Hi Guys
I just wanted to let you know the results of a DAC listening session at my place last night.
OK here are the contenders. Level 2 PDX fitted with an internal battery powered USB M2Tech board and I2S input so it can be fed with my Off-Ramp, Metrum DAC fed with Off-Ramp fully tricked out with Turbo Clocks etc - Steve Nugents best effort, a base Level Trainquility DAC and a John Kenny DAC 32.
Assocaited equipment was a Mac Mini with Audiravana Plus feeding the DAC's, a NAKSA 100 amp for part of it but switched to my Trafomatic SET early on and stayed there - IMHO it was easily better - a midrange that is simply divine. ML3 Reference were the speakers.
To my room - it's quite bright and can 100% for sure do with some room treatments but for various reasons don't want to do it - no need to go into it here.
The guy with me basically agreed with what I thought so rather than give each persons view here is what I thought.
First the outcome - the order was PDX internal USB, PDX Off-Ramp, Metrum with Off-Ramp, Trainquilty DAC (quite close to Metrum in the midrange but with the Metrum being better otherwise), John Kenny DAC 32 and worst of all the Metrum fed with optical cable from Mac-Mini.
The best was the PDX with its internal USB with the Off-Ramp feeding it a very close second. The internal USB was a bit rougher sounding but tended to sound as though it had a bit more detail - the Off-Ramp was somoother, with a lower noise floor, but just slightly down on sibilance control. I have done this compariason a lot with others to confirm it and have a guy coming on over tonight to check it out as well. Each time the result was exactly the same - either a dead tie or the internal USB preferred by a whisker. This is really interesting because while the internal USB in the PDX is good - it not quite in the same class as the Off-Ramp which is really over the top. Why the close result? I don't think anyone really knows for sure but the conjecture is the shorter paths of the internal USB is lifting its performance. I have let the maker of the Off-Ramp Steve Nugent know and he thinks he has an upgrade to fix the issue and I will be getting that a bit later.
The Metrum with the Off-Ramp was slightly more delicate and more accurate sounding than the PDX but not as musical or emotionally stasfying. The Tranquillity had its beguiling liquid and fluid midrange that is its hallmark. The JK32 which only costs about $700.00 sounded quite good by itself but when compared to the other stuff it had a nice midrange but tended to sound a bit dull with maybe some subjective roll-off at the extremes. It was felt if you had heard it by itself and not compared it to this more expensive stuff it would have fared a lot better. I personally liked the older JK version with the Saber chip and rated it slightly above the Tranquillity but not this one - horses for courses I suppose. The Metrum fed with the optical sounded slow, dull and boring and may explain why so many have appeared second hand - to really unlock its potential you need to feed it from a low jitter source such as the Off-Ramp - otherwise it's a bit ordinary.
Anyway guys that's it - hope you enjoyed the write-up.
Thanks
Bill