Got my Totaldac mono's in and burned-in (as much it is needed, they sound hardly different now than when they just arrived a few weeks back).
My system looks like the following; NAS -> D1Server -> D1 monodac (X2) -> Lamm 1.2 Reference -> Rockport Avior, all cabled with Analysis plus golden oval in XLR.
I have (no need for a) pre-amplifier nor a disc spinner and upgraded from the D1 Dual to the Monodac. Why the upgrading; because we humans are shortlived and are afraid we will miss on something, no matter how good it already is (like the Dual version).
Anyway, came the mono's in.
Was it worth it? Yes and not by a small margin.
I will not elaborate on how the Totaldac Dual dac is sounding (346 posts on that before this one, including my earlier extensive post on the D1 Dual) but rather on the difference I noted :
First and foremost; Lower registers are awesome. Not in a euphonic way (i.e. blooming or any other exaggeration) but very coherent and tight and yet powerful... as if a DSP was included in it
I mean with lower register in my case: from the bottom of what my loudspeaker can reproduce (25 hz on paper) till 120 hz. Above this treshold I don't think the monodacs have that much effect on coherency to the already very good Dual.
Secondly: the silences are even more silent, blacks are blacker etc. the usual description but this has the following direct effect: (micro)dynamics make a nice jump to the next level. Very enjoyable to listen and even invites to listen at lower volumes without missing what the music has to say.
Thirdly; separation is awesome and music detaches itself even more effortlessly from the loudspeakers. Sound stage is also wider yet very very stable localisation across the whole width and depth.
The timbres of voices and instruments and speed of attack is not really different although it also gets subjectively influenced by the three above parameters.
If you like large choral pieces, organ, piano, symphonies, etc then this upgrade is very worthwhile. Although the effect on jazz, giving a contrabass finally the place it deserves (and not just those notes that are in another frequencey spectrum than the other instruments, very pinpointed localisation of the saxophone, etc), is certainly substantial as well.
Again one but; where the quality of what you hear is improved, the display of the (lack of) quality of the recording is also more on display...
Cheers