DAC8 en route

[bakerman]

After a few hours with the DAC8 I wanted to type out my early impressions of it. This is my first piece of ARC gear and have always enjoyed the styling of their products. The DAC8 is no exception with the simple layout of buttons and display. The only thing that surprised me was to find out that the handles are actually plastic. For some reason I was thinking that they were machined aluminum. Not a big deal of the realm of things though.

I bit of background first. I've been using a Wyred DAC2 since it first came out a few years ago. I have thoroughly enjoyed that DAC in my system and find that at $1500.00 it's a big bang for the buck type product. The reason for a new DAC was one of upgrading only, I could have lived with the Wyred for many more years.

I use a Mac Mini to play my digital files and use either Pure Music or Audirvana+ depending on my mood that day. The Mini is connected to the DAC via a Wireworld Platinum USB cable. This cable has made a huge difference in my system. I downloaded the necessary USB drivers from the ARC website and installation was a breeze. I'm ecstatic that with the ARC drivers I'm now able to use Pure Music in "Hog Mode" and Audirvana+ in "Direct Mode". These two modes allow the software to deliver the best possible quality signal to the DAC. I wasn't able to use these modes with the DAC2.

Before actually listening to music I wanted to make sure that there weren't any glitches as far as file rates go. I went through my library and selected different file rate selections and scanned through them quickly to see if the DAC8 would respond. The DAC8 locked onto the different signals with no problem. There was an immediate jump with files of the same rate and only a short pause between files that were of different rates, which can be expected of any DAC. There was a nice clicking sound to announce the change in file rate as well as displaying the appropriate light on the front panel.

If there was only one thing that I was looking for in a new DAC it would be to keep the level of detail that I got from the DAC2 but also give me a more musical quality. I always felt the DAC2 had a certain "edge" to it that at times could be a bit harsh. The DAC8 delivers this and with more. The easiest way to describe it would be to say that before I was listening to the music and now it seems as though I am more a part of it. The soundstage is wider and is more balanced which actually brings me into the music farther. The Wyred tended to be a little more forward sounding. It also seems that there is either a little more detail retrieval or just a cleaner type of sound. Maybe the DAC8 has a blacker/quieter background which makes me hear things like drumsticks falling on the floor and glasses clinking in the background a little clearer. I'm very happy with how things sound at this early stage for me, this is a used unit and has been fully broken in so it's not going to change, but my ears will continue to hear differences between the two DACs.

At three times the price of the Wyred I would expect the DAC8 to outperform it and it does just that. I'm very happy with this new piece.