What is musical realism? How do I get there? I've tried over and over. I've spent thousands of dollars, and more importantly, countless hours pursuing this illusive goal. Am I there yet? I am about as close as I could ever imagine. Over a year ago, was the first time my experience actually exceeded my imagination. I've been very happy with my original TotalDac d1 for that time. For me, one year was the record for me to keep a DAC. Vincent then introduced me to this 3 box solution he called the d1 dual monobloc. I thought this DAC could be another inconceivable leap toward musical realism. It is.
One of the luxuries of owning a true NOS DAC is the ability to try out different digital filters on the server. I use HQplayer for this purpose. HQplayer has some excellent filters. In my case, they are limited to 24 bit 192khz. But they are nonetheless instructive because I can hear what a DAC sounds like with and without oversampling filters. In the case of the totaldac, these oversampling filters demonstrate how superior this NOS DAC really is with excellent recordings without oversampling filters. Of course, digital filters can help with really crappy recordings. Fortunately, I don't have many of those.
Anyone that's heard a TotalDac knows that the sound is not comparable to other Sigma Delta DACs. The texture, the tonal density and low level spatial resolution is always startling to the first-timer. I enjoy watching it happen. Last week, my 29 year old cousin and his friend visited from Zurich. They had never heard a real high end system before. I get a kick out of watching music evoke a strong emotional reaction like that.
Back to the original question. Musical realism requires accurate tonal reproduction. This is just a starting point. The totaldac d1 dual monoblocs make the qualities of my original totaldac d1 so much more obvious. The never heard before low noise floor; the speed; the high frequency delicacy and bass power. The speed is really the thing that stands out. Let's face it: Live unamplified music is FAST and DYNAMIC. The beginning and the end Simon Phillips' ride cymbal can't be known other than being there at the session. It's crisp and immediate, just like a live performance. The thunderous and spatially correct floor toms appear as Simon finishes off "Rainmaker" in my room 5 feet behind my left speaker. The monoblocs deliver low and mid bass instruments in places in my room I didn't know existed; behind my speakers; in the middle of my speakers and on and on.
Vincent has upgraded his cases in some important ways. He's added a massive copper base inside the DAC to control vibration. The metal is a nicer brushed aluminum and the top of the DAC is internally damped. Vincent has also improved EMF shielding inside the DAC. You can see that the FPGA is now covered by some kind of shield. Vincent has also improved the FIFO buffer so that switching sample rates is very smooth.
No, I haven't compared this DAC directly to the laundry list of DACs you read about elsewhere on the internet. All I can say is that I've had some great DACs in my room: Playback Designs MPD-5 via USB-x and the BMC DAC1 are the 2 most prominent that come to mind. They are great DACs. All I can say is that I doubt there's a DAC that could substantially outperform the TotalDac D1 monoblocs. Maybe you prefer the one bit DSD DACs. There's no doubt that the likes of Playback Designs and EMM labs will offer something very different. I don't argue with people that prefer those fine DACs over the TotalDac. It's a preference after all. All I can say is that I don't miss streaming native DSD, as good as it was.
