Totaldac Reference D1

edorr said:

How does it stack up against the MSB diamond / galaxy, your current reference if I remember correctly.

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I comparo is still ahead of me

Elberoth said:

Dallasjustice,

I put the TotalDAC in my system yestarday, and so far - I like what I'm hearing. I have my system setup with BADA Alpha DAC II and Spectral DMA-260 right now (into the Magico S5).

(...)

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Adam,

Great news. I would love to know in general terms how it compares with the DCS Scarlatti.

asiufy said:

What a shame you sold the darTZeel. The S5 would've loved it, and so would you... The Q3 too

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Yes, true. It didn't have enough current to drive the Sasha. I should have sold Sasha first ...

BUT, I still have a couple of local friends with darts, and one of them offered to lent me his dart for 3 weeks while he goes on vacation in 2 weeks time So nothing is lost, I already had TWO darts over the years, so equally well may buy a third one. Maybe I will buy back mine from Joe, if he decides to stay with Momentum.

microstrip said:

Adam,

Great news. I would love to know in general terms how it compares with the DCS Scarlatti.

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I have sold my Scarlatti as well, BUT the friend who is lending me the dart, will also bring his Scarlatti so ... stay tuned

Yes, you definitely should have sold the Sashas!
I'd love to hear your impressions of Magico/darTZeel/MSB (+other assorted digital) as that's pretty much what I have here.


alexandre

asiufy said:

What a shame you sold the darTZeel. The S5 would've loved it, and so would you... The Q3 too


alexandre

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I listened to the S5 driven by the Constellation Audio Centaur / Virgo system and it sounded really great. But IMHO the Alexia are in another level.

Based on the hifi critic review, the alexia look pretty tough to drive as well.

dallasjustice said:

Based on the hifi critic review, the alexia look pretty tough to drive as well.

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That's what I thought too until I started driving them with Pass Labs XA-100.5 The needles haven't moved yet, even at excruciating levels!

Bruce B said:

That's what I thought too until I started driving them with Pass Labs XA-100.5 The needles haven't moved yet, even at excruciating levels!

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Usually the needles measure voltage, not current, although the scale shows power at 8 ohms. When we refer to tough load we are mainly addressing the current requested by the low impedance. Happily your XA-100.5 does not have problems supplying current. The DartZeel however does not feel very comfortable supplying high current, although models equipped with the SMTP are less critical in this aspect.

Anyway if the needles do not move at all maybe they are switched off ...

Bruce B said:

That's what I thought too until I started driving them with Pass Labs XA-100.5 The needles haven't moved yet, even at excruciating levels!

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I thought you were running 160's ?

rockitman said:

I thought you were running 160's ?

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I have both..... 2 systems. They're used in a surround room paired with an X-3

microstrip said:

Anyway if the needles do not move at all maybe they are switched off ...

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I had a pair of ISIS in here that made them bounce like vu meters!


What I don't understand, is there a headphone jack on the back of the TotalDac? Not the front??

Bruce B said:

What I don't understand, is there a headphone jack on the back of the TotalDac? Not the front??

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Yes, it is made in France, if that tells you something It's like the french cars, which for 40+ years used to have the horn button on the top of the indicator knob:



On a serious note, I think that they just didn't want to spoil the clean look of the faceplate.

A totaldac d1-tube DAC will be used on some demo of the Voxativ Ampeggion due.

Elberoth said:

Yes, true. It didn't have enough current to drive the Sasha. I should have sold Sasha first ...

BUT, I still have a couple of local friends with darts, and one of them offered to lent me his dart for 3 weeks while he goes on vacation in 2 weeks time So nothing is lost, I already had TWO darts over the years, so equally well may buy a third one. Maybe I will buy back mine from Joe, if he decides to stay with Momentum.

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Any update on Totaldac in your system?

Why was this thread moved to Munich hifi show? It took me a while to find it.

dallasjustice said:

Why was this thread moved to Munich hifi show? It took me a while to find it.

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Moved to DAC forum.

Lee

I've been listening to this DAC for the past couple of days, and I have to say - it grows on me every time I listen to it. It is a great DAC.

The DACs I also have on hand are MSB DAC IV Signature with Galaxy Femto Clock option installed, dCS Scarlatti and Berkeley Alpha 2 DAC and Alpha USB combo.



TotalDACs strongest suit seems to be its great, dense tonality. The sound is full, natural and extremely fluid. Woodwinds and vocal aficionados will simply love this DAC. The DAC is the antithesis of cold, analitycal, threadbare or etched - the terms that are often applied to digital.

Because of the way it reprocuces instrumental timbres, many would probably describe this DAC as 'tubelike'. While I can understand why some people may feel that way, it is not an accurate description. It does many things that tubes do right, but at the same time - it doesn't seem to have their limitations.

The DAC has an amazing timbre and sounds extremely fluid, but doesn't sound overy soft. The edges are not rounded off, the microdynamics is not diminished. It just sounds natural to me. The bass is also suprisingly fast and agile - there is no excessive tube bloom (but no SS dryness either).

In terms of resolutiuon, top end smoothnes, image layering, low level details and soundstage depth it is very good, but not really groundbreaking. Here the MSB DAC IV Signature with Galaxy Femto Clock option installed is an undisputed champ - by a wide marigin. Nonetheless, the TotalDAC almost approches what the Scarlatti DAC is capable of in that regard - which means it is still pretty damn good (at least when the Scarlatti is used as a stand alone DAC, without the external clock; adding a superior clock would eclipse the TotalDAC in areas mentioned, but at the same time, the price would almost double; the Scarlatti DAC alone is $24k, way more than the TotalDAC).

Interestingly, in my system (Magico S5 driven by MSB S200 poweramp), almost half of the listeners preffered the TotalDAC to MSB DAC IV. MSB had bigger soundstage, better layering, more apparent resolution and transparency, but somehow, TotalDAC sounded 'more like real music' to them. And after we switched to Spectral DMA-260, the balance had almost entirely shifted to TotalDAC favor, as it seem to add some midrange magic and color saturation to the Spectral house sound. I can definately understand why dallasjustice likes this DAC so much on his Soulution and Krell amps !

Personally, I think that the MSB is still a superior DAC (at $32k, it rather should be !) but at that particular system configuration, I think I prefer the TotalDAC to all DACs I have on hand.

I have only two problems with this DAC:

1. The quality of packaging. The DAC was sent in a big carton box, wrapped in a bubble foil. While definately safe for shipping, I do belive that at this level, the manufacturer should invest in some 'proper', custom made foams and box.

2. I have experienced some poping noises after each sample rate change. Those noises went away after 5-10s of listening. Not a big problem, but kind of annoying. Not sure it that is design related (probably some input receiver / PLL problem) or just a random issue in my sample.

Elberoth said:

I've been listening to this DAC for the past couple of days, and I have to say - it grows on me every time I listen to it. It is a great DAC.

The DACs I also have on hand are MSB DAC IV Signature with Galaxy Femto Clock option installed, dCS Scarlatti and Berkeley Alpha 2 DAC and Alpha USB combo.

TotalDACs strongest suit seems to be its great, dense tonality. The sound is full, natural and extremely fluid. Woodwinds and vocal aficionados will simply love this DAC. The DAC is the antithesis of cold, analitycal, threadbare or etched - the terms that are often applied to digital.

Because of the way it reprocuces instrumental timbres, many would probably describe this DAC as 'tubelike'. In my opinion, that would not be an accurate description though.

True, the DAC has an amazing timbre and sounds extremely fluid, but at the same time, the sound is not softened. The edges are not rounded off, the microdynamics is not limited. The bass is also suprisingly fast and agile - there is no excessive tube bloom (but no SS dryness either).

In terms of resolution and soundstaging, it is very good, but not groundbreaking. It approches what the Scarlatti DAC, which in my opinion is pretty decent by todays standards (adding a superior clock to the Scarlatti DAC would eclipse the TotalDAC in that department, but at the same time, the price would almost double - the Scarlatti DAC alone is $24k).

In terms of resolutiuon, top end smoothnes, image layering, low level details and soundstage depth, the TotalDAC was bettered by MSB DAC IV Signature with Galaxy Femto Clock option installed. Interestingly though, in my system (Magico S5 driven by MSB S200 poweramp), almost half of the listeners still preffered the TotalDAC to MSB DAC IV, as it sounded 'more like real music' to them. And after we switched to Spectral 260, almost everyone preferred the TotalDAC (to ANY of the DACs I had on hand). I can definately understand why dallasjustice likes this DAC so much on his Soulution and Krell amps !

Personally, I think that the MSB is still a superior DAC, but would require some component changes to make it sound best. At $32k (with Galaxy Femto option), it rather should be !

I have only two problems with this DAC:

1. The quality of packaging. The DAC was sent in a big carton box, wrapped in a bubble foil. While definately safe for shipping, I do belive that at this level, the manufacturer should invest in some 'proper', custom made foams and box.

2. I have experienced some poping noises after each sample rate change. Those noises went away after 5-10s of listening. Not a big problem, but kind of annoying. Not sure it that is design related (probably some input receiver / PLL problem) or just a random issue in my sample.

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I always enjoy reading your reviews.

Vincent uses 1023 samples FIFO buffer which helps attenuate jitter. The clicks you hear after you change sample rates are due to the FIFO buffer reloading. I also find it a little annoying for those 5 or so seconds, but only when I am machine gunning between different tracks with different sample rates. It's funny, because the better my system gets, the more likely it is I find myself drifting away listening to entire albums at a time. But, I understand that for the purpose of doing your evaluation, you would want to get through as much material as possible.

My DAC came bubble wrapped as well, oh well.

I believe you don't normally use a pre-amp, which with I agree. Is that how you did these comparisons as well? Did you use the volume control in the totaldac and the msb? Did you set the MSB 200 into low gain? I think 28db gain might require more DAC attenuation than is needed, depending on your room, etc. All amps should have at least 2 gain settings, IMO.

Yes, I do not have preamp anymore. I run all of my DACs direct.