Totaldac Reference D1

Ohlins

Well-Known Member
Mar 1, 2015
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Singapore
That is a wonderful spot to be in. I found you can get a good band for your buck by adding a ultraRendu with a good power supply (lps1.2 for example) and boost the performance noticeably.
Depends of course on how you are feeding it now

I’m using the onboard D1 server with additional power supply
 

BF38

Well-Known Member
Oct 31, 2017
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BF38

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Oct 31, 2017
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GuillaumeB

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Mar 10, 2014
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BF38

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Oct 31, 2017
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Yes, i think so, Guillaume, he seems to have developed a new type of digital pre amp (Driver) but without volume control and he looks, very enthusiastic about the musical result!
 

CKKeung

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Jun 17, 2011
3,050
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Yes, i think so, Guillaume, he seems to have developed a new type of digital pre amp (Driver) but without volume control and he looks, very enthusiastic about the musical result!

It's called Totaldac D1-Driver.
According to communication of the Hong Kong Totaldac dealer with Vincent, the D1-Driver is an analog preamp stage.
One stereo input and no volume control.
It's like a buffer, with high current class A.
The volume control is by the digital volume of Totaldac dac.
 

CKKeung

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Jun 17, 2011
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deleted bcause of duplication.
 

BF38

Well-Known Member
Oct 31, 2017
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113
Hi all,
some news & picture about Totaldac in Germany !

munich_high-end-2018_Totaldac.jpg


Review From STEREOPHILE

https://www.stereophile.com/content/herbs-first-morning-munich

"As some of you might know, I am a rabid fan of Vincent Brient's discrete resistor ladder DACs that he builds in France in the shadow of France's Mont Saint-Michel monastery. Today, I finally I got to meet Vincent in person and experience his two-way d150 horn loudspeakers (46,000 Euros/pair). I was impressed by both of them. The d150's sound was relaxed very wide open and delightfully coherent. These beautiful turned wood horns were driven, not by a compression driver, but by a full-range cone driver; which is crossed over to a 15" bass driver at 150Hz. I was immediately impressed by how smooth, vivid, and 3-dimensional the sound was. Sensitivity is claimed to 98dB/W/1m.

The d150s were supplemented by two Totaldac subwoofers (6500 Euros each), which feature 18" drivers mounted high up. Think big, full, open, and exceptionally coherent. I would have nominated Brient's system for best sound at show, but is was only the morning of my first day, so I moved on."


And from the boss of 6MOONS, Srajan Ebaen

http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/munich2018/7.html

"TotalDAC had secured one of the few ground-floor super cabins to make very good sound with Absolare monos.On flavour, the Analog Domain designer's private system had been very visceral and gripping.Vincent Brient's transplanted from France for the occasion was ultra spacious and elegant.Anyone who declares an absolute sound hasn't yet lived long enough. There are many lenses of perspectives or moods to experience playback through.Premium executions of these are all equally valid. This was one of those."



Be well in music
 

BF38

Well-Known Member
Oct 31, 2017
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113
Hi All,
another interesting information, David Chesky listened for a long time to his own recordings in private session, in the room Totaldac. The two worlds Pro and Hifi are probably quite the same... with blablabla Pro and blablabla Hi-fi But in one case as in the other, there is music at the end or there is none.

Be well in music.
 

totaldac

Industry Expert
Aug 17, 2012
567
701
1,155
France
www.totaldac.com
Hello,
Thank you BF38.
The feedback from the reviewers about the Totaldac rooms is here, where Stereophile and Absolute Sound talk about "best in show":
http://www.totaldac.com/listening.htm
 

Thieliste

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2014
815
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Hi guys, potential Totaldac customer here i would like to know if some of you were able to A/B the Seven against the Twelve and is the 10K price difference really worth the investment ?
Right now i'm only familiar with the Twelve 4 units version with the d1-server, auditioned in Paris and at the Munich show last year.
To my taste the Twelve is absolutely fantastic, IMO the only other DAC that i think can compete is the Aries Cerat Kassandra Sig.
 

paul79

Well-Known Member
Nov 2, 2014
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OK, USA
www.manymoonsaudio.com
It depends on your budget really. If you are looking at the top offerings from Totaldac, you are trying to achieve the best sound. The Twelve is the best sound Vincent offers, and subjectively one of if not the best sounding DAC's available.

I can say as a Twelve owner, it is wide open and free with an extremely low noise floor. It is very intimate yet explosive when called upon. Transparent in the best sense and the absence of artifacts really showcases the quality of the recordings like a world class analog source. It just gets out of the way and it sounds like whatever digital source you put in front of it. Also and IMO, the Twelve is better than any Server or Transport available today that you put in front of it. It is a DAC with NO DAC problems. Doesn't get much better than that.

A most recent example.... The latest Gigafilter USB Cable. I also use Vincent's Server, and this cable is revolutionary in my system. Like a completely different and way better, digital system! Just the improvement in the digital source alone using the Gigafilter was/is astonishing.
 
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BF38

Well-Known Member
Oct 31, 2017
168
44
113
Hi Thieliste,
hard to answer if 10k worth the investment !. i'm an owner of Seven with server & USB Gigafilter and i Know, also very well the Twelve so yes there is a difference but the Seven is a onebox dac world reference which has the most DNA of Twelve. And notice that a Seven can always be upgraded to Twelve !!!

I'm french guy too and since 8 months i'm the really lucky owner of the kind of Totaldac system you listened in Paris or in Berlin next year, with d1-Server/Seven, Absolare signature amp and the d150 Totaldac speakers + sub... and the musical result is just stunning !

Be well in music
 
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VPN

VIP/Donor
Dec 28, 2013
352
162
318
Hello Thieliste,

I have the Totaldac Twelve SE + Totaldac Server with the five output power supply from Totaldac (so only one power cord to purchase). Comparing with the Seven, besides the Totaldac cost difference, there is also the cost of two or three top quality AES-EBU cables (depending if you use the Server or not). I am very happy, and have not tried the Seven.
Cheers,

VPN
 

Legolas

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Dec 27, 2015
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France
Hi guys, potential Totaldac customer here i would like to know if some of you were able to A/B the Seven against the Twelve and is the 10K price difference really worth the investment ?
Right now i'm only familiar with the Twelve 4 units version with the d1-server, auditioned in Paris and at the Munich show last year.
To my taste the Twelve is absolutely fantastic, IMO the only other DAC that i think can compete is the Aries Cerat Kassandra Sig.

I would pitch the Kassandra Ref II against the twelve TBH. The gain stage in the Kassandra is one of the many things that takes it to a higher level. It is more dynamic and solid / fuller than the Twelve, more body but still super smooth and with a fantastic timbre. I would try and get to hear it if possible before you drop 30K on the twelve. :rolleyes:
 

VPN

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Dec 28, 2013
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Astrostar, come on! get a grip! I find it completely impolite for you to enter a TOTALDAC Thread, and bluntly state that the Kassandra "It is more dynamic and solid / fuller than the Twelve". Come on! I have heard several Kassandra and think it is very colored, to put it mildly, so I bough the Totaldac Twelve. However, I would never enter a Kassandra thread and say this, which would be extremelly impolite.
 

Legolas

VIP/Donor
Dec 27, 2015
1,041
387
455
France
Astrostar, come on! get a grip! I find it completely impolite for you to enter a TOTALDAC Thread, and bluntly state that the Kassandra "It is more dynamic and solid / fuller than the Twelve". Come on! I have heard several Kassandra and think it is very colored, to put it mildly, so I bough the Totaldac Twelve. However, I would never enter a Kassandra thread and say this, which would be extremelly impolite.

Well, I was expanding on the comment by Thieliste actually, so already mentioned a 'non' TotalDAC in this thread. Fair enough, lets not talk about anything else on here then.... like the MSB thread never mentions other DACs (not). And I disagree, the Kassandra is totally uncoloured IMO. I have heard the 12 at shows, so not at home, but I had the 6 at home for a day before I sold my Audio Note DAC 5, which was later replaced by the Kassandra.

There is enough room for other top DACs in the world. I am simply saying here, get to here the Kassandra before committing, no harm in that. What this 'advice' forum is about I would say.
 

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