Totaldac Reference D1

wizard

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Oct 17, 2010
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Prices
REFERENCE-D1 DAC: 6500euros
2 way active crossover REFERENCE-D2: 8300euros
3 way active crossover REFERENCE-D3: 9800euros
dual DAC option for REFERENCE-D1 or D2: 1600euros
high grade USB option for REFERENCE-D1, D2 or D3: 600€
Adjustable high pass filter option for REFERENCE-D1: 200euros
115V power supply option for REFERENCE-D1 or D2 or D3: 0euro
cone shape feet for REFERENCE-D1 or D2 or D3: 230euro
BNC digital input option for REFERENCE-D1 or D2 or D3: 0euro


A review here
 

dallasjustice

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Are you getting yours on a right of return basis ?

David,
Vincent told me that all of his DACs are sold with a 10 day return policy. Obviously, he's pretty confident in the performance of his gear. We will see. I hate waiting but these types of DACs can be very time consuming to build so I won't get it until August.
 

LL21

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how does it sound? ;) have read good things about it!
 

dallasjustice

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"D1 will not support DSD and 24/384.
D1 use a analog filter after the dac."

The D1 is a true NOS discrete ladder DAC using all premium parts and no mass produced IC DAC chips. We can get into the discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of SDM DACs v. discrete ladder DACs. However, it would be impossible for a true NOS discrete ladder PCM DAC like this one to do native DSD. There is a small passive analog filter after the DAC as you point out. However, the reconstruction filter is a true NOS filter which resides on the 69 bit FPGA along with the lossless volume control and an optional NOS frequency compensation FIR filter. The analog filter is NOT a brickwall anti-aliasing analog filter. If you need more information about this DAC, you can email Vincent directly. His email is:
vincent_brient@yahoo.fr


As far as 384, that's a decision that each person has to make on their own. I like the design of this DAC partly because it is NOS. I have found very little native 384 or 352 material to download. The only legit reason for using these sample rates, IMO, is so that you can oversample on the server side. Such heavy oversampling, however, wouldn't be consonant with an NOS DAC design like this one due to the added ringing induced by oversampling. Even if you wanted to oversample on the server side to get totally flat high frequency response, you would only need to oversample to 176. This would be unnecessary because neither Vincent's custom analog reconstruction filter or his optional custom FIR frequency compensation filter uses any oversampling. This DAC represents Vincent's design philosophy, which I am sure he could explain better than I could.

All I know is that I've tried a lot of different high end DACs, all with very different designs and goals. There are trade-offs with everything, IME. I like the sound of this DAC more than any other DAC I've had. The most striking impression I could give has to do with the space in the recordings. This DAC resolves much deeper into the recording space than anything else I've heard in my system without any hardness, if that makes any sense. For example, I can hear the Dallas Meyerson's reverb like I've never heard it before other than actually being at the Meyerson, when I listen to Keith Johnson's wonderful Reference Recordings.

IME, the better my digital gets, the more hi-rez redbook can sound. Of course, I would prefer a competently recorded, high rez recording over the same redbook recording. However, I counted the tracks I actually enjoy listening to, and the vast majority is still less than 96k. I have a lot of native DSD on my server and even converted to 176 in Jriver, they sound wonderful. My hunch is that all DACs have their sweetspots. Some DACs do DSD awesome, some DACs do PCM better and some DACs just do redbook, like the Spectral DAC. For me, it's a personal decision that has to do with the music I enjoy the most.

I have received many PMs about this DAC. Some folks have been genuinely curious and supportive of the design philosophy and others have been openly hostile. Some folks told me the DAC is too expensive and some folks have told me it's too cheap. :) I don't really care. In free market economics, the value of an item is determined by the individual buyer and seller. That is, the marketplace is really a constellation of individual decisions made by individual buyers and sellers, each with their individual objectives; Laissez-faire as the French used to say. :D

I will post my impressions later and let the cards fall where the may.
 
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LL21

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Thanks...look forward to reading your impressions...any comparisons to other DACs in your system (as you mentioned previously) would be helpful too. Enjoy!
 

wizard

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Brickwall filter is digital, it's placed before the dac.
Totaldac don't use any oversampling, but a digital FIR filter, the filter can be turned off.

Yes D1 is one of the best dac's if one don't need higher sampling rate than 192k.
I've many DXD (352.8) recordings and I've digitized many of my rarest LP's to 384k.

And yes 384k sounds better than 192k. 384k sounds close to LP.
 

dallasjustice

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Brickwall filter is digital, it's placed before the dac.
Totaldac don't use any oversampling, but a digital FIR filter, the filter can be turned off.

Yes D1 is one of the best dac's if one don't need higher sampling rate than 192k.
I've many DXD (352.8) recordings and I've digitized many of my rarest LP's to 384k.

And yes 384k sounds better than 192k. 384k sounds close to LP.

Like I said, these are all individual decisions. OTOH, I have never had a record player. :)

There are actually two digital filters. One of them is a NOS reconstruction filter that is custom. The other is an NOS FIR frequency compensation filter that is optional and can be turned off. I think I prefer the DAC with frequency compensation filter turned off. Vincent doesn't give out too much info on his DAC. So, my knowledge of his design and some of the parts in his DAC is somewhat limited.
 

dallasjustice

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I used to have an MPD-5. It's a great DAC and DSD sounds wonderful. I had it for a year using the same system I currently have now except different amps. I prefer to not use a pre-amp, so it would be impossible to say how the D1 would be directly against the MPD-5. I did compare the MPD-5 directly against the BMC DAC with the BMC monos. I felt the BMC DAC was better. However, BMC uses a special input called "current injection" which I couldn't also use with the MPD-5. So, I had the MPD-5 connected to the BMC amps via XLR. The volume was controlled inside the BMC monos via a connection called DIGM(similar to ASR's gain contol but better). I felt like this was the fairest I could make it between the BMC and the MPD-5. The BMC was quieter and resolved further into the recording. With the TotalDac d1, I also can't use the current injection input on my BMC amps; I tried. :). So, I am just going through the normal xlr (like it did with MPD-5) and controlling volume on the D1's FPGA. The rest of my system and my room are very resolving.
 
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opus111

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I will post my impressions later and let the cards fall where the may.

Thanks a lot. I'm following this with interest - its like yin and yang alongside the Vivaldi thread. The TotalDac is really an original design. Has Vincent given any details at all about the FIR NOS correction filter he uses? I have designed one of those so I'm ever curious :p
 

dallasjustice

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Thanks a lot. I'm following this with interest - its like yin and yang alongside the Vivaldi thread. The TotalDac is really an original design. Has Vincent given any details at all about the FIR NOS correction filter he uses? I have designed one of those so I'm ever curious :p
I will try to get Vincent to post here and to see if he will answer questions. He's very friendly, you just may not get satisfactory details out of him. :)
 

opus111

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I've asked him before over on DIYA about his design, I don't recall getting an answer. But it wasn't this particular question just a general one about what he saw as the main flaws with IC-based R2R DACs I think. I know, I'm just too probing in my questioning...:p
 

totaldac

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Thanks a lot. I'm following this with interest - its like yin and yang alongside the Vivaldi thread. The TotalDac is really an original design. Has Vincent given any details at all about the FIR NOS correction filter he uses? I have designed one of those so I'm ever curious :p

Hello, I am Vincent, from Totaldac. Thank you dallasjustice for recommending this forum.

About your question opus111, the FIR filter compensates the sinx/x frequency response of a NOS DAC. It is made in the FPGA in the custom made 69bit DSP. The FIR coefs are also custom, it doesn't come from another study or an existing circuit. Voluntarily it is a short FIR filter to keep the ringing short before and after the impact. It can be switched ON or OFF because the optimisation depends on the rest of the system, I use it for some configurations, and don't use for other.
 

opus111

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Thanks for joining in Vincent. I had read all your design information a while ago when I first saw your design. I was more curious about the length of the FIR really, but I'd understand if you prefer to keep such details proprietary.

Thanks for visiting my blog btw, I'd be interested to hear your questions and/or comments about my approach over there.
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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Thanks a lot. I'm following this with interest - its like yin and yang alongside the Vivaldi thread. The TotalDac is really an original design. Has Vincent given any details at all about the FIR NOS correction filter he uses? I have designed one of those so I'm ever curious :p

An intriguing start to this thread...particularly given the Vivaldi discussions elsewhere...
 

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