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Cary Audio Design Superior Quality and Value

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  #11  
Old 05-28-2015, 01:58 PM
Mechnutt Mechnutt is offline
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I am returning the Cary. It is a good DAC but not a good fit for my system. It is extremely well built with nice features and a good remote. The issue for me is that the sonic's sounds similar to my Van Alstine DAC in texture of vocals and piano. It is smoother and warmer than my AVA DAC but the sound stage is smaller and bass is less punchy. The Cary has a nice full midrange with the SS output stage. The high frequency detail and air was excellent. However, the difference between the 2 DAC's was not enough to justify the price. I have auditioned the Hugo Chord, Wyred 4 Sound dac2 dsdse with the femto clock upgrade and an Exogal Comet DAC in my system that were better matches for my system.
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  #12  
Old 05-28-2015, 07:40 PM
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Jack in Wilmington Jack in Wilmington is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mechnutt View Post
I am returning the Cary. It is a good DAC but not a good fit for my system. It is extremely well built with nice features and a good remote. The issue for me is that the sonic's sounds similar to my Van Alstine DAC in texture of vocals and piano. It is smoother and warmer than my AVA DAC but the sound stage is smaller and bass is less punchy. The Cary has a nice full midrange with the SS output stage. The high frequency detail and air was excellent. However, the difference between the 2 DAC's was not enough to justify the price. I have auditioned the Hugo Chord, Wyred 4 Sound dac2 dsdse with the femto clock upgrade and an Exogal Comet DAC in my system that were better matches for my system.
Where do you go from here, the Auralic Vega? I'm enjoying the hunt, keep up the good work.
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  #13  
Old 05-28-2015, 11:07 PM
Mechnutt Mechnutt is offline
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Jack, I got to hear the Vega in a $100K system. It sound nice but again, it was not a huge improvement over my AVA DAC which I brought along for comparison. The Vega sounded bright while my AVA DAC sounded warmer and darker (my AVA DAC does not sound warm and dark in my system, so I suspect the Vega will be bright sounding. I may take the Vega home for a week to try.) I am also going to hear a Lampizator Amer this weekend and will report back on my DAC search.

I am considering the Luxman a06 DAC which has a warm, tonally rich, musical sound but the trade off is losing a little detail.

Here are some reviews on it. Although the Stereophile review is good but if you read between the lines I think that the reviewer did not really care for it.

SoundStage! Hi-Fi | SoundStageHiFi.com - Luxman DA-06 Digital-to-Analog Converter

Luxman DA-06 USB D/A Converter | AudioStream

Luxman DA-06 D/A processor | Stereophile.com
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  #14  
Old 03-12-2016, 01:13 PM
mikey8811 mikey8811 is offline
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Mechnutt & Jack In Wilmington, am considering the Cary 200ts or PS Audio Directstream and my amplification is fairly similar to yours - Pass X350.8 and Cary SLP 05.

4N6, I would be interested in your comparison of the Cary 200ts to your PS Audio Directstream.

Moving on from a trusty Mark Levinson 36 so any comparisons to that appreciated.

Last edited by mikey8811; 03-13-2016 at 12:42 AM.
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