As an owner of the VAD DAC-10 I wanted to `review` and spread the word about this DAC. I am purely a music lover and audiophile willing to share my thoughts and experiences about a product which I believe other like minded people or potentially interested buyers maybe interested to read about.
VAD DAC-10 is unlike any other digital playback system I have heard before.
I have owned high end CD players and DACs in the past from other manufacturers such as, Krell, Esoteric, Audio Research, Musical Fidelity…If I was to briefly sum up what DAC-10 has done to my system, I would say that it has brought the passion of music into my listening room. To me it does not sound like digital music playback as I have previously experienced. The sound is always incredibly involving, harmonically and tonally beautiful, with the ability to project sound more freely away from the speakers outwards into the room, This is something that none of my previous players or Transport DAC combinations have ever been able to pull off so convincingly. The timing and tune playing ability is first class, complex musical passages are extremely well separated and it is easy to pick out and follow any aspect of a recording and highlight the shape and tonality of the instruments playing. Information retrieval is outstanding and there is always a great feeling of involvement and richness to the sound that is truly captivating. Dynamics and punch have surpassed what I heard previously with my Krell KPS20 Delta 9, which I always thought was this player trump card, The quality, tonality, and harmonic reconstruction of the bottom end in DAC 10 is always better than what I heard through any of my previous converters.
To be honest I find the 44.1kHz playback to be so good that I could live with DAC-10 if it only supported this format, but the fact that support also high resolution PCM and include DSD is brilliant. My personal experience from most high resolution recordings played through DAC-10 to me sounds more like very high level analog playback. But just because there is a high resolution recording playing does not always guarantee the best possible sound quality, I have found that a well produced 44.1kHz CD will still convincingly beat some high resolution recordings.
VAD states that the digital interconnect cable choice is not as important as with other digital components, this is most likely to do with DAC-10 attention to detail to overcome the sometimes poor trace output of many CD transports. But saying this I have still found that using a high quality digital interconnect cable does give very positive benefits. I use the Harmonic Technology Photon digital with Inex power supply. This is connected to Denon DVDA1XV modified to be a transport only. Together with DAC-10 this combination has easily produced the best sound quality I have ever experienced at home and plays at a level beyond any of my previous CD-SACD players or transport and DAC combinations that I have owned over the past 20 years.
Over time I have assembled what I consider to be a very good all valve based Hi-Fi system, music is now connecting with me on an emotional level, I always feel involved in the music, I get the goosebumps regularly, something very special is being produced inside my listening room now and I never want to lose it, I think this is something that all audiophiles and music lovers search for, I know for sure that DAC-10 is greatly responsible for this, after-all the sound can only be as good as the source component, and when I first connected DAC-10 into my system I could tell within the first few minutes of listening that it was a system changer and a total revolution compared to my previous digital playback systems.
44.1kHz playback through DAC-10 has also set a new benchmark for me and has made me re-think about what I previously thought possible from the red-book CD format, I am experiencing a musical event that lives and breathes in between and beyond the boundary's of my speakers. It is easy to become captivated and feel the passion as my favourite music is playing, I feel energized and lifted from the experience.
It is safe to say that I am addicted and I feel proud that I have achieved these results with my system. I am also very lucky that I have a lot of spare time available and on most days spend 4 to 12 hours a day/night listening to music. I have owned many different equipment components over the years and spent more money than I would care to admit, but often felt disappointed that I have not achieved what I hoped I would do in my mind. Don't get me wrong it is all good fun and I love this hobby, but I am so happy after many years of ups and downs to own a system that plays at this level, I have learned many lessons along the way. It is also a good feeling when friends or audiophile friends come round to the house and are really impressed and sometimes blown away by the level of sound quality they experienced, it makes you feel really good inside.
Aesthetically I find the quality of this DAC to be excellent; also the level of customer care and service that I have received from VAD is second to none. I feel privileged to own this piece and am convinced that many other high end DAC's that are available would look very overpriced in comparison to this. DAC-10 has certainly not been a cheap purchase for me, I had to save up for a while to be able to afford to buy this, but music and the quality of sound reproduction are extremely important to me. I felt that DAC-10 was able to fulfill and surpass my expectations, I also feel like I am receiving excellent value for money. My previous transport and DAC was more expensive than DAC-10, but the performance was not in the same league.
I have also found that DAC-10 does not favor any particular genres of music but is a superb all rounder, In my opinion used with a high quality transport or as part of a high end PC based music system DAC-10 will be the last digital device that you ever need to enjoy your music collection.
I received an email from Gregor the designer of DAC-10 a few months ago advising that there had been some changes made to the design that improved the final sound of DAC-10, I was invited to have my unit upgraded and was also informed that if I was not totally satisfied with the improvements that I could return the DAC and it would be converted back to the previous state and a full refund would be given no questions asked. I am happy to report that indeed these upgrades were beneficial and further improved my listening enjoyment. I also take comfort in the knowledge that my DAC will always be capable of being upgraded in the future should any new developments become available.
I am pleased that I came across this forum post while searching the Internet, and I hope that more owners of this DAC will come forward and post there experiences here because I believe that it deserves more Hi-Fi press and attention. I also enjoy following the AV show reports website and reviews on You Tube that the brilliant Peter Breuninger hosts. If he were to do an in depth review of this DAC what would he have to say about it ?. I can just imagine him lifting the latches on the tailored flight case that DAC-10 is supplied in while wearing the white cleaning gloves that he often wears while handling exotic audio equipment for his reviews, carefully lifting the DAC out, commenting on the weight and superb fit and finish of the unit and then using his hand to further illustrate the sleek design [That would really make my day]
I would be happy to answer any queries and also provide my system details for interested people.
