Well it certainly seems like a long time for us! :D

Once you bring your dac over and we do a comparison to the DA2 it will be interesting to see if you feel its worth it for the extra dollars! Dac shoot out at my place!

They say ignorance is bliss, big guy

We will see how long that lasts! :scratch2:

Next DFWAC meet-up is at George’s Music Hall. Can’t wait!

If Joey brings his Dac then we can have another shoot out and see how much difference there is between the two EMM DACs.

George

... and when George isn’t looking I’ll swap the internal components of the dacs and walla, da2 come to papa

:nono:

has anyone compared the EMM dac vs the Berkeley Reference Dac ?

I did ... the Berkeley was also a contender for sure and might have had a super slight edge in high frequency detail ... maybe. The DA2 had a larger sound stage front to back but they were very similar otherwise. Of course the Berkeley doesn't do DSD which for me was another reason to go for the EMM Labs. Both are very capable and sound excellent and probably just comes down to personal preference. For me there is just a naturalness to the DA2 that most other dacs can't match. The one that is a bit better I think is the full Vivaldi stack. Just the DAC alone and I still like the DA2. Once you add the upsampler and clock to the Vivaldi then I'd have to say the Vivaldi stack might win but for 3X price I would expect it to. Good luck with your decision ... you'll be happy either way!

George

I've heard AB the full Vivaldi Stack with latest upgrades vs the EmmLavs DA 2 with v2 upgrade. The naturalness and soundstage of DA-2 made it a winner.
Both equal in detail and presence.
Emm Labs has more organic sound more lifelike.
The source was Aurender W20 and / or Roon Nucleus.