Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC Plus Tour

[Bill O'Connell]

Hey Djdube525,

 Please check your PM's as  that DR Andy hasn't heard from you and is asking if I heard anything?

 Thanks,
 Bill

[Bill O'Connell]

ArthurS,

 The DAC with the Dexa Discrete's installed is on the way to you. It left here 15 minutes ago.

[mfsoa]

Hi Bill,

First of all super-cool what you are doing with the op-amps for new units. Above and beyond... 

Maybe premature but might you be needing to sell these tour units as demos someday  ?   

-Mike

[djdube525]

Hey Djdube525,

 Please check your PM's as  that DR Andy hasn't heard from you and is asking if I heard anything?

 Thanks,
 Bill

Hi Bill,

I talked to Andy about 30 minutes ago... we're going to work out an exchange tomorrow around lunchtime.

Dave

[Bill O'Connell]

To Mike,

 yes, someday I will but I'm kind of a cheapskate on discounting. I really only charge about $12 over my cost for the op-amp upgrade and $15 for the Dexa's over my cost and that includes installing them and warranty. As you can tell, I'm not making anything really but I just wanted folks to hear the DAC at its best without a rookie going under the hood and possibly installing them incorrectly.

Dave, that is excellent. I know you want to drop it off at Carl's and Dr.Andy won't keep it long as he just wants to make sure it has the synergy thing happening in his system before he orders one.

 Thank you,
 Bill

[Bill O'Connell]

Can somebody tell me where the DAC is that has the OPA2107/627 combination?
 I have a guy in NY that is a friend of Gopher's that wants to hear it.

 How about some feedback on the tour DAC.

 Thanks,
 Bill

[Triode Pete]

Can somebody tell me where the DAC is that has the OPA2107/627 combination?
 I have a guy in NY that is a friend of Gopher's that wants to hear it.

 How about some feedback on the tour DAC.

 Thanks,
 Bill

Bill,
The DAC is at drews_hifi in East Meadow... He does not want to give it up  and he will be contacting you very soon!

I had the DAC before Andy (drews_hifi)... Really nice sound...I listened to your DAC+ on my vintage Tannoy (12" Monitor Golds) system (300B SETs with WE tubes / Tango OPTs) connected to a custom 171A tube preamp (with dual mono tube regulated PS) which all goes into a PI Audio Rev. B buss.

Great sound... a lot of smooth detail coming through not heard from my Philips 963A SACD player... Very nice indeed! You have a superb product! I pulled the tube as mentioned & it was very nice...wish I had time to roll in a Brimar Yellow T-Series 6067 to hear what that would be like...

Excellent product, Bill!

Pete

[BobM]

Sorry, I posted my comments to Bill directly, but I will copy them here for everyone's ability to ignore me

One thing I noticed is that the unit powers up in tube mode by default. Not sure about others opinion, but I think the unit sounds far better in non-tube mode. Punchier and more textured and layered and dynamic. Far better. Maybe another 12AU7 might make a difference, but this is like night and day in my system.

I also noticed that it sounds not broken in with the stock cord. I tried one of Pete's Triode Wire Labs cords on it and it opened up considerably. Even better, with power conditioning it gains quite a bit of nuance and micro dynamcs and texture and naturaleness and a relaxed but still detailed presentation. Very nice indeed.

I think this is a sure winner at its price point. Great job Bill.

[mfsoa]

Hi Bob,

Is this the 2107/627 unit you are talking about?

Thanks

[Bill O'Connell]

Right now Art S has the DAC with the Dexa's in it.and I have a feeling it is staying in the Southwest for a bit as one of his audio bud's wants to use it at the LSAF ( Lone Star Audio Fest)
 I'm running the Dexa's in mine here at home and  2 days ago I found in my tube stash while looking for some 12AX's for an amp a pair of NOS E80CC pinched waist D getter versions. OMG!
 This combo going out the tube output is fantastic. So much so that I shipped Art this tube Overnight as he was having a few friends over this afternoon.
 The Dexa's took about 50 hours to burn in but they are well worth the price of admission. Hopefully I can get a DAC out there with these.

 If Dave djdube would be so kind to return the DAC PLUS that has the 2604/827 combo, I will install the Dexa's and send that one out to you guys on the East Coast.

 Later.
 Happy Easter Everyone,
 Bill

[BobM]

Hi Bob,

Is this the 2107/627 unit you are talking about?

Thanks

Yes The SS section was rediculously better than the tube section in my system, but I've heard from others that in their systems it was more of a tie. Unfortunately I didn;t get a chance to try it without the tube plugged in at all, per the little tweak you informed me of.

[lonewolfny42]

Right now Art S has the DAC with the Dexa's in it.and I have a feeling it is staying in the Southwest for a bit as one of his audio bud's wants to use it at the LSAF ( Lone Star Audio Fest)

Bill...

Art's got a beautiful room and great system...if your ever in Fort Worth, you should pay him a visit...he's a great guy!

That's Art on the left....and Ken on the right.

[drews_hifi]

OK.  I've had the EE dac for about two weeks.  I've listened to nothing but CDs in that time, in part because the ee dac makes most CDs sound better than I've heard before.

Its not perfect.  I am on the fence regarding purchase because of
1) highs, while clear, are not as well defined as I've heard from my '92 vintage Theta Gen II.
2) The tube circuit did not sound as good as the solid state output.

That said, its near perfect for me.  My Theta stopped working in one channel, and I purchased a cheap and cheerful Emotiva DAC as a placeholder.  Its damned good, w excellent extension top and bottom, slam, but not the most refined sound.

Which is what I heard from the EE dac.  No matter what CD I put in, vocals are more realistic and sweeter, pianos sound more like pianos, bass has slam, depth, pitch, everthing.  Female vocals prob the best I've heard.  Sound was more analog like, without loss of leading edge or anything, except-

On well recorded drum kits, the cymbals get mushy.  Instead of driving the song, they sound a little wishy- like I cant hear where they're being struck.  Its not an obvious roll off, maybe starting pretty high up.

The difference is obvious next to the Emotiva, but in every single other way, the EE is sooo far ahead that I'm not going to like putting the Emotiva back in.  Soo far ahead I am seriously considering purchase.

System:
Sony DVD transport
EE and Emotiva DACs
Audible Illusions preamp
Behringer 8024 eq (for bass bins and sub)
MacAlister PP75 tube amp (estat panels)
Bryston 4B amp (woofers)
Martin Logan Request speakers
M&K M150 sub
Mostly Audioquest cabling, XLO and Wireworld spkr wires, TWL power cords

[djdube525]

The DAC that swang through NC is headed on up to Bill's. Admittedly, work demands were not being overly friendly to sitting down and listening to the DAC for long sessions. I got one last session last night after picking up the DAC from Carl.

First off... I have a very modest system - I almost hesitate to mention, but I think it's worth while for those who might not have a fully decked out systems like y'all.  

Source:
Modded Squeezebox SB3 (I modded the analog circuit - what I'm comparing to... the digital is intact)
Eastern Electric Mini Max via Optical
Yamaha RX-V659
Onix Mini Strata Speakers

All cables minus the fiber are DIY

Whereas the experience at Carl's felt more of an exercise of finding faults at a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition photo shoot, the Mini Max was clearly superior to my SB3.

Readily evident in comparison to the SB3, the sound stage opened up tremendously, shifting upwards slightly. The performance were sitting up on a stage as opposed to being on a level field. Imaging was much clearly defined... It was much easier to pinpoint each of the performers. There was much greater precision, articulation, and clarity, but not in an annoying way (I err on the warmer, silky, big enveloping sound stage over uber crystal clear sound).

With all that said, after hearing the DAC in Carl's system, I felt as though the DAC, or should I say my system, was "constrained". There's certainly much more potential for an enveloping sound stage - and to be honest, I think my amplification is the big culprit. I've heard my speakers being driven by moderately powered tube amps... and I know they can do a whole heck of a lot more.

Was there an improvement? Definitely! Would I buy one? If I didn't have other pressing needs in my system (amplification), I would strongly consider buying one. Personally, I would like to listen to a Buffalo DAC. Admittedly, part of me geeks out at thought of building one (Buffalo).

The EE Mini Max Plus is a very nice unit, extremely well built, with a very attractive price.  

[mfsoa]

What I am reading is a very good description of the OPA627 op-amps. Beautiful through the vocal range - yummy, present bass, and kinda rolled-off highs that are relatively absent of shimmer. Just right on some bright systems, lacking sparkle in more neutral systems is how I'd put it. Very very nice for a pure classical diet.

This is just the kind of thing that can be dialed in/out of this DAC with op-amp rolling.

Thanks for the comments, fellas 

-Mike