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Old 12-02-2016, 06:59 PM
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Default Audio Research DAC 9

Has anyone purchased ARC's new DAC 9 yet? I know that they recently became available. It would be great to hear any owner's or auditioner's impressions of the sound quality.

Thanks,
Ken
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Old 12-02-2016, 07:42 PM
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Old 12-02-2016, 08:24 PM
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Old 12-02-2016, 08:28 PM
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Get in line....



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Old 12-03-2016, 02:27 AM
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I have one on order. Hopefully it will be here next week.

Tarmac
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Old 12-03-2016, 07:22 PM
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I have one on order. Hopefully it will be here next week.

Tarmac
Hi Tarmac,

We look forward to hearing your impressions.

Ken
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Old 12-11-2016, 10:17 AM
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The dac9 is a splendid dac. I used to use the dac in my Esoteric. The audio research brings the "tube" sound into the equation. The overall presentation is more liquid and smoother then the Esoteric, but the Esoteric has a better grip on the bottom end. I'm ok sacrificing that for the overall smoothness the dac9 offers. The Esoteric seems to have more of a digital edge, compared to the dac9. The dac9 has a variety of digital inputs that the Esoteric doesn't implement. Overall, the flexibility and smoothness of the dac9 is what I prefer, in my system. YMMVIMG_1481465874.299258.jpg
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Old 12-11-2016, 11:40 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rscotth View Post
The dac9 is a splendid dac. I used to use the dac in my Esoteric. The audio research brings the "tube" sound into the equation. The overall presentation is more liquid and smoother then the Esoteric, but the Esoteric has a better grip on the bottom end. I'm ok sacrificing that for the overall smoothness the dac9 offers. The Esoteric seems to have more of a digital edge, compared to the dac9. The dac9 has a variety of digital inputs that the Esoteric doesn't implement. Overall, the flexibility and smoothness of the dac9 is what I prefer, in my system. YMMVAttachment 48515
Thanks for your response. Congrats on your DAC 9 and glad to hear you are enjoying it!

What type of digital connection are you using to the DAC 9? Have you tried playing any DSD files from your N10 or N100H through its USB connection?

Thanks,
Ken
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  #9  
Old 12-11-2016, 12:02 PM
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Default Audio Research DAC 9

I'm using a Transparent BNC from the Aurender N10 to the Dac9. I use a Transparent AES XLR from my Esoteric to the Dac9 for red book CD's. I use a Transparent AES XLR from the N10 to my Oppo HA-1 headphone amp. Aurender told me when you use USB along with other digital outs, there can be a clocking issue, so I'm using the clock inside the N10 with awesome results. When I first hooked up the USB from the N10 to Dac9, it wouldn't play. The Dac9 has an issue seeing the USB from both my Aurender. Not an issue for me, as the other digital outs work brilliantly. Plus I have no DSD files, so not an issue. Anyway, if I did, the N10 converts DSD to PCM.

Audio Research is aware of the Aurender/Dac9 compatibility issue and are working on a fix. Even when they do come up with a fix, I doubt I'll use USB!
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Dan D'Agostino Momentum HD Preamp
Dan D'Agostino Momentum Phono Preamp
Dan D'Agostino Momentum M400 MxV x 3
Dan D'Agostino Momentum S250
dCS Vivaldi Apex DAC
dCS Vivaldi Upsampler
dCS Vivaldi Clock
Wilson Audio Alexia 2, Yvette & Mezzo
REL No.32 x 2
REL Carbon Special x 2
AVID Acutus Ref SP, Roon Nucleus+
McIntosh MX151, MVP881
HRS SXR Signature Audio Stand
Transparent Gen5Ref throughout!

New York

Dan D'Agostino Momentum HD Preamp
Dan D'Agostino Momentum M400 MxV x 2
dCS Rossini Dac
dCS Rossini Clock
Wilson Audio Alexia 2
REL No.25 x 2
Roon Nucleus+
Transparent Gen5Ref throughout!

Last edited by rscotth; 12-11-2016 at 12:04 PM.
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  #10  
Old 12-11-2016, 07:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rscotth View Post
I'm using a Transparent BNC from the Aurender N10 to the Dac9. I use a Transparent AES XLR from my Esoteric to the Dac9 for red book CD's. I use a Transparent AES XLR from the N10 to my Oppo HA-1 headphone amp. Aurender told me when you use USB along with other digital outs, there can be a clocking issue, so I'm using the clock inside the N10 with awesome results. When I first hooked up the USB from the N10 to Dac9, it wouldn't play. The Dac9 has an issue seeing the USB from both my Aurender. Not an issue for me, as the other digital outs work brilliantly. Plus I have no DSD files, so not an issue. Anyway, if I did, the N10 converts DSD to PCM.

Audio Research is aware of the Aurender/Dac9 compatibility issue and are working on a fix. Even when they do come up with a fix, I doubt I'll use USB!
Sounds like you've put a lot of thought into your digital connections and clocking, and have gotten everything optimized. Too bad no native DSD functionality (USB only) but it doesn't appear to be an issue for you. Hopefully, ARC will do a firmware update to enable their DACs' USB connection to work with Aurender music servers.

Enjoy,
Ken
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