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Cary Audio Design Superior Quality and Value

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  #71  
Old 11-18-2018, 12:22 PM
FloridaBoy FloridaBoy is offline
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Once you get it up and going for a while I'll be curious to hear from you if the Abbas units will have the open/clear/detailed transparent type sound or the more "velvet" sound with a tad less (or softer) type of transparency. I think I'm leaning towards something in between, with a little of both characteristics. Getting there is going to trail-and-error as I can see now.


Agreed. Often one small change like a tube, coupling cap or cable can make a big difference with digital.

I plan to post on his forum with assistance from Google translate once the DAC settles in. I am curious about the units he sells without cases. I suppose you could mount them in wood box or find a suitable metal enclosure. There are 1600 cases on the auction site. I'm just not sure how to do it properly. They are a lot less $$ than the complete units.

A member here SimomYVR on the Shindo forum has an Abbas 3.1.

Source: Burmester 915 FM tuner / Abbas Audio DAC 3.0SE / Shindo IC's
Amplification: Shindo Giscours RA1474-II / Shindo Cortese 300B (Western Electric 1950) /Speakers: Auditorium 23 Solovox / Maxonic D511EX Field Coil horn drivers crossed at about 1000Hz/ BELDEN 9497 Cables/ Motiographic tungar power supply

The Giscours preamp lists for $27K. The Cortese with 1950 WE 300B's He chose this DAC over Audio Note. I may have to subscribe so I can message him.

Last edited by FloridaBoy; 11-18-2018 at 12:32 PM.
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  #72  
Old 11-18-2018, 12:33 PM
decooney decooney is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FloridaBoy View Post
I may have to subscribe so I can message him.
If you add him as a saved eBay seller I noticed the option pops up to subscribe to his newsletter. Also, I did a little more background checking on this group relative to prior sales and such. Looks good so far. I too started looking at the non-boxed unit. He essentially adds and exterior structure, wood face to box it. Once you get yours, you'll see how it's done. Last time I spoke with Gary at Borderpatrol he commented his first 20 prototype units were wooden boxed. If the unit sounds good to you, I think it will be nice to have their enclosure as these are one-off boutique custom units which makes the whole thing really cool IMO. This morning I pulled the NOS sylvanias and put in some inferior front-end tubes on my big amp to help tame this newer detailed DAC a bit. Lost some detail, bass, and fullness... but it kinda worked to tie me over until this unit breaks in or I start looking for a velvet sounding unit; next. Maybe Borderpatrol or Abbas, still kinda eyeing that Orchid, also nice but agree it will need mods, and its easy to see how the jump to Abbas occurred as I look closer at the parts. Man, did you see that 4.0 Abbas unit, chips, and all - those guys are def into it. Nice.
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  #73  
Old 11-19-2018, 05:21 AM
FloridaBoy FloridaBoy is offline
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The DAC is in the USA and should be delivered on the 28th. I could live with the Havana but as you noted the parts selection in the Abbas is intriguing.

Like MHDT, he has DAC's with different flavors. It would have been great to be able to compare them. I think the issue with digital is that DAC's, spec wise on paper, have vastly improved but recordings have not. So you end up not liking what you hear unless you are feeding it hirez media.

Last edited by FloridaBoy; 11-19-2018 at 08:25 AM.
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  #74  
Old 11-21-2018, 11:27 PM
decooney decooney is offline
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UPDATE: Bought the MHDT Orchid today.

Kinda came back full circle to where I started. Spoke to a few audio friends and industry colleagues this week, and they've been to a few different shows this past year reviewing winning rooms. Since I already have a SS DAC, this will be my tube DAC if it pans out. As for my requirements, the Orchid works on paper for these reasons:

Since I'd like to try to combine NOS, TAD1541 x version chip, with Tube, and 24bit/192khz for higher resolution streaming, and don't want a built-in headphone amp or need a volume control, it's Black in color, and closest to what I've been looking for.

Gonna keep the irDAC-II for now. It's growing on me as my stand-in DAC. Broken in now. Sounds pretty nice with a good coax. Will try both and maybe sell one later if they are close. If they are different in good ways, will keep both. Value of both for the price is reasonable too.

Hoping to have the Orchid in a few weeks to begin 30-day tube break-in.

Next step is to evaluate sound. Will report back around XMAS.
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  #75  
Old 11-22-2018, 06:17 AM
FloridaBoy FloridaBoy is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by decooney View Post
UPDATE: Bought the MHDT Orchid today.

Kinda came back full circle to where I started. Spoke to a few audio friends and industry colleagues this week, and they've been to a few different shows this past year reviewing winning rooms. Since I already have a SS DAC, this will be my tube DAC if it pans out. As for my requirements, the Orchid works on paper for these reasons:

Since I'd like to try to combine NOS, TAD1541 x version chip, with Tube, and 24bit/192khz for higher resolution streaming, and don't want a built-in headphone amp or need a volume control, it's Black in color, and closest to what I've been looking for.

Gonna keep the irDAC-II for now. It's growing on me as my stand-in DAC. Broken in now. Sounds pretty nice with a good coax. Will try both and maybe sell one later if they are close. If they are different in good ways, will keep both. Value of both for the price is reasonable too.

Hoping to have the Orchid in a few weeks to begin 30-day tube break-in.

Next step is to evaluate sound. Will report back around XMAS.
You are welcome to compare my Havana with the Orchid. I also have quite a few tubes that you can try. I seem to always come back to a GE 5 star 5670.
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  #76  
Old 11-22-2018, 10:40 AM
decooney decooney is offline
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You are welcome to compare my Havana with the Orchid. I also have quite a few tubes that you can try. I seem to always come back to a GE 5 star 5670.
Cool, thanks for the offer. Will give it a go for 30 days and see how it goes. Unit shipped this morning. Looks like it comes with a later 1987 GE 5670, what Juin refers to as last of the western golden tube generation. I wonder if his list has changed much over the years http://www.mhdtlab.com/tube.htm
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  #77  
Old 11-22-2018, 11:20 AM
FloridaBoy FloridaBoy is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by decooney View Post
Cool, thanks for the offer. Will give it a go for 30 days and see how it goes. Unit shipped this morning. Looks like it comes with a later 1987 GE 5670, what Juin refers to as last of the western golden tube generation. I wonder if his list has changed much over the years http://www.mhdtlab.com/tube.htm
The tube list has a few additions but it gets down to what works best for you in your rig. I imagine you will have the DAC Monday. Courier service is very fast.

Do you post on other forums?
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  #78  
Old 11-22-2018, 11:27 AM
decooney decooney is offline
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Quote:
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The tube list has a few additions but it gets down to what works best for you in your rig. I imagine you will have the DAC Monday. Courier service is very fast.

Do you post on other forums?
Not as much lately, been kinda hanging out 'round here lately under the AA/CAD sub-forum since some folks here have similar sounding back end gear. Did some chatting offline with a few members over at audiocircle and superbestaudiofriends and a few old contact friends over on Agon.
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  #79  
Old 11-22-2018, 12:19 PM
FloridaBoy FloridaBoy is offline
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What is your Audio Circle screen name?
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  #80  
Old 11-22-2018, 12:23 PM
decooney decooney is offline
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What is your Audio Circle screen name?
same as here.

BTW: I thought I saw somewhere you are a radio/tuner listener too. Just switched from my compressed music and DAC to my modified Magnum Dynalab FM Tuner. Sounds so natural and effortless, and distorted FM radio too...hahaha, kinda like the older simple R2R DACs. Just sounds nice, musical, engaging.

Last edited by decooney; 11-22-2018 at 12:44 PM.
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