Quote:
Originally Posted by metaphacts
A few questions for your review:
Which input(s) did you use for comparisons?
Have you compared inputs?
Did you do your DA only comparisons with the volume set to unity gain?
Thanks
Bill
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Bill
I had both in a system comprised of the following
Ayre DX5 XLR digital output(cd)
Naim HDX BNC output (ripped music from 16/44 to 24/192)
Ref DAC using Ethernet connection to stream from HDX Server
Both DACs were connected to XLR inputs of Ayre KX-R to ARC 250s and Wilson Shasa
I did not try USB connections
I tried RefDAC with passthrough on the KXR and also with RefDAC at volume control set to 65 using Ayre's volume control. I preferred the latter and that is how I listen now
High level....both DACs are very good, the Ref provides more depth and air around the instruments and what I would call a more organic presentation to the instruments. It's that chill you get from listening to Miles' trumpet or Coltrane's sax. Its the separation of tones and artist nuance gets presented in the most intimate manner. iTo me it was worth the price of the Ref DAC. I put the DAC8 in another system being fed by the Naim ND5xs into a Moon 850P preamp...still very satisfying. As I said, I will try to provide more details over holidays.
I do hear that ARC is working on its own streamer control app.