Kassandra in the house - I am speechless....
My Kassandra Ref II has landed. I unpacked the crate from UPS, then had to take the dogs out for 2 hours and go to the post office. When I got back I set it up in my system. I already had made room for it on my marble desk - all 53cm width of it. It is big and heavy, but is manageable, I got it from the floor to my desk no problem on my own, mainly as the sides are curved and easy to grip. My Plinius power amp is harder to move TBH as it has front handles.
The DAC has AES, Coax RCA and BNC, then USB with double clocking. I asked for the super clock option on the SPDIF and also the bias meter built in for the tubes. Also it has 6v and 10v output option. I run a passive pre, so set the DAC to 10v which is 55 ohms output impedance I believe.
To keep things simpler for comparisons for now, I am feeding it from my Mac Mini with 12v DC mod and LPS outputting Ethernet to my Rednet 3 DAW on LPS that outputs SPDIF to the Kassandra. I had this chain in my previous Audio Note UK DAC 5 and my DAC 4.1 modded, plus most others I had on demo last year. I beat USB in all cases so far. I will try USB later, as that may be even better on the Kassandra, I am open to that.
I will post a longer (much longer) review in a few days, as it runs in plus pics. but for now I will say a few quick observations. All files on Redbook for now.
1. The very first bar on one of my favourite test tracks (some EDM) it was obvious, this thing is on another level to anything I have heard before.
2. The punch and drive to the speakers, it is an iron grip and super charged, really big dynamics. It isn't fake or false either, it just sounds very hard wired, nearer live music in energy. The Zingalis are flying off the stands I am not kidding.
3. The bass goes so low and has so much texture, my listening room is energised like I haven't heard before, it reminds me of being it a kev'd up car but this time it sound real, not false in any way. It makes you take notice. It does this without any smearing either, everything is right there. It makes my previous DAC sound saturated as though it was struggling in complex and fast music. For example there is an Armin Van Buuren track that has an pumping bass line that I always thought on my previous DACs was constant, like an blurred rumbling earthquake in the distance. But I can now hear it is pulsating on and off with a fall and rise like a rapid heart beat. This is an example how the Kassandra is handling the bass energy IMO, it isn't fazed or confused, it is in total control at all times. That is how it sounds to my ears.
4. The midrange at first seemed more forward than I was used to, but after a few hours it settled. It is so detailed and textures, really beautiful, so layered, and so deep and wide. The soundstage is enormous and very 3D. Is it the tubes? My Audio Note had nice Telefunken tubes and tubes in the Power Supply as well, but it didn't sound like this, far off in fact. Vocals also have great body and weight and very natural.
5. The treble, oh my. My love / hate thing with digital since I bought my first CD player right back the 1980s. The Kassandra nails it to me. Vocals are very very smooth and natural, the detail is all there, but it has no extra edges or emphasis. Female vocals have no pitching on the chorus. It is all very natural to my ears. Beyonce, amazing.
It is early days yet, and why I will do my main review in a weeks time. Against my Audio Note DAC 5 it is more of everything good, and crucially more detail, pace and dynamics without any payoff, i.e. no dulling down or filtering. It seems to sound like an open gate, nothing held back to me, and no price to pay for it either. Remarkable.
Last year before I talked to Stavros I demo'ed at home the Chord DAVE, the CH precision C1, a used Naim CD555, an MSB Platinum. I owned the Audio Note DAC 5 for a year till November, and sold it to keep searching. I used my stand in DAC - an AMR DP-777 till the Kassandra arrived, plus I still have my Audio Note 4.1 modded here as well. All these DACs had good points, but I kept thinking there was more.
I am using the Kassandra on my Zingali Client EVO 1.2s and also with the Audeze LCD4 headphones driven by a Metrum Aurix headphone amp.
So, super happy with this beast so far. I feel I can say Stavros is the real deal. Very highly recommended.
BTW the build quality is excellent, as good as the CH Precision but obviously bigger and heavier as well. It is even better in the flesh than the photos on the Aries Carat website.
PM me if you want more, but I will share more later.