Author Topic: GTG At Southport HI Fi on Gold Coast Australia  (Read 3101 times)

Offline bhobba

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GTG At Southport HI Fi on Gold Coast Australia
« on: December 14, 2014, 12:51:25 AM »
Some of you may be interested in a GTG out my way on the Gold Coast in Australia with the new Direct Stream DAC.

There were two planned - one has now been completed:
http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/topic/74388-lenehanaudio-gtg-sat-29th/

The DAC's were:

My Killer DAC - A highly musical DAC hand made in minuscule quantities by a guy up the road from where I live but with a very loyal following. Everyone recognises it as a good DAC - but its designed by enthusiasts for enthusiasts to sound musical and real - it purely depends on if that sort of thing is your bag - its mine - but others don't necessarily agree. My personal favourite DAC. Pity most people reading this probably wont be able to hear it - maybe one day I can send one on over to the US.  Again just in the off chance anyone is interested it costs $5.5k and uses hand picked old Phillips Double crown chips - but strangely the guy that makes then finds some single chips sound better - he uses the best one he has available when ordered.  Mine has a single crown that I am assured sounded better than the double crowns he had at the time.

The Direct Stream fully loaded with the latest firmware etc. It has been impressing quite a few out my way. For me its a bit up and down - I have heard it sound very good - and other times so so on that set-up. This time its sounded good.

An upgraded Oppo - it has had significant work on the output stage and the clock has been replaced with a Terra-Firma clock. To me it was the DAC of the GTG - if anyone wants to take a chance on one Southport Hi Fi in Australia will be distributing them at about Australian $3.6k. Got one myself - its that good - it easily accounts for the NAD M51 I use for HT duties - then again twice the price - but does a lot more.

A new DAC - The Klein DAC - from Clay Geisner who makes the Konverter and old PDX (not made any more) - he has however made significant improvements since the GTG. It will be sold by Southport Hi Fi for about $1K. I have an earlier version that I will get Clay to upgrade to the latest iteration and that will be in the next GTG.

You can read what others thought - here are mine:

Initially we heard the Direct Stream vs Joe's modified Oppo via the Prima Luna amps. It was close - but I gave the edge to the Direct Stream - its detail was better - but the Oppo had a sweet sound - both were obviously serious DAC's - but considering the price difference the Oppo would have been my choice especially considering how much more it can do such as playing movies and connecting to Foxtel via its HDMI input - in fact it was and I ordered one off Joe to replace my NAD which is now up for sale.

Then we introduced the Audion KT120 amp into the system - holey carp batman - instantly better - lovely sweet sound - Clay's eyes went wide - Clay just loves that sort of stuff. This was the best I had heard the Direct Stream - really nice now. Joe's Oppo of course benefited - but I thought the Direct Stream benefited more. It was not close for me now - the DS had pulled ahead. Was it the price difference ahead - hard to say - for me - still no - but now no longer clear cut. Detail on the DS was simply - well - mesmerising.

Next up was Clays DAC's. He had two new DAC's - one based on the a Burr Brown PCM 1794 and another on an AKM chip. Both were very good - and the AKM sounded quite close to Oppo (of course it wont do all the Oppo will) but at only about $1k. For me it wasn't as sweet as the Oppo or with the detail of the DS.

Then the polarising DAC - my Killer that I love. Its just so engaging, musical with superb Prat, for me anyway. Everyone liked it - even Mike who has a bit of a love-hate relationship with the Killer - loving what it does on some material - not so much on others. As one guy said with your eyes closed its almost holographic in that you can feel the space between the singer and instruments. The thing is its the musical analytical thing - and the various shades in between. Quite a few said they really wanted both a Killer and the DS. Personally I would get the Oppo and the Killer which, both together, is about the same price as the DS - in fact that's what I did.

My ordering was:

Killer and DS - tie - but that's purely sitting down and putting personal preference aside and judging it objectively. But when listening to the Killer my foot immediately taps and a smile comes to my face - the other DAC's didn't do that, so obviously its my preference - but I am trying to be objective. Was it as accurate as the DS - no - not dripping in ooey gooey honey - it's more subtle than that - Mike describes it as a slight roundedness in the lower midrange - and understands the appeal - but really - who gives a shite - you don't listen to measurements. Its like the Audion - it's probably not as accurate as the Prima - but it's much sweeter and far more beautiful - everyone much preferred it.

A bit behind was the Oppo. For me this was the stand-out of the GTG. It does so much for so little - a no brainer for two channel home theatre and has displaced the NAD M51 for that - like I said I am getting one. BTW it sounded nothing like a Saber chip - it had the Saber detail - but wasn't overt or distracting - quite sweet actually.

Again a bit behind Clay's DAC - but that value - amazing - and the balls Clay has in comparing it to stuff that's way more expensive. I had a slight preference for the AKM version - but there is hardly anything in it. Interesting how it fares in the next GTG. But Clay had a long chat to Joe and incorporated some of his ideas and it evidently is better again. I have an earlier version (even earlier than what appeared at the GTG) and Clay did say he thinks he can upgrade it to the new level. That will be at the next GTG.

Anyway they are my thoughts. There is another GTG planned with pretty much the same DAC's - and my Playback Designs MPD 3. It will be on some horn speakers at an acquaintances place up the road:
http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/topic/60562-well-you-have-to-start-somewhere/page-3

Of course will post about it.

Thanks
Bill
« Last Edit: December 14, 2014, 01:09:21 AM by bhobba »

Offline Rocket

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Re: GTG At Southport HI Fi on Gold Coast Australia
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2015, 05:27:40 AM »
Hi Bill,

Thanks for your post.  I have heard of the Klein Dac until you posted.  I just replaced my ageing perpetual technologies dac to eastern electric dac plus which sounds nice.

Cheers Rod

Offline rollo

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Re: GTG At Southport HI Fi on Gold Coast Australia
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2015, 06:30:41 AM »
  Nice write up Bill. Long time. Say hi to mike for me. Have you Guys heard the Berkley DAC ? The Ref is well off the charts and the basic model not far behind.
   Berkley offers an outboard USB to SPDIF converter that is a must hear for any computer set up. They are not found of USB and have taken that connection to another level IMO. Check out the site and read their explanation, makes sense.
   Anyways always good reading your posts, keep them coming.


charles
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