Jesse's review of the Brooklyn DAC
I went and listened to the Brooklyn DAC at my local audio store in Madison, Wi and was greatly impressed.
The equipment used:
Parasound A21 Amp
Parasound J2 Pre
Nordost Hemdal cables
Brooklyn DAC
Bowers and Wilkins 800 series speakers
VPI Classic turntable
Audioquest power supply
The stores custom built music server (desktop)
The power section was similar to my set up at home with the Parasound equipment. The sound had great depth, clarity and space. Great nuances and fine detail. The sound made the room and equipment go away and surround you in the music.
I had them switch out the JC2 and B&Ws and install a P5 and a set of Golden Ear Triton 1s. The setup now replicated my home setup pretty closely. The sound still had great clarity and detail but lacked depth and punch. The stores owner noted it was the difference between the P5 and the JC 2 for the most part. A switch back to the JC2 restored all the punch and depth. The Triton 1s are not as detailed as the B&Ws, but are pretty dam close. Not as big a gap as you would think. When they say borderline class A, it is certainly true in respect to the Tritons.
I also heard the original set up with the VPI classic turntable playing through the phono stage. The sound had great depth, clarity and space. Now I am not an expert on phono stages or turntables, so the sound I heard may be just ok to some of you. But IMHO, it sounded fantastic.
Well long story short, I was so impressed with the JC2, and the fact that the store made me a deal on it I could not refuse, I ended up coming home with another large expensive box. The wife always gives me that look when I come home with big boxes.
I would love to tryout the Schitt DAC next to the Brooklyn to see the difference between the two. I have made arrangements with the store to test the Peachtree DACit against the Brooklyn. It should be a knock out, but who knows? The little DACit may give the Brooklyn a run for the money.