I had a chance to revisit the DAC comparison by hearing Al's system again yesterday. Having just listened to the “Art of the Violin” with him last night on my system, I found it particularly interesting to hear this same music again on digital and to use it for the DAC comparisons. I must say that by the end of the session, by head was spinning. It was a cacophony of confusion.
I distinctly remember preferring the Berkeley the last time we made the comparison. Now, I am not so sure. Based on just the multiple listening to that one CD, each has it strengths and the differences for me now are more subtle and they come down to which attributes does one prioritize. Since the last time I heard his system, he has rotated the tub traps so that the diffusion/reflection strip is further out instead of fully against the corner of the wall. He changed his speaker cables and has added a power conditioner to the Schiit DAC. The Schiit DAC is also more fully broken in. I can’t remember if he had the same footers under the DACs last time.
The differences are minor and fairly subtle, but these are the differences I heard based only on the one recording: the Schiit sounds more open and effortless and the sound is less shaped. The sound more evenly and immediately fills the room. However, it sounds slightly bland or whitish, and tonally a bit flat. The Berkeley’s tonal color is more vivid and it sounds more lively and energetic. The image size also seems slightly more realistic, while the Schiit made the violin image seem slightly big. However, the Berkeley is also very slightly more fatiguing and what I thought was greater texture may be a slight artifact, or false sense of detail or resolution. There was a slight edge to the sound. The sound was also slightly cone shaped and sounded a bit like the “cupped hand” effect. The way in which the sound left the instrument to expand to the listener was not as natural as it was with the Schiit DAC. Perhaps the lower midrange was emphasized, but the tonal balance was not quite as neutral as the Schiit. The front corners of the room were not as filled with music with the Berkeley. Towards the end of the session, we focused repeatedly on the sound of the transients and incisiveness of the bow against the strings. After going back and forth numerous times, I can’t say now which has the better transients. They are both good. They both also have good body and decay.
If pressed hard, I don’t know which I would rather live with long term. They both sounded very good. I liked the open, effortless sound of the Schiit and the vivid tonal colors and energy of the Berkeley. The differences were fairly subtle and I don’t know if I could identify one over the other if blind, but I could hear the differences in rapid, level matched, sighted back and forth comparisons repeating the same music. Overall, I continue to be impressed with the sound of Al's system. The speakers just did not sound as if they were in the room or that any of the sound was coming out of them. The subwoofer integration was also particularly seamless and the sense of presence was outstanding. Overall, the sound is very engaging and convincing.
I think the fact that the Schiit DAC is now more broken in and it has its own power conditioner has really improved the sound since the last time I was there to where it sounds very much like the Berkeley. I really enjoyed hearing both in the system and appreciated hearing the slightly different flavors. Last time the differences were clear and I had a strong preference for the Berkeley. Now, I still hear differences, though they are slightly different from the last time, and those differences are less pronounced but I can definitely identify individual strengths for each DAC. It was a fun listening session and very interesting in comparison to the same music on vinyl in my system.
Here is the music we heard: