will get that sorted and report on sound changes vs. stock switched supply....

[Elberoth]

Have the Pardo linear power supply on the way for the NAIM....will get that sorted and report on sound changes vs. stock switched supply....

Please do. In my experince Teddy Pardo PSUs make great difference. I have several of his PSUs.

Teddy is a great guy to deal with, too.

[Tomictime]

PS finally arrived intact from Israel after 3 weeks. guess I have to learn to wait...but worth the wait it is....

Powered up for a week now and about 15 hours of music playing....
Right out of box more drive, detail and a grunge layer removed!!!

have been doing a fair bit of spinning of the Wailing Jennys...One Voice, Prarie Town and Devils Paintbrush Road all show better depth, clearer vocals and better mid-bass drive. image depth improved by elimination of a grunge layer....Caused me to move the airporter connected the NAIM (control only no served music) to a dedicated circuit to isolate the internal to airporter DSPS.....another layer removed....

Will let you know what I think at the 100 hour mark.....

JD

[Tomictime]

100 hours and not much change from great out of box improvement. I did move the airport backmin due to it tripping protection or input sensing relay on DAC, which seems overly sensitive BTW..
aesthethix offering a DSD card and major upgrade of the DAC to signature level..anybody doing that ???

[Tomictime]

Andy at Vintage Tube Services has me rolling a set of RCA 7058 in for the Tesla ....will post up an opinion.....so far they cold becuas ethey are cold...ha.
Glen at Aesthetix sent me Andy's way while I wait for a Pandora upgrade slot....the upgrade is extensive and changes out the entire analog board as well as the DAC for a FPGA.....
JD