Arizona Audio/Video Club YOu Tube Channel/Zoom Repository

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Saturday, August 24th, 2019 "DAC IT  OUT"

Fellow Club member, Paul Righello, planned and brilliantly executed this event. Thanks Paul. Great Job!

We want to thank the 7 manufacturers who supplied dacs for "DAC It Out" event: Chord, IFI, Schiit, NuPrime, Benchmark, Black Ice Audio, and Holo Audio. It takes great fortitude as there will be winners and losers. The AZAVClub.com provided its own samples for PS Audio and LKS.  

"DAC It Out" was attended by about 35 people who were all very curious to hear the comparisons. One couple was in from Chicago. After each session we discussed results and asked what in particular made people choose one over another. Comments generally went to better Sound Stage, Dynamics and/or Openness.   

The Format: 

All dacs were fed the same source simultaneously via optical input from an optical splitter fed from a cd player. A professional recording engineer and Paul spent the day before setting up and level matching all the dacs to ensure the only variable was the dacs. For each listening session, we played five test tracks from all different genres of music using high quality recordings. We cycled through the dacs using the various preamp inputs for a seamless transition during each test track with each dac playing for 10-30 seconds at a time with several transitions within each track. Each group session lasted about 45 minutes with each DAC playing for an average of 10 minutes per session. The whole affair ran from 11am to 3:30pm. 

Listeners knew which dacs were present in each group but not which dac was playing at a given time other than if it was dac A, B, or C. Votes were tallied at the end of each session and only afterward were the dacs unveiled as belonging to one of the given inputs (A, B,or C). Not even those who set up the dacs knew which one was which until the unveiling.

Polling results were generally very consistent. However, in the fourth session which was made up solely of the preceding three session winners, Chord Qutest, Schiit Yggy and Jolida Black Ice Glass FX DSD, it was nearly a dead heat. 

The Room:

The shootout was held in an upscale theatre room of about 20 x 30 with well treated surfaces. Sound was measured at 75-80db during play. The machines were broken into three groups using three different DACs per session.  

The Equipment:  

Amp: SAE 2HP-D, Pre-Amp: Chord Electronics CPA 5000, CDP: Musical Fidelity M3i, Speakers: Focal Maestro Utopia EVO, Digital Interconnects: Audio Quest Cinnamon, Analog Interconnects: Audio Quest Water Speaker Cable, Speaker Cables: Audio Quest William Tell Silver Zero with William Tell Bass in a Bi-wire configuration, and Audio Rack: Bassocnitinuo

System retail approximate value of  $118,000

The Results:  

Session 1)

First Place = Chord Qutest 

Second Place (tie) = Holo Audio Spring DAC2 and NuPrime Evolution DAC

Session 2)

First Place = Schiit Yggdrasil

Second Place = iFi Audio Pro iDSD

Third Place = Benchmark DAC3

Session 3)

First Place = Black Ice Audio Glass FX DSD

Second Place = LKS  MH-DA004

Third Place = PS Audio Direcstream DAC

Session 4) Finals

First Place = Black Ice Audio Glass FX DSD

Second Place = Chord Qutest

Third Place = Schiit Yggdrasil

Closing Thoughts:

Scientists may shoot holes in our methodology. However, we did have three representatives from Chord present. They were pleased with Chord's showing and complimented the testing methods and promising to bring "Dave" next time!  

Tubes faired better than solid state. Ladder DACs did pretty well with the Schiit finishing in the top 3. The other Ladder was the Holo which some thought was "Darker" while some found its clarity excellent. We would enjoy seeing another club perform a similar test so the results could be expanded. Perhaps a magazine would take a crack at it. 

Opinions may vary.    

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 I would enjoy seeing another club perform a similar test so the results could be expanded. Perhaps a magazine would take a crack at it. Recognizing the fast changing nature of the digital HiFi world,  logic dictates that the far less expensive ($800) Black Ice DAC may be the wisest purchase.   

Jeff Kalina, President Arizona Audio/Video Club

For the Audio Industry digital has been a blessing and a curse. Though the digital format offers advantages like unlimited accurate reproduction of original copies and near effortless worldwide distribution, this also brings with it a horde of security and policy headaches like piracy protection and Digital Rights Management. So which side wins the Analog vs Digital audio war? As far is sound quality is concerned, for all practical purposes, it is impossible to say which is better, analog or digital. In individual test cases what is most important is the quality of the recording and playback components, not whether it is analog or digital. For both types of audio signals, one can outperform the other as the equipment gets more expensive and elaborate to offer higher fidelity. Loudspeakers will always need analog signals, and the best way to store auditory information will always be digital. Either way, there’s an upper limit to the quality that a human ear can differentiate, so it matters not which is best. What matters most is if it is good enough.

This article was first published in November 2016 issue of Fast Track on Digit magazine. To read Digit’s articles first, subscribe here or download the Digit app for Android and iOS. You could also buy Digit’s previous issues here.