Digitalis


I admit freely that some of us here are not real cable people. Opinions vary. My beef is that its just one more variant that I have to worry about. So, what drones like myself do, is pick a good set of speaker and interconnect cables and just go back to rolling tubes and tweaking.

Until I got a hold of this digital cable.

It was the most unlikely of things. This is the last piece of equipment that I wanted to bother with or have anything to do with. This is the last piece of equipment that I though would make a difference. The monster coax that I was using between my Lite CD player and the DAC62 was suiting me just fine. Then someone borrowed it. Through serendipity, I picked up the Xindak DC-01. WOW.

Images suddenly snapped into place. Air appeared where there was not before. It gave me, do I dare say it, as big of an improvement as the Amprexes I was using. Then I became addicted. I tried it on the DAC60 Modified, then the Great March 2, then the DAC AM and the DAC AH - on each, it completely changed the sonic character and made them into new DACS.

So,I am reformed. On digital cables, that is. What a difference.

All the best,

Vic

Three Blind Mice

Two blogs ago, I decided to review the top end CD players: the MHZS CD 88, the Shanling CD 300 (or for an extra $5o0 you can have an extra zero for a CD 3000) and the Doge 6. Today its the MHZS CD 33, BADA HD22 and the Shanling T-80.

Taking a blind test on these is like having someone blind fold you, then taking you on a plane, train or automobile and asking, "which one are you in?" They are all different - completely different- and reviewing them was an interesting endeavor.

Take the MHZS CD 33. The 33 uses the same chip as the 66 and 88 but a different transport and output buffer topology. We replaced the stock Chinese 6N3 tubes with GE 5670s. The MHZS 33 is, I now declare, the best value in CD player history. It has the sonic characteristics of the Shanling CD 300 (or, if you want an extra zero and have $500 to spare - CD 3000) and the life like presentation of its older siblings. Complex dynamic passages lose their edge, pianos sound life-like and vocals are precise. It does not however, have the last word in detail. So the MHZS places you about 15 rows back in the orchestra hall where the congeal of the orchestra, no matter how complex, makes it way over to your ears.

Witness the Bada HD-22. The HD 22 is the boldest of the group. It has the dynamics of the Doge 6 and the detail of the MHZS CD 88. Its dynamic presentation and un-veiled push is fun to listen to. With complex jazz and rock the player places itself in first place as it pumps bass and drives a frontal presentation of the midrange. While the BADA HD-22 is the most fun, its boldness is not always easy to listen to. As a side effect - small quartets and small jazz ensembles come through with uncanny realism and life like performance. As a matter of fact, if this is what I listened to all the time I would own the Bada, no question.

Then there is the Shanling T-80. The T-80 want to be a solid state CD player. It really does. It is dead neutral across the entire spectrum and has uncanny detail for a CD player in the $500 price range. (P.S. I have not found one with an extra zero, so for those of you who insist on spending the extra $500, you may have to wait for the Shanling t-800). The bass is firm and does not have the ripeness of the 33 nor the push of HD-22. If you listen to music that is across the spectrum, the the T-80 is the one for you. Replace the 6N3 tubes and it becomes even more neutral while gently imparting a high gloss over the upper midrange and a slight emphasis in the lower midrange.

So let me some it up with James Taylor, Janis Ian and the latest release from the Jone's Street Boys:

• For the MHZS the line up (James, Taylor, Janis Ian and the Jones Street Boys) were in a small cozy night club with a nice set of tube amps,
• For the Bada - they were at Ravinia Park (an outside theater) and I had a front seat, and
  
• For the Shanling T-80 (or for $500 we will add the extra zero - T-800), you were in the studio with these cats.

All the best,
Vic

Amer-A-Chord

When I was a small boy growing up in Skokie, IL my parents had, ever since I could remember, a Telefunken console Hi Fi. It was a big wood thing with a Phono, Am/FM/Short Wave and speakers running along the bottom. It was pure mono. I would peak around the back, after I turned it on, to watch the tubes glow. I am guessing, at this point, that they were probably EL84 tubes. The sound that it produced was as smooth as silk, a little shy on the bass and lacking dynamics.The mid range, especially vocals, were unbelievable.

I also remember going over to some friends that my parents had at the time and got a chance to poke around the back, of what was the largest hi fi console I had ever seen in my life, a Fisher console - vacuum tube, of course. The Fisher produced wonderful EL4 based sound.

Just as I was done playing ball one day, we went over to a friends house for some kool aid, and there it was. I never seen anything like it. It floated the LP on a chassis that was suspended, what seemed to be mid air. The platter was as large as the disc. It said, "AR, Inc" on a brass palate that was attached to a wood plinth. It sat upon an H. H. Scott integrated tube amplifier and fed an Electrovoice speaker pushed in a corner. My fried played "Cecilia" from Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water and I never, ever, to this day, heard such an ass kicking low end.

Growing up in the Skokie - Evanston area there were many high end stores to choose from as there still are today. There was a chance for a hobbyist and even a novice to get decent sound.

Now I live in another suburb of Chicago and I am afraid that my children will never experience Telefunken/Fisher/ AR, Inc hi fi that I once had. When they go over to their friends houses, they have something they bought on sale or worse yet, a TV / AV system they purchased at Best Buy. The sound is never smooth, there is nothing innovative from a sound quality point of view and nobody really cares what it sounds like, just how it looks. Such is the strip mall like hi fi land that they live in. Their friends see the tubes and weird looking speakers in our house, but no one is interested. Maybe its because it does not get 330 HDTV channels.

Such is the past, such is my child hood. I have very few friends who have a decent stereo in their homes or even have the inkling in purchasing one. Before my wife's grandmother passed away, she had a Grundig console sitting in her living room. "I suppose I should get rid of this big thing", she quipped, "But it just produces such good sound, and I can't buy anything that sounds like it"

Now she does not know anything about cables, power conditioning or DACs - but she does know good sound, and she too is part of the past.

Moe, Larry & Curly


I have often wrote about the differences between Cd players. I make such incredulous statements like, "The differences between CD players is greater than the differences between cartridges" So what I am saying is that the differences between a Lyra and, say a Dynavector diamond is smaller than the difference between an NAD and Rotel.

And such is the differences between three high end CD players: the MHZS CD 88, The Shanling CD 300/3000 and the Doge 6. (Moe, Larry and Curly et. al)

Take Moe, the MHZS CD 88. Fitted with Tung Sol tubes or GE 5751 black plates + the obscure OB2 tube (Sovtek) swapped for the even more reclusive WY2 tube is a player that it is the most articulate. Take a voice like Elvis Costello's where you can here the crisp vocals that almost sound a little "etchy". This CD player, can be very delicate yet at times, very detailed int he mid range and rips every last bit of detail from the disk. Note that I did not call the MHZS CD 88 "Edgy" I called it "Etchy" where you are drawn into the subtleties and details of the canvas. I kind of like this sound.

Then there is Larry, the Shanling CD 300/3000 or just add them together for the 3300. Fitted with JJ Tesla 6922s, the Shanling is the smoothest of the the three and comes across rich, lush and musical. Here Elvis Costello sounds like he just had some nice hot tea and lemon and the "etchy" part of his voice was missed. The Shanling paints a smooth water color canvas with a broad stroke and places you in the center of the concert hall where the music blends together nicely. Classical, quartets and bar room jazz are great with the Shanling.

And now for Curly, the Doge 6. The Doge 6 clowns around with the music and reveals things to you that are there that you thought were not there. The MHZS CD 88 and the Shanling are CD players, but the Doge 6 is the master tape - it reveals something quite different and that's why nothing else sounds like it.

Sorry it took so long for this post. I experienced a loss of a loved one and I was out of pocket for a while. Now I am plugged in.

Next time we will take a look at some low cost CD players: MHZS CD 33, the BADA PH-12 and the Shanling T80.

Getting the Highs Right.

DAC 62 folks seem to fall into two camps: The high end is just like vinyl or the high end is veiled. Hmmm, discrepancy. What are these vinyl people hearing that the other camp is not hearing?

When I hear that it is veiled, the comparison is almost always other CD players and DACs. When I hear that it is just like vinyl, you guessed it, its from some former Decca lover.

This caused me to pause and try to understand what is happening. Why the phenomena,? Why the duality? And, more importantly, who is right?

Here is my theory. Thanks, no less to mid-fi manufacturers and “The Bunch” (See my previous BLOGs), our ears have been inundated with high end grunge. We are used to the biting, rice krispie crackle of high end digital conversion that passes from our beloved tweeters into the room. We have been conditioned to think that this is what a high end sounds like. So akin are we to this, that when the grunge goes away, we think that some of the high end went with it.

And such was the dilemma facing one Henry Kloss when he first showed us a tape full of hiss, and then a high end compression – expansion appliance crafted by one Ray Dolby. I swore Dolby took away some of the high end of the cassette. I vowed never to use such a thing because I would rather listen to hiss and more high end, then listen to no hiss with some of the music missing.

But that was not the case. Dolby does not remove the music and so neither does a correct conversion process. My new test is that if I am listening to a new DAC and notice some of the high end “veiled”, I now take a closer listen. Perhaps it is the ghost of Henry Kloss.

The 805 Tube


I have been asked to audition the Ming DA MC 3008-A mono block amp that uses a 805, 300B, 12AX7 and 12AU7 tubes. The amp, in the newest designs from Ming Da, can be used as a “basic” amplifier (i.e., needs a preamp) or as an integrated amplifier (Preamp included). I chose the “basic” setting and used the Ming DA MC 2A3 mega tube preamp.

I have to admit that I never seen(except pictures), ergo, never heard an 805 tube This always bothered me, being the SET nut that I am, I have never been in the same room with an 805 or an 845, for that matter. I opened up a large tube box that looked like it should hold a pint of Mcallan Scotch instead of a tube. Nestled inside was one of these 805 retro blimps.

I sported a pair of white gloves and removed the 805 pop bottle from the container and placed it in the amp. Twisting to the left, the 805 torpedo snapped firmly in place. Now for the weird part, on top of the pop bottle was the anode cap where Ming DA Supplies a white bead like wire that snaps firmly in place. This is the weirdest tube installation that I have ever done.

I was ready to go. I turned on the amp. The 805 lit up like a roman candle. So bright was its display that I thought it was going to blow up. But alas, it remained that way for a while and both mono blocks were identical in their luminary flirtatious display. I was not used to this as all the tubes that I know light up slowly and then reach their operating current. Not so with this one – it was more like turning on a light bulb. Luckily the Ming DA provides a warm up circuit that gives the 805 plenty of time to stabilize.

I couldn’t stand it; I let the amp warm up for an hour and then gave it a go. On went “Marlena” from Joni Mitchell’s Travelogue (excellent recording, BTW and a must for any reviewer).

What a completely different experience. I was usually use to the low wattage 2A3s (my favorite), 300Bs and EL84s. 40 watts of this stuff? What a surprise!

Before I start my rave, I need to discuss something that I think is missing in most equipment: authority, Authority is transparency, imaging and dynamics combined to create the image solidly in the room.. I do not know if it was the Doge 6, the Ming DAs or the combination, but I felt authority, I heard bass without boom, midrange without over-voicing or etching and a high end without glitter.

The SET sound is unique. The bane of small wattage surrounds it, until now. These high powered over sized fire flies are causing me to throw all my KT88s and 6550s away. Is it possible?

A Question of Quality

We hear it all the time, “I heard that Chinese equipment, in particular those tube amps, are a piece of junk – they are built like krap” or “Ha, buy one now, and buy one three years later” or how about someone trying to be polite, “Chinese equipment is of dubious quality and origin” But my all time favorite is, “The equipment is not made for 110v even though you can plug it straight into 110v” What??

Let me set the record straight: The origin of Chinese equipment is not dubious, its from China. As far as its quality goes, lets take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?

• The Dayton Wright electrostatics arc’d themselves to smithereens given any good crescendo.
• The Sonus Blue cartridge was held together with peanut butter and in the middle of a good Sheffield labs would self destruct with the cartridge body spinning around like it was on the mad tea cup ride at Disney.
• Connect a solid state amplifier to an ARC SP-3A AC jack and you will smoke the SP-3's Scott transformer
• You will need a good stiff beverage when your $8000 Beveridge amp smokes the main lens and cylinder
• Once you arc your Quad ESL 57, its rip, rip, rip all the way home
• Turning on your Audio Research D-90B was always a celebratory event: smoke and flames flying everywhere – better have Leonard on speed dial.
• Ever wonder why there is not an Audio Research SP-6D? By the way, I am NOT picking on Audio Research here. I love them
• “You mean to tell me that you still have a Magnepan tone arm that is still working”?
• Or, “Oh yes, after a couple a years or so the Mylar glue weakens and you will have to send it back to us”
• Clean your KLH 9s lately?
• Who can forget the bass of the "flames" Linear 700, 700B or 400? Once you blew an output transistor, you were dead in the water until you replaced all of them
• Any G.A.S. Ampzilla Meter.
  

And so on……

You see, high end equipment, like Jaguars, that push the state of the art are not the most quality driven things. All I can say is that my Dayton Wrights, Quads, Magenepans, Sonus Blue, Beveridges and ARC amps gave me years of pleasure. I hope your high end experience does the same for you. The truth of the matter, Chinese equipment is not any more or less quality oriented that some US made equipment. Owners who stock both Chinese and American gear will tell you that.

On another note, most of the quality opinions come from audiophile boards. Those authors are of dubious origin. Perhaps its fear, fear that a $4000 amp and $3000 CD player do not sound any better than a Ming Da $699 amp and a $499 Bada CD player. Hmmm. This industry is due for a good house cleaning and shake out.

All the best,

Vic

Those Mercurial 12AX7s



The 6922/6DJ8s are pretty normal acting preamplifier tubes. If they sound bad, they sound bad no matter what the application: preamp, tube buffer etc. Same with 12AT7s / 12AU7s

Not so with 12AX7s. 12AX7s are, well just plain weird.

Take the Sovtek 12AX7LPS. Its common knowledge that I am not a fan of Sovteks. My initial suspicion occurred when a guitar player said, “Yeah, I like those tubes, they distort the sound pretty good”! Ok – so this is where Vic and musicians part ways. The 12AX7LPS though is a phenomenally great preamp tube. It has a great low end and a warm midrange without smearing things together a la JJ Tesla. Place the same Sovtek 12AX7LPS’ in a Doge 6 CD player and it is just plain awful. Place them in the Shuguang CD player and it breaks free form its Jolida roots and sounds articulate. Put in back in the Ming Da MC 7R – don’t do it to me - yuch!

Then there is the GT Mallards Replicas. In the Doge, Shuguang and Ming Da amps, just wonderful. So So in the Doge 6 CD player and too much Jolida in the Shuguang CD player.

Then there is the JAN 12AX7WA - My favorite all around tube which even makes a C&Y*N amp (you do the math) sound good. So go figure. I have never heard these tubes sound bad, they sound good although do not have the spectacular presentation that the Mullards or Sovteks do.

The JJ Teslas do not excite me no matter where I put them.

I have not heard the Tung Sols – I know, I Know , I will let you know when I do.
Then, we also have the 5751s – yikes!

All the Best,

Vic

Mapleshade.


I must be on some list. I keep getting the Mapleshade catalog. As catalogs go, its a very interesting one. In the front of the catalog you have music, in the middle you have your tweaks and at the end, you have vintage equipment that looks like the best of Jim McShane's garage.

I thought that I would give the music a listen. I picked up two CDs: one from the John Previti Quartet, "Swinging Lullabyes For My Rosetta" and the other, Yacca Flats, "Garden of Weeds"

What a treat. Not only was it good music, but recorded wonderfully. Listening to it with the Doge 6 was exciting. Listening with the Great March 2 on Yacca Flats really brought out out the low end.

I am going to be listening and buying more from these Mapleshade people. What treats they bring us, what tweks they teach us and what vintage they have!!

All the best,

Vic

Sitting with the AR a 10-Pis


AR 10-Pis? You must be talking about some math or geometry lesson, right Vic? ‘Cause you can’t be talking about the speakers from the 70s – those over-sized-3 ways, right?

Yes, I am talking about these. Long story short – a friend of mine ask me to get these for him on eBay – so I put in a bid. I did take his pulse and asked if he was mixing Valium and Demurral, but, he insisted that he was not. He indicated that all I do is listen to them.

I got them out of the box (‘cause I had to inspect them anyway) plugged them into the Doge 6130 amp and Shuguang CD player. Put on a CD and sat back.

I have to admit that I had some prejudice. I expected a dark, wooly sound in the bass and nothing but tin in the midrange and high end. Then I did remember myself making a big mistake in the 70s, pooh-poohing the Shore V15 Mark IV because of the Sure name and going for the likes of high compliant cartridges like the ADC XLM and the Sonus Blue. All the time not knowing that the Sure could track the heck out of the other two and sound quite neutral and detailed if given the chance. But, my audio snobbery got hold and I passed it by.

I also passed by this speaker. It was time to give it a listen and undo some of my audio stereotypes (the pun, intentional). In went to Dire Straits, “Brothers in Arms” .

I was surprised. What surprised me was how coherent the speaker was. I was also surprised by the lack of cross over distortion in the speaker. The 12” woofer also surprised me as it pushed bass deep into the room and if it wanted to , could shake the room. Mated with a good tube amp, like the Doge 6130, the speaker was a real treat to listen to. Yes, it was colored and not for everyone, but colored in such a laid-back euphonic way – I was really enjoying myself. The down side, and it is a big one for me, was the lack of detail. The 70s drivers were just not fast enough, so significant smearing occurred.

These speakers, as I am now learning, have quite the cult following. They go quickly on eBay and are fetching a cool $500 a pair. For $500, you are not going to get a more coherent, euphonic speaker than the AR 10 Pi. Interesting.

Those New Chips.................

We are in quite a - well, as "Neuman" put it, a "conundrum" with some new DACs and CD players employing the PCM1798 and the CS4398 DAC chips. Something mysterious must be going on: they both end in "98" and they both sound the same.

Where as the other chips: the AD 1853 sounded "sweet" and the PCM1704UK sounded "bold", both of these "98" suffixed chips sound surprisingly neutral and both demand that they have the best circuits around them, otherwise they sound flat, veiled and generally uninteresting.

Look for manufactures of the DACs and CD players using these chips to charge you 4X the price they should be to try and get them to sound "right".

For my book, the DIYEDEN Great March 2, Musiland MD-10, DIYEDEN SVDAC05 and the Doge CD player are the best values in audio.

On a Desert Island Part 1

It’s the old desert island question: If you were on a desert island, what would you take with you? I could ask you that question but I need a “twist” to make it interesting. Something like, oh, let’s say, a budget. So the new question is, “If you were on a desert island, and had a budget of $1500, what audio components would you take with you?”

Hmmm. Interesting question – because now I have to consider my tastes, bias, the kind of music I listen to, etc – and what can I fit in. I need to start with the hardest component first and work my way back – that is the speaker.

There are speakers from a Chinese manufacturer called BL Audio that fit the bill. They are called the BL Audio Muge. They image like a son of gun and are fussy about the midrange. Drive them incorrectly, and you get a nasal quality. Drive them too hard and you get congestion. Drive them just right, - look out. Total cost for the speakers are: $650.

Oops, just used a big hunk of my spare change. Next would be an amp. I do not need something powerful, so the BADA DC-222 is out. What a pity, with new tubes, it sounds like some of the amps we have for sale costing $1000. Next would be the Ming DA EL34 amplifier. Still too powerful – plus, its push on the midrange bloom is great for Quads, Vandersteens and B&Ws, but not for these puppies. I need something a little delicate in the midrange, yet detailed enough to bring out the speakers qualities, tonally accurate in the high end yet forceful in the lower registers. Plus, I need something where tube life is at a premium. The Shuguang 208B EL84 amplifier is perfect. It has a delicate high end whose detail extends into the midrange. Its forcefulness in the lower registers will add detail and presence to the midrange. Tube life will be great, plus it can take a lot of abuse that a desert island will give. Cost is $530. A total of $1180. I have$320 to spend on a CD player.

Not going to do it. I can’t find a CD player for $320 that will work with this system. I need one that is going to compliment – one that has detail in the lower registers and not too bright, garish or pushy on the top end – particularly the upper midrange and – I do not want CDs sounding like CDs. The MHZS Audio CD 33 is perfect for this and highly underrated for its quality (just Google it, if you do not believe me). This will give me what I need. Plus the up sampling flexibility is something I can tailor to my CDs to get the sound I want. Its cost is $530 – which brings me to $1710. I will just have to go to the island people and request the extra $210 that’s all there is to it.

So there you have it, and there it is – my desert island system under $2k. The BL Audio Muge, the Shuguang 208B EL84 amplifier and the MHZS CD 33. I think I can live with these components for a long, long time.

All the best,

Vic

The sound of Chips........

I was going to start with something really, well annoying: Chips Ahoy!, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Fish & Chips - well you get the picture.

What this BLOG is really all about is that converter chips, no matter what the DAC, have a certain sound. I'll walk through them with you.


Analogue Devices.

These DACs, found in DIYEDEN and the Lite DAC AM, DACs 39, DAC 68 and the Lite CD 15 CD player, have what we call a very "British" sound. Viz., the bass is often lean, kind of shy on the dynamics, wonderful lush tube-like mids, soft rolled off "Mullard" like highs. If configured right, you will get some "air" and "space" around instruments. The DAC AM modified does this as does the DAC 68. I never heard a bad CD through analogue devices chip (1852, 1853, specifically) Like wise, I never heard a great CD sound "great".

Burr Brown

Lets include the PCM 1704UK and the PCM1732. The DAC 60, DAC 60 modified, the DAC 62, the BADA CD player, the Shuguang CD Player and the DAC 38 all have this chip. This chip must be tamed otherwise it can sound quite garish in the highs. The HDCD rendition is absolutely stunning and worth getting one of these players if you can make a commitment to HDCD Discs. They have a more "American Sound" - the bass is deep and dynamic, the mids are detailed and trasparent. Properly configured, the chips can pull instruments away from each other and can image like a son of a gun. The DAC 62 and other folks who modify the DAC (Sonic Craft et. al) modify the DAC 60 and obtain this. The highs, if tamed are articulate. If the AD1853 is used for vocals and orchestra, the PCM1704UK can be used for rock, jazz.

Delta Sigma CS Series.

Found in the DOGE CD player and Musiland MD10. This so, far maybe the best of the bunch in terms of imaging, spatial coherence and midrange detail. Absolutely stunning in the DOGE and very nice in the Muisiland. The bass, however, needs work. It can be slightly fat as in the Doge to too pronounced below 60Hz and non-existent above 100 Hz as in the Musiland. In other words, the Doge is slightly bloated and the Musiland slightly lean. You will have to ask about this when you order or audition a digital device with a DS CS series chip.

That is it for now......

All the best,

Vic

Tube-a-docious......Random musings about tubes.

1. ELectro Harmonix and Sovtek are not the same tubes. They are both owned by New Sensor, but are made in completely different factories with different specs.
2. The Sovtek tubes are inexpensive, the Electro Harmonix are not. Never pay the same for the same tube.
3. The Sovtek 12AX7LPS is a good 12AX7 tube for the money, you heard it here first.
4. The JJ 6922 is the only non-NOS tube worth considering.
5. All Chinese tubes are bad --- WRONG!! The Shuguang KT-88 derivatives, KT-98, KT-100 are great tubes. The Shuguang 6550 is a GE clone - try one of these, you Citation freaks. The Shuguang 12AX7 and EL84 are great tubes
6. Some Chinese tubes are bad --- RIGHT!!! The tubes that Ming Da and Xian Sheng sometimes provide - Chinese tubes without any markings, should be changed right away.
7. The Winged C 6550 is probably the best 6550 you have ever heard.
8. The rumors surrounding the EH 6550 and KT88 are true - they are great tubes.
9. Groove tubes has a 12AX7 that is a Mullard clone and this is the best 12AX7 you ever heard.
10. The Groove Tubes 12AT7 is also great.
11. Dollar for dollar, you cannot go wrong with a JJ tube
12. Much ado about EI tubes. They were not that great. They are now gone. Don't pay the premium
13. Valve Art tubes are the best of Shuguang tubes.

That's all folks - please send me you comments. I know that I pissed someone off here.

All the best,

Vic

Can't Listen to Anything Else

I just took a listen to the DOGE CD player. Now I can't listen to anything else. What to do?

I also do not know what gives this thing its magic. Apparently, if I am to understand the design, there are not any semiconductors after the conversion circuit. If this is true, then all filtering and amplifying of the signal is done through tubes.

Its true, the drawer (Phillips) is shoddy, but the rest of the thing is built like a tank. What I heard was uncanny: Images thrown to left and right of each speaker, a detailed high end and are you ready for this, a detailed low end very detailed. I am now rediscovering my disks. Truly, truly remarkable.

What I listened to over the holidays.........

I had some wonderful music that produced rich vocals and musical timbre. A great album for musical quality was "Christmas with the Rat Pack" on Capital, John Prime, "The Missing Years", and Dire Straits, "Brothers in Arms" what great music, what a gift.

The Deano vocals are the best on the Rat Pack. Unfortunately, Frank's numbers are a bit too distorted for my tastes. Sammy, is well , just Ok.

I listened on a pair of Infinity Kappas, Acoustats and Infinity 360s. Equipment used was the incredible DOGE 6 CD player, a new top loading CD Player from MHZS called the CD 88 with 4 tubes, the Ming DA EL34 amp and a new amp from DOGE the 6130.

Had a great holiday, hope yours was the same.

All the best,

Vic

Those EL84 Amps

If ever an urban myth there was, there is, the myths regarding EL84 tubes.

I have had the pleasure of listening to both the Ming DA and Shuguang EL84 tube amps (with of course, Shuguang EL84 tubes) and came away with a completely different disposition that I had going in. Most audiophiles are not familiar with these tubes or amps and on first notice, see their diminutive size (in both tube and amp size) as a negative. Hmmm. For those of you With size issues, I am here to help.

Myth # 1 - The Power is too small.
That's what I thought. Until I heard these amps drive Quads, Acoustats, ribbon speaker etc. to reasonable listening levels with uncanny detail and smoothness.

Myth # 2 - These small tubes can't produce deep bass
If ever a myth needed dispelling, its this one. On the contrary, watt for watt, these tubes produce a deeper bass than a comparable EL34 amp and even close to KT88. They even take the best of a solid state amp - deep bass and transparency to a new level. I am not talking tubby bass here, folks. Bass real tight and deep. Kick drums are a new experience

Myth # 3 - Folks will make fun of me if I drive Large horns with these amps

This of course, I cannot help. But, they will not make fun of the sound. These amps are the most neutral and detailed of all tube amps that I have heard and a perfect match for folks who own horns and other high efficiency speaker systems.

Myth # 4 - I am not the SET amp type.
Well, these EL84 amps really do not soud like a SET amp. As mentioned before, the deep kick drum bass response and the extended high end are not necessarily what I associate without the best of SET amps. With the EL84, you get seem to get the best of solid state/SET / KT88 amps in a low cost package.

What a shame if will be this year, when folks take their hard earned money and buy and NAD, Rotel or Cambridge amp and miss the detail, deep bass and righteous high end of these amps.

All the best ....

Vic

The State of the DAC Union -

So, I have been kind of out of it. But, I promise to be back with a vengeance discussing DACs, CD Players, preamps and amps. But first back to the DACs.

So much has happened since we started the foray into the upsampling comparison. I have had to stop and re-think my ranking. So far, this is what I have. (and by the way, after much berating, I am switching my ranking. #1 being the best and #X being, well, the most challenging to listen to.)

1. DAC 62
2. Modified DAC 60
3. DAC 68
4. DAC 38
5. DAC AM Modified
6. Great March Madness!
7. DAC AM
8. Great March Modified
9. Great March
10. DAC AH Modified
11. DAC AH

If its not on the list - I have not heard it. More DACs we will be getting in: Musiland MD 10, Great March II and DIYEDEN DAC 05.

DACS With Up Sampler

Okay, I am chopping at the bit to see if my theoretical as described in my previous BLOG http://victrolax.blogspot.com/2006/06/whats-with-oversampling-upsampling-and.html was correct. The premise was that up sampling will exacerbate and not fix shortcomings in DAC sound. So here is my revised ranking (hypothetical) going from no-so-hot to hot sounding (this ranking assumes that the signal is up sampled to 96 kHz and is based on my listening bias):

1. DAC AH Modified
2. DAC AM
3. DAC 60
4. DIYEDEN Great March Modified
5. DAC 38
6. DAC 68
7. DAC 60 Modified




Music

I had to pick music that I thought was revealing. Here is what I listened to:

Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
The Jones Street Boys
Eileen Farrell, Torch Songs
Chicago, Theme from the Movie
Harry Connick – When Harry Met Sally
Rickie Lee Jones – Traffic from Paradise

Equipment:

XianSheng D-2020A KT88
The smoothest integrated around. The D-2020A neutral midrange and neutral high end – Poseidon adventure shattering bass for a 30 watt tube amp make it a perfect amp for evaluation.. Its the 5Z3Ps that I am addicted to.

Speakers:

Infinity 360s
Acoustat Spectra 11
Aurm Cantus Leisure
Proac 1sc
Headphones: Grado SR 225 with Ming Da MC 66AE headphone amplifier

Categories:

I broke my listening biases into categories an assigned points. Here they are:

Smooth High End
A DAC scored above 15 if the high end was smooth and rolled off. Constrictions and beaming scored points less than 15.

Mid Range Smoothness
Lucid and smooth scored over 15 points. A sucked out midrange scored between 10 and 15 points. Nasal sounding midrange scored less than 10 points.

Deep tight Low End
A deep tight low end scored more than 15 points. A rolled off low end scored between 15 and 10 points, a flabby low end scored less than 10 points.

Annoying Mid bass
Over 15 points meant that the mid bass was relatively neutral. Less than 15 points was a slightly bloated mid bass.

Resolution – distance between instruments
A DAC scored over 10 points if the background vocalists were clearly distinguishable from the lead and had placement. Over 15 points if the background vocalists were then distinguishable among themselves, Less than 10 points if I could not tell who was who

Dynamics
A DAC scored over 15 points if the movement from quite to loud shocked me. A DAC scored between 10 and 15 points if I noticed a difference. A DAC scored less than 10 points if I felt like I was listening to a CD through a pancake.

Articulation
If I clearly hear the plucking of guitar strings, I gave the DAC over 15 points. If the guitar strings were just Ok and had no sense of depth or presence, It scored between 10 and 15. If it sounded like nails on a chalk board, I gave it less than 10.

Now that I have my music, equipment and criteria, here we go.

The “Bunch”

First, let me give you a reference. We took a “bunch” of CD players readily available on the market and put them through our tests. The CD Players ranged from $300 - $1000. We then averaged the scores. Here is how they played out.

The “Bunch” Scores:


Smooth High End 10
Mid Range Smoothness 9
Deep Tight Low End 15
Annoying Mid Bass 17
Resolution 9
Dynamics 10
Articulation 10
Total 80


The “Bunch” scored a value of 80 , which we will now have to try to beat either through stand alone DAC or up sampling.

The DAC AH Modded

I was not sure what to expect when the up sampler was used with a NOS DAC. My first thought was the upper midrange and high end would become glossy and have a metallic sheen to the sound. In other words, it would exacerbate the DAC AH’s weaknesses.

The compete opposite happened.

I chose the 96kHz up sample with the DAC AH.. What a difference! Gone was the aggressive constrictive high end. The upper midrange just sang. And here is the best part: the dynamics of the NOS method were kept in tact. This is definite winning combination that places the DAC AH / Up sampler combination above the pack.

The DAC AH Modified without the Up sampler


Smooth High End 10
Mid Range Smoothness 12
Deep Tight Low End 17
Annoying Mid Bass 17
Resolution 12
Dynamics 19
Articulation 17
Total 104

The DAC AH Modified with Up sampler

Smooth High End 18
Mid Range Smoothness 18
Deep Tight Low End 18
Annoying Mid Bass 17
Resolution 14
Dynamics 19
Articulation 14
Total 118

The Lite DAC AM

And now I turned my attention to the DAC AM, the DAC I like best in the less than $400 dollar range. As a matter of fact, I like it better than the stock DAC 60 and I highly recommend it if your system can reveal inner details of the midrange. It’s a killer combination with the XianSheng D-2020

To my surprise, the up sampler just ruined this DAC and turned it into a syrupy mess.

The DAC AM Modified without the Up sampler

Smooth High End 18
Mid Range Smoothness 18
Deep Tight Low End 14
Annoying Mid Bass 18
Resolution 18
Dynamics 14
Articulation 18
Total 118


The DAC AM Modified with Up sampler


Smooth High End 18
Mid Range Smoothness 18
Deep Tight Low End 10
Annoying Mid Bass 18
Resolution 15
Dynamics 10
Articulation 16
Total 105


In my next installment, I will visit the DAC 60 Modified, the DAC 68, the Great March Modified and the DAC 38.

What’s with Oversampling, Upsampling and Non-Oversampling (NOS) ?


When we were vinyl, we had our own vocabulary: belt drive, direct drive, servo, anti-skate, counter weight, tracking angle – remember? Now that we are optical, a whole set of new words spook our vocabulary: Upsampling, Oversampling and Non Oversampling. Needless to say, these words are creating confusion out there in the press and among some audio jockeys (not you, of course) and they are used interchangeably, which is a big no-no.

Let’s first start out with some basics: oversampling is the realm of the conversion between digital to analogue and the upsampling is the realm of digital. Non oversampling is an enigma wrapped in a mystery. You cannot use these words interchangeably because they all mean different things.

You want a DAC to correct the anomalies in the conversion process. Take some of the earliest DACS, that were 16 bit and extracted data at a rate of 44.1 kHz / 16 bits. When the DAC converts data in the 20-20kHz range, it leaves some canard above the 22kHz range that must be cleaned up. If it did not, inter modulation distortion and ultrasonic frequencies would wreak havoc on your system – destroying tweeters, midrange drivers and turning mylar into chewing gum. In order to prevent this, a filter is applied. The filter that filters this out is called a “brick wall”, and it abruptly chops off frequencies at 20kHz. This filter, while not allowing the digital leftovers to blow your tweeter to smithereens, does cause audible distortions. The abrupt filter is responsible for some of the sonics coming from early vinyl copies of Fleetwod Mac’s Tusk that were digitally recorded and mastered or some circa 1980 digital recordings(Ry Cooder) . Cymbals sound like tambourines, highs are compressed as well as dynamics. If digital was going to make it into high end, something had to be done. Enter Phillips with its 4X oversampling player.

In a 4X oversampler, the digital signal is fed through a special digital converter that samples it four times. When a CD is sampled four times the sample rate becomes 176.4 kHz(44.1 X 4). When the filter is applied here, there is less of chance that the filtering roll off will make its way into the audible range. A filter applied at 176.4 kHz sweetens the music as it removes most of the grunge. As cost allows, oversampling pays off in a big way. The DAC 60 and DAC 38 use Burr Brown’s latest PCM1704UK chip which is 8X oversampling at 96kHz. The DAC 68 uses Analogue Devices AD1835 chip which samples as high as 192kHz. The AD1853 is fully compatible with all known DVD formats and supports 48 kHz, 96 kHz and 192 kHz sample rates with up to 24 bits word lengths. The higher bit lengths of these DACs allow them to act more in a linear fashion during the conversion process and results in superior sound quality.

Now I digress, to the DAC AH that is a non oversampling DAC using 8 TDA1543 chips with no digital filtering. From our discussion above one would assume that the grunge left over should have blown up tweeters and mylar alike. But, that’s not what happens. So what gives?

This has to do with the 8 TDA1543 that the DAC AH employs and the algorithm used for designing non oversampling DACs. The non-OS algorithm by definition introduces a slight roll off in the treble, so by the time you get up to damaging frequencies, the output of frequencies above 22kHz isn't really all that high. Hence, intermodulation distortion still makes its way into the DAC AH and other non oversampling DACs. This may explain why some non oversampling DACs sound compressed at the higher frequencies. The DAC AH modded, less so, only because the superior OP AMP compliments the conversion process in that it is able to open the sound a bit. Some NOS DACs add a digital filter – but that really defeats the whole purpose of the NOS DAC anyway – its kind of like adding MSG to a low salt diet.

So what is “upsampling”? First let me take away some of the confusion. There is belief in many an audiophiles’ minds about the power of upsampling or oversampling to create data. It is not possible to create more accurate information than is already in the digitally sampled signal. Think of blowing up a digital picture: if the data is not there, blowing it up does not increase detail.

Upsampling differs from oversampling in that upsampling is between the transport and the DAC. In the case of the Lite DAC 39, it sits between your transport (CD player) and a DAC – like the DAC 60 or DAC 38. In this case the DAC 39 feeds the DAC 60 a 96 Khz signal instead of the 44.1 kHz. In theory, when a superior upsampler is mated with a DAC that can handle the upsampling, the true 96kHz 20 bit processing can be achieved. The resulting filtering process operates in a linear fashion which yields better sound quality. So, it has to be a careful match. An upsampler should only be used with a DAC capable of handling the high sample frequency.

So the next question is how do they sound? Theoretically speaking, I could rank the DACs in order according to their sampling characteristics. Doing so, I come up with: (from worst sounding to best sounding)

1. DAC AH Modified – the OP AMP upgrade will only exacerbate the lack of filtering
2. DAC AH
3. DIYEDEN Great March
4. DAC 60
5. DIYEDEN Great March Modified
6. DAC 38
7. DAC 60 Modified
8. DAC 60 + Upsampler
9. DAC 60 Modified + Upsampler
10. DAC 38 + Upsampler
11. DAC 68
12. DAC 68 + Upsampler

In my next BLOG, I will throw away the theoretical and move to the actual. We shall see ..