Fancy DAC's

[brewster55]

I read countless reviews on the Moon 300D and 100D. I have been using an Enlightened Audio 7000 MKIII (EAD) for the last 12 years. The new technology has changed tremendously I was told.

I now have both the Moon 300D and 100D with about a hundred hours on each. Now I realize that they are not fully broken in as Simaudio calls for 400 hours but I don't expect a great deal more difference. Could be wrong there but doubt it.

I must say that after $2400CDN I cannot honestly say that the music has improved. I have and always had full respect for Simaudio products. That has not changed. I have their P3 Preamplifier and Moon 310LP. Totally satisfying. I guess I'm just trying to say that for me the "ancient" EAD 7000 plays as spectacular as the Moon DAC's.

I bought a Bel Canto CD player with the retail of about $5000 when it was new and when I hauled up my old Arcam CD73T from the cellar and played it through the EAD 7000 all the music was there. It was there all the time.

New technology. For sure but I wouldn't do it again. I play music through a fine YBA Delta preamp and an $8800 YBA1 amplifier so the equipment is good.
How good does one have to go? How much more money? For me the game is done.

May I suggest a CD by Sara K. called "Made In The Shade" for some wonderful dynamic and original and listenable music.

[Cath]

Thanks for this brewster55. Maybe you will get a better sense of the sound in 300 more hours! I know that is a lot of patience but only at a quarter of the recommended time so there may be more too them.

I can really relate to the point of diminishing returns. My husband is a music junkie and he has guided me well in my listening pleasure. He constantly reminds me of this in my choices of audio gear. We have a great sound in this little house so no need to fix it!
Have a happy new year and Happy listening too!

[Spudso]

Brewster - sorry to hear that you are not hearing an improvement. Maybe your EAD is that good that you don't hear an improvement, but I agree with Cath that it is still early times yet. My recall however was that the 100D sounded flat for up to the first 75 hrs or so before it started to open up. The 300D IMO sounded better than the 100D right out of the box but again didn't really hit its stride until well past the 100 hour mark. It renders music so beautifully now, its hard to imagine not having it in my system.
Hopefully you do hear an improvement soon.

[brewster55]

Thank you Spudso; You're right . I haven't given the DAC's enough time and maybe I just had a bad time of day. Whatever the case I appreciate the positive side of your reply. That might be a good New Years resolution for myself. Thanks as well for the information regarding the difference in time needed between the two DAC's. I will heed your advice. I look forward to the time when my 300D will sound as yours does.

[brewster55]

Thank you for your reply Cath. I am obviously too impatient and I appreciate your outlook. You sound to be content with your music and that in itself is wonderful to hear. Hope you have a happy new year too. Thanks again for your reply and perhaps a wake up call for me.

[Cath]

Thanks brewster55. Our world is so much about instant gratification that we tend to forget the sometimes age brings its benefits!
I am very content with the sounds in my system. I have Martin Logan ESL ElectroMotion for my founts powered by a Yamaha RXA-2000. The home theater center, surrounds and presence speaker are the Kef 3001 satellites with the matching sub (these beauties are 8 years old and counting!). These are sonically matched the Martin Logan’s which was a real bonus and the sub is placed just so that when the movie is rocking so is my seat! I know that these are considered mid level gear but in my small house they sound soo much more.
In my office I have KRK Rokit 5 monitors and I run them as zone 3 from the Yamaha. I run the office speakers on the Yamaha though the iTouch and stream from the Iomega cloud hard drive. I just purchased Jackson Browne Running on Empty from HDTracks. I guess that is where my spending will be this next year - high res music.
Have a great new year!

[robeffy]

I think technology improves, and what was hot gets upstaged as time goes on.

The better the gear when new, the longer it sounds great.

The issue for me is stereo sound is subjective, some like sound bright, or full, while it may be brighter or fuller than it was recorded at! Who really knows how the sound was when it was made?

As long as YOU like the sound, life is good!

[Pneumonic]

Like with any other audio component, a DAC will add noise and distortions which will colour the sound that you hear. Whether or not this colouration is pleasing or not is all very personal. It's all about system synergy when it comes to DAC's ..... as it is with every other component in the audio chain. Newer or more expensive might not mean better.

In general terms, what I have found, after experimenting with a good number of DAC's (at varying price points) is that the newer designs generally trounce the older designs in two key areas: anti-image filter design as well as in receiver technology (SPDIF especially). Today's anti image filters are basically benign on what we hear ..... this wasn't the case in years past and we heard the sonic noise/distortion that the filter added to the puzzle. And the technology used today in receiver circuits is such that we can buffer and re-clock in order to make system clocking errors (ie clock induced jitter) and EMI/RFI issues a moot point ... moot as in relative to the levels of distortion present in other components in the rest of ones system.

Still, even with these technical improvements, it all boils down to how one hears the colourations the DAC adds to your system. It many cases people prefer the way older DAC designs colour the sund that they hear so they consider it better, even though, measurably, it may not be.

[SoundGame]

Pneumonic - not to reduce your comments in any way but I'd also say that both power supplies and capacitor technologies have improved over the years lending to greater performance/lower noise.

[Pneumonic]

Pneumonic - not to reduce your comments in any way but I'd also say that both power supplies and capacitor technologies have improved over the years lending to greater performance/lower noise.

Indeed on both points. I have read some excellent material on PSU and its affects on jitter.