New Emm labs DA2 arrives

thats correct

not sure about via ST optical will find out soon

Well its a good five days, which others have said was a turning point in break in

I swapped out the power cord which comes with it (Cardas on watt plugs, nice cable) for my best PCs

This was a definite jump in quality, much like a picture through an SLR, after pushing autofocus.

One of the hallmarks I find of great equipment, is it makes you reevaulate your priorities in the rest of your system

Since the bass is so good with the DA2, I had to redial in the low bass, from the active 5 subwoofer system, less low bass, more deep bass

The top end was exquisite, and there is no digital harshness with this DA2, nor the DA8 I own either, a first
The biggest improvements seemed to be in the soundstage, which was now very deep, very wide, with intermediary instruments clearly in their own space
Microdetail was very good with voice chest and head naturally hear with no forwardness

I ran a number of DSD recordings 64 and 128 and 256 converted to 352.8 pcm

What became apparent was recordings that were dsd recorded sounded different from reissues in DSD

This was both revelatory and annoying, the games some record companies play

44.1 was also very good, and the reclocking, galvanically isolated usb, seemed to handle my MacBook Air with equal aplomp, to my dedicated server with linear power supply, though I need to get a good usb cable I guess

The space between istruments was grain free and hash free, and there was a relaxed quality with simultaneous detail

There were no screech violins, instead there was a lushness to strings

I can firmly say now this is the best sound I hvae had at home, though I havent put head to head with the accuphase 900/901 combo

This is a little problematic

The stealth cables I use, dont seem to like plugging and unplugging, and sound dull straight after a swap

Makes direct comparisons a bit of an issue

I will get round to it

If I could take one recording as an example

Sketches in Spain has been favourite since I first heard it and I own, cd, four lps, and computer file versions

I think the LP much better than digital

Previously i had always found the left sound stage with harp, oboe and side drums rather flattened and confused and the drums a bit of a cardboard cut out

I had heard this piece probably a hundred times, with little change no matter what i did

The moment i put this piece on

The harp floated, oboe further back and side drums right at the back with space around and air, fully fleshed out, the oboe with a good deal of that woody/reedy sound

As the double bass begins to pluck the march rythmn, it is more definitive and sure, deep and resonant, yet sharply defined than I had heard before

Miles trumpet centre and slightly back, smoother and more relaxed, though burnished

It was the most definitve I have heard it, and thats just the computer file....

Well I am off to work for a week, so no updates

The system has been powered down, other than the DA2 which I have left swithced on

I found my top of the range oyaide PCs with palladium/platinum/beryllium connectors superior to the standard cord, but the cord that comes with it, is no slouch, and a welcome change to non descript stuff u usually get

The DA2 has not given an issue, and is operationally easy, even without the reading the manual

I am hoping Emm labs will post the driver on their website, making it easy to upload to my server which runs headless

I like the big screen, which reminds me of levinson stuff I owned years ago, with the big red LED

Makes seeing status easy from across the room

Assigning quick input keys and mute and inversion buttons also very handy

The screen can be turned down if you find that annoying

Given I do a lot of digital processing and reclocking, the input freq display is very helpful to avoid glitches

I found the balanced outputs, far superior to the RCA, however, my RCA cables are not the equal of my balanced cables, and a better test would be with the same make of cable

I will post next weekend when I get back... meanwhile the system is in its little cave, with the monitored alarm turned on

Thanks for your interest

I was hoping this would help people interested in this new DAC

I haven't been able to hear my system since Sunday, and I am missing it

The sound I was getting on Sunday was superb

Let me just say, that all the Meitner equipment I own is supremely musical, and displays no digital harshness

The DAC8 I own was owned by Sony Europe, and many of the recordings in dsd were made with this equipment

I am very impressed

The DA2 just takes that musicality to a new level

Bass
Timbre
Soundstage

I will be fascinated to hear it again this weekend

Funnily I always find being a way for a few days, gives me insights into what the equipment is doing

Will update on the weekend...I am quite excited to get back to it

Wow I see its a month now

I think the DA2 has finally started to settle down

It has never really had a bad phase, but the improvement is so big, its taken me a while fiddling with the rest of the system to hear as much as I can

On the weekend, I finally dialled in the treble, and then the bass

I now find the quality of the recording seems to be the biggest determinant

I had mainly been listening to DSD through my dedicated server, but got the time, last evening to insert my mac mini with most of my cd rips on it (2500)

I have not heard these in quite a while so was interesting to pop them back in the system......four months

What can i say, but that most of my wants from music reproduction have been realised

Timbral realism is at an all time high

Stringed instruments, the bete noir of digital, are stunningly realised for the first time by me, violin, cello, massed string, double bass....I seem to have developed a love for solo double bass...Ray Brown etc

this is a neat trick, as none of my speakers contain wood, so reproducing woody sound isn't easy, but the overtones, resin and body are all there if the recording has it
To get the treble correct required some fiddling as some information is in phase, some out of phase, and some cross talk, when I realised this, it all gelled

Brass, and differences between woodwind very apparent

I must give the Morels credit, as they seem to take whatever I throw at them in their stride, and and just keep giving

Fine tuning the treble was a challenge, their is so much content their, you marvel in the detail, till you realise its not quite timbrally real. The advantage of the active crossover, is rather than having to dial this back, I dialled up the true sub bass and viola it all "popped" into perspective, it also pushed the soundstage wider and great front to back depth

I listened to 45 tracks after that, and they all sounded amazing, problematic aspects of my torture tracks, seemed to have been unravelled, yet musicality had been enhanced, and a subtle delightful sweetness to some tracks, that had previously had a certain sterility. I don't think this is coloration, but realisation of the sound of the instruments

This is listening to cd material up sampled to DXD via the DA2 over the mac mini, which is just stock

DSD, really depends on the quality of the recording, and varies greatly depending on the source.

This is via a purpose built music server, with no other function, icore7 and linear power supply

I am suspicious that some DSD recordings are CD converted to dsf files, as the quality varies enormously

I find double dsd i.e. 128DSD much more natural.

I am truly truly happy