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Old 06-18-2017, 07:59 AM
JemHadar JemHadar is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Belgium, Europe
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bart View Post
Dear Jacques, Meta and I will conquer fierce and endless traffic jams to experience this little wondrous machine!
“Is it really necessary?” Bart asked with an inquisitive yet slightly teasing smile. We were discussing possible upgrade paths during our get-together at Bart and Meta’s beautiful home. I blurted out “probably not”, contemplating in the same breath “why do people climb mountains”. At the time I was pondering adding a second Analog Domain M75P or the Analog Domain DAC1. Adding both seemed like a bit of a stretch.

A single M75P in stereo mode excels at being not there, meaning no signature sound; the audio equivalent of being invisible, consistently so for all volume levels and across its frequency band. However that little devil on my shoulder kept whispering in my ear “If you don’t do it now, you’ll never do it”. As it played out that little devil turned out to be a little angel, no pun intended Mr. Despotov. The Proac Response D100 speakers are monolith manifestations of “current” voracity. As one Stereo M75P unshackled the lower regions, two amps in bridged mono made these speakers come alive in a way I didn’t even dare to think possible. That intangible holographic stage that is captured in some recordings could now manifest itself in my acoustically challenged living room. “Is it really necessary?” Yes, most definitely Yes.

I’m sure I’m not alone in rating the McIntosh MDA1000 as one of their finest achievements. However the lure of new technology, DSP wizardry and new design insights kept feeding those elusive FOMO musings in the back of my mind. I had kind of set my sights on an ILLUSONIC IAP4 but hearing a prototype DAC1 changed things. Angel Despotov does things differently and as I understand it the single most important design goal of the DAC1 was to lower the noise floor to a point where it becomes irrelevant. Mission accomplished. One would be surprised how much information is contained in a lowly 16 bit 44,1 kHz Redbook CD, and just think of all that is captured in high res formats. A fathomless low noise floor allows all that detail to surface.

It is early days and the unit on demo only has a few hours on it but I can already state with confidence that the DAC1 is unapologetic brutally honest and unrestrained in its music delivery compared to the rather polite and forgiving MDA1000. When playing certain tracks I just could not tear myself away from the music as new delicate details revealed themselves in a tidal wave of astonishment. It felt like crossing some event horizon, no escape. I can also say that the experience was quite eye, or should I say ear opening and that some will favor a more forgiving approach offered by other brands.

I don’t want to use words like revealing or analytical because honestly they really don’t apply to the DAC1.

It is now the third time I added an Analog Domain component and every time boundaries were pushed farther out. IMHO that is what Analog Domain does…push boundaries to a point where they become irrelevant and the experience of music is only constrained by our own bodies and the rooms we are in.

Right now the unit is connected to the McIntosh C1000 pre-amp with the DAC’s volume control out of the circuit. Next weekend I will connect the DAC directly to the M75P’s.

So…to be continued
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