Agree - the BP dac has a real following, amongst reviewers in particular, and I’d like to try one myself.
Will you ever be making one …?
Agree - the BP dac has a real following, amongst reviewers in particular, and I’d like to try one myself.
Will you ever be making one …?
flutteringwow
She called me baby, like an old romantic
I'd love to hear this up against my Aqua La Voce S3
And are there any plans for a Convergence Series DAC ? Probably more my budget …
Prices for the Atlantic DAC starts at £3500 and goes to £9995 with 4 models in the Atlantic range. I did look into doing one in the Convergence line but it’s not financially viable for a small company like mine, considering the Convergence is our budget range.
flutteringwow
She called me baby, like an old romantic
What are the differences between the £3500 and £9995 version?
JTC
PFM Villager...
About £6.5k
flutteringwow
She called me baby, like an old romantic
MUTTY1
Waste of bandwidth
Reasonable question; but queered by the fact the designer may spend an awful lot of his life trying stuff that doesn’t work to find something that does that puts up the parts costs by a tenner
Bigman80
Bigbottle Owner
Thats an awful lot of money for a DAC. Tidy box though.
Are you using a Soekris R-2R PCB in there Graham?
Specs are almost identical to this one:.
http://www.soekris.dk/dam1941.html
I know that LessLoss use a Soekris PCB in their Panzerholz encased Echo's End DAC:
https://www.eliteaudiouk.com/product-page/lessloss-echo-s-end-dac-2
I am told that the Lampizator Golden Gate did at one point too, although that could be forum myth and legend!
Last edited:
flutteringwow
She called me baby, like an old romantic
You can get a brand new car for £10k. A whole car. Hi'Fi never ceases to amaze me, and yet I still buy it..
Bigman80
Bigbottle Owner
More to the point, you can get those performance figures for under £2k
It's not buying it thats the problem, it's that quite often we're buying expensive stuff that is no better than the stuff in plainer packaging.
Not much of a car admittedly, and certainly not if you're a petrolhead .. plenty of dacs in the market cost 5-10 times this; plenty of swiss watches cost £100k - £1m ... ditto contemporary art and any number of Veblen goods
Perceived value is in the eyes (and ears) of the beholder(s) - who in turn will have hugely varying disposable income, different views on pride of ownership, different views on importance of build quality, design, integrity of the designer, hand built vs production line..
flutteringwow
She called me baby, like an old romantic
I disagree, show me a DAC with the performance of my Aqua La Voce S3 under £2k...(ive tried 30 or so)..they don't exist. But I've never tried a DAC more expensive, so I'd definitely love to hear what it brings. A 10K DAC owner will probably feel the same as me.
Lol, Im fully aware of this.
I laugh at people who buy expensive watches, but then I know I get laughed at by my friends for spending thousands on a DAC.
It's merely a simple comment to reflect our stupidity as humans really, myself included.
You are right, I broadly agree - though for me pride of ownership is an important factor when buying anything durable.
Am intrigued by the Aqua La Voce S3 though, did look into it - good to hear you feel it is better than most DACs you have come across
Bigman80
Bigbottle Owner
Read what I said....You can get the same measured performance for under £2k.
Not sure how you can disagree when I have literally just linked to the EXACT DAC that would do that?
For ease of comparison i ive highlighted the only comparative specs that Aqua publish:
Soekris 2541 @ Circa £1k:
THD @ -1 dB <0.004%
THD @ -60 dB <0.02%
Resistor Precision 28 bit, 0.01% - 0.05% Resistors
Clock Jitter RMS 0.3 pS typical
S/N 20 Khz Bandwith >126 dB unweighted
Frequency Range +0.1 -1.0 dB 20hz - 20Khz
USB Input Type B, Isolated, Full/High Speed
USB Input Mode Audio Class 2.0
SPDIF / AES / Toslink Inputs Up to 24 bit / 192 Khz
USB Input PCM Up to 24 Bit / 384 Ksps
Aqua La Voce S3 @ £3.4k (from the data sheet)
Frequency Response 20Hz to 22kHz +0.5dB/-0.5dB
THD + N <0.1% 1KHz -20dB
On the only 2 comparative specs Aqua have published, the results are as above.
I will continue to search for more specs but when you find the Datasheet is totally bereft of anything meaningful, it usually means that the numbers aren't great. Not casting aspersions over the performance or the sound, just showing that for £1k you can get a real R-2R DAC that will probably measure quite favourably against the Aqua.
Again, i am not talking about how much you enjoy it's particular sound etc.
flutteringwow
She called me baby, like an old romantic
Datasheets are irrelevant to me, I couldn't care less about measurements, I only care about how it sounds. It's often in my experience measured performance can actually sound gash, much like an RME or Topping.
Performance to me, is how it sounds, and to some extent how it looks.
Never tried a Soekris as it looks like something from a 70's Sci Fi film, so for me, its not on par with an Aqua and not something I'd want in my house!
Is the Soekris a true ladder Dac?