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Audio Research State of the Art Audio Reproduction

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  #41  
Old 04-24-2015, 11:16 PM
loctorwabbit loctorwabbit is offline
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Crickey! That list of DACs will take some wading thru indeed!

My experience in a search for a possible replacement DAC for my AMRDP777 ended up in a standstill.

I will list each one and my simple brief impressions. please forgive the generalisations and amateurishly simplistic adjectives i've used as they are just my impressions of each, having spent at least 3 days listening to each one(except the ps audio where the local dealer charged a transport fee to deliver it to the house for an audition of an hour and a bit after warming up . http://www.audioaficionado.org/image...s/confused.gif )

1. AMR DP777: superb for my kind of music. vocals, jazz, blues and chamber music. lush, warm, very palpable and not at all clinical.
2. CD9: similar character to DP777, but a wider soundstage, darker backgrounds, much more involving and overall felt like a significant upgrade to the DP777. It would have been the one to replace, sans the price, age and lack of DSD. Its essentially 3 -4 times the price of the DP777 although it comes with a very lovely sounding CD player.
3. Aesthetix romulus signature: i was quite startled by the ambience of the music that it created. While there was more clarity and resolution than my AMR, as expected of a dac that price, it was the sound stage that was the most impressive. (best bloom and staging of all the DACs i'd ever tried.) wide beyond the speakers and at least half times wider than the cd9 on AB comparison. it was just abit more clinical and less warm than the CD9 for my kind of music. It was nevertheless very impressive. similar price range to CD9. It also played DSD natively. My goodness if it had the beguiling character of the CD9 with its other positive traits, it'd be an amazing DAC. The Romulus' CD player exhibited similar characteristics to the DAC.
4. I'll group PS audio's direct stream and devialet 200. The sounds are just (for want of a better word) opposite, to the AMR and CD9. Technically, they both have very good resolution, pace, staging, imaging. Devialet was better by far, warmer of the 2, and of course was an all in one dac/integrated amp. It was very impressive in itself and its speaker active matching was something that was very effective in extending the bass. But my search was more for the warm lushy tubey sound that matched my kind of music. and it didnt do so.


So there you have it. The AMR still stood on its own for tube like sound that i enjoyed for vocals and jazz instruments. As i already owned it, there was very little push to sell it for the CD9 until an improved version appeared.
I do wonder if the romulus might have achieved a more lush sound if its tubes were changed. It would be the winner.
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  #42  
Old 10-18-2015, 08:20 PM
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Jcord Jcord is offline
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Hello to everybody

Finally I bought my new DAC
The choice gone for the bricasti m1 , I know wasn't on my wish list but in a session of listening I'm fall in love with it ��
thanks to everybody for all advice that helped me to arrive at this hard decision
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  #43  
Old 10-28-2015, 10:16 PM
luchocastro luchocastro is offline
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I own a similar system and would highly recommend the Lampizator Big 7 Dac. I owned the Audio Research Dac 8 (have not heard the CD9's Dac) and the Playback Designs MPD-3. IMHO the Lampizator is vastly superior to either one (at least in my system and to my ears). If you have the chance to audition one before taking the plunge please do.
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Mac Mini 2012 SSD - Lampi Big 7 DAC - Oppo BDP 95
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  #44  
Old 10-28-2015, 10:19 PM
luchocastro luchocastro is offline
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Another great option and very reasonably priced are the Exasound Dacs. I owned an Exa e20 Mk-III believe it is a fantastic DAC in both DSD and PCM. The e20 is discontinued but have heard the e22 and have been very impressed with it.
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Mac Mini 2012 SSD - Lampi Big 7 DAC - Oppo BDP 95
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MartinLogan CLX Art Speakers - MartinLogan Balanced Force 210 Subs - Shunyata Anaconda speaker cables & Interconnects - Shunyata DPC-6 / Triton v2
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  #45  
Old 10-31-2015, 05:37 PM
calcutroop calcutroop is offline
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I am all Audio Research Reference except for the DAC. I own a Meitner MA1 and I am very happy with it. To my ears, the most analog.
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  #46  
Old 10-31-2015, 07:09 PM
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cmalak cmalak is offline
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Jcord...congrats on your Bricasti M1 DAC. It has a lot of fans on AA as well. Enjoy it in good health.
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  #47  
Old 10-31-2015, 09:30 PM
veerapaneni veerapaneni is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by calcutroop View Post
I am all Audio Research Reference except for the DAC. I own a Meitner MA1 and I am very happy with it. To my ears, the most analog.
I use the same . all ARC and meitner MA1. I had ARC DAC 8 and REF DAC before that.
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