EE DAC Supreme

[Werd]

What's this? Is this on the same dac you compared?

What's what? 

I am not understanding what you are doing or what this is you are talking about? Are you making this adjustment yourself?

[richidoo]

Charlie said it had two DAC chips, I clarified that it has only one DAC chip. Then I clarified that the two power supplies are for digital and analog, not dual mono. Then I clarified some butter - ghee wiz! What adjustments? What comparisons? Turnipforwhat?

Royals lose. 

[mresseguie]

how much is this scrumptious looking dac cost?

Digital Audio Review dot net suggests it's $1350.

It is slowly dawning on me that my becoming a member of AN could result in my spending more $$$$ in the near future. There should have been a warning sign at the entrance.

[machinehead]

how much is this scrumptious looking dac cost?

Digital Audio Review dot net suggests it's $1350.

It is slowly dawning on me that my becoming a member of AN could result in my spending more $$$$ in the near future. There should have been a warning sign at the entrance.

lol

[djdube525]

Charlie said it had two DAC chips, I clarified that it has only one DAC chip. Then I clarified that the two power supplies are for digital and analog, not dual mono. Then I clarified some butter - ghee wiz! What adjustments? What comparisons? Turnipforwhat?

With your Buffalo DAC that you made (actually... you made two no), are you saying you you tried running/configuring the SABRE dac in both current and voltage output mode... and you found the current mode to be better?

And you were then wondering which implementation the EE Supreme employed... right?

Royals lose. 

Yeah... not a Royals fan per se... but would have liked to see them win. Old school ball.

[Bill O'Connell]

The Supreme is $1350

I wrote Alex and asked him to comment to Rich's technical questions.

 As for Machinehead, You should probably revisit at least this DAC as all are not alike, I can tell you the MiniMax Dac & DAC PLUS the latter being so much better than the fiirst and now the Supreme which is head & shoulders above the Plus.

[mresseguie]

Can anyone comment on how this Supreme DAC might compare to either the Benchmark DAC2 HGC or the Auralic Vega? I know it's less expensive than either, but I'm curious about SQ, etc.

Michael

[Werd]

The Supreme is $1350

I wrote Alex and asked him to comment to Rich's technical questions.

 As for Machinehead, You should probably revisit at least this DAC as all are not alike, I can tell you the MiniMax Dac & DAC PLUS the latter being so much better than the fiirst and now the Supreme which is head & shoulders above the Plus.

Its a good price too.

[rollo]

Charlie said it had two DAC chips, I clarified that it has only one DAC chip. Then I clarified that the two power supplies are for digital and analog, not dual mono. Then I clarified some butter - ghee wiz! What adjustments? What comparisons? Turnipforwhat?

Royals lose. 

   That is what I read off the owners manual. Thanks Professor. Hopefully you put that clarified butter on a nice porterhouse.
  Anyways back to the sonics. The original we had many years ago at out club meeting won over some folks. I cannot from memory compare the two.
  This DAC has tone and is uncolored in its presentation. Body and weight to boot. This is from the SPDIF connection [ using a Straight wire coaxial ] Have not tried the computer yet.
   Switched to a different transport and got even better. Using the Plinius now in lieu of Sony. Huge.
    For me so far very impressed. Adding the TWL digital PC took it up a notch. Deeper bass and a larger sound stage.
    It is still changing so the jury is still out comparing to the ultra DACs. Hopefully after total break in will compare against the reference DACs in our club.
   As of this writing KABOM for the buck.


charles

[James Edward]

The Auralic Vega is being delivered next week. Do I just refuse delivery? No. I'll fall on my sword so we have something to compare the EE Supreme to. And yes, I know the Vega is 2.5 times the price. The things I do to remain in this club...
FWIW, the above is thoroughly tongue in cheek. But I do like the Vega as it sounds in my system...

[tmazz]

........ But I do like the Vega as it sounds in my system...

And that's all that counts.

Have fun with the new toy. /

[rollo]

  so far my listening has been with front end number two. That consists of using a Mapleshade modified Promitheous transformer passive preamp and Sony DVD player as transport.
    Moved over to Plinius as transport and the Loesch & Weisner preamp. Cabling in main system is all TWL from IC's to speaker cable. The digital cable a Staightwire was used in both configurations. The BSG QOL allows me to use multiple preamps and sources as it has four inputs.
    Now my little Chickadees we have something to chat about. With the active preamp the game changed. More open, deeper bass, deeper 3D soundstage, No sibilance on vocals [ I love that part ] just better all around.
    The tube when used is a bit mellower in presentaion than SS. I perferred the tube with the passive and SS with the tubed preamp. Now though with all components on for 24 hours it is a tough call. Just different. tried rolling the tube to a RCA 12AU7 Cleartop. Oh my ! Different again with more dynamics. So we have options to match any system.
     It is getting better everyday. I have yet to meet any digital component that took less than 500 hours to sound it's best. This is no different.
    The digital cable and the transport are huge here. Actually with any DAC used. going to try, JPS, Belkin, copper and silver,what no TWL digital cable no there isn't one yet.  .
     Most will probably use the USB input so we need to get a cracking on that. Maybe we can get a Mac from one of our computer guys in the area ????
    So far still impressed.


charles
   

[Werd]

Why is phase switch important? To match the recording? How do you know if it's in phase?

[richidoo]

http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/absolutephase.html

It's a polarity switch, same as reversing the speaker wires in a passive speaker.

If a recording has the kick drum reversed, it can sound annoying because it is sucking instead of blowing. Flipping the switch would fix that, but it would reverse the phase of everything on the recording, not just the drum, so other instruments might sound different. I don't understand how higher freq instruments can be affected, but my friend uses a pickin steel guitar recording to determine if the phase of his system is correct. People hear it differently. A remote control phase switch is handy.

[tmazz]

Why is phase switch important? To match the recording? How do you know if it's in phase?

There are people who swear that the maintaining the absolute polarity of an audio signal is crucial to accurate reproduction. Since many pieces of electronic gear invert the phase of a signal between the input and the output and in any recording and mastering chains the signal passes through many different units , it is really a crap shoot as to whether the signal has the correct or inverted absolute phase. And this of course varies from disc to disc.

An Audiophile from Boston by the name of R. C. Johnsen wrote an entire book in the subject (I believe it was back in 1988) entitled "The Wood Effect: Unaccounted Contributor to Error Confusion in Acoustics". The book can still be found on amazon, although used copies go for $125 and up. However, here is a line to a Positive Feedback article that summarizes the concepts presented in the book.

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue1/cjwoodeffect.htm

Keep in mind that they are talking about the reproduced signal producing and acoustic waveform that is 180 degrees out of phase with the waveforms produce in the original performance as opposed to what we normally refer to as being out of phase, which is the speaker terminals being connected to the amp with the hot and ground wires connected to the opposite binding posts on the left and right channel speakers.

As for your question on how do we know, you either have to get a list showing the absolute polarity of the particular recording you are playing, or just do it the old fashioned way and listen to both ways and determine with your own ears which is better. This used to be done by switching the speaker cables on both speakers and listening again, but some manufacturers have been kind enough to add phase switches so the absolute polarity can be compare without rearranging wire.