rega dac, cdq, young dac bake off

[ItemAudio]

It certainly looks like the Emotiva could be a viable alternative for those waiting for the Audiolab DQ model. The only thing missing is the analogue inputs. Is Item Audio the only distributor in the UK?

We recently imported the first batch of DACs and amps into the UK on a trial basis, and are in discussion with Emotiva about this. Because their business was built on a direct-to-customer model, they do not have any official international distributors - just like Wyred 4 Sound in the early days.

However, shipping costs of their amps in particular are inevitably huge - and there are the import fees, blah, blah blah . . . which creates a need for at least a local foothold in other countries.

At the moment, we're effectively acting as a focal point for group buys, and discussing more permanent distribution arrangement with Emotiva. Basically, their products looked so great, we couldn't resist them.

 

[ItemAudio]

Hi Striped.

I just have to chip in here.
The presentation of the Audiolab and Emotiva are not similar.
They are both good, but sound nothing alike.

The Audiolab has the sabre chip, sounds a little bit like the Wyred 4 Sound, The Emotiva has a warm generous sound more reminiscent of the Rega Dac.

More people should borrow Emotiva Dacs if their budgets don't stretch to products like Wyred 4 Sound, Young Dac etc - but I wouldnt think of it as a like-for-like product... but then it IS half the price, in fact less than that.

It's interesting that your experience of the Emotiva was 'lush', warm and generous, Chris - but the Musical Fidelity M1 was 'a detail monster', if I'm quoting you correctly. To me, the Emotiva was slightly on the dry 'pro-audio' side, but very resolute - as detailed as anything short of the Young, and not much behind it. Whereas the MF was cuddly and winsome - more like a Class A amp. For me, the Rega was like the MF, but less obviously voiced and with a much lower noise floor. Different strokes, I guess . . .

To reach consensus, maybe we needed another nine hours playing different tracks!

 

[striped67]

I'm on the lookout for a DAC/Pre combo for less than £1K and there are not many on the market. The only way to find out is to trial it in my system, but it would seem like a pretty good bargain if the Emotiva was anywhere near as good as the Audiolab for half the price.

 

[figlet108]

The only way to find out is to trial it in my system,

Striped67, I think that pretty much sums it all up.

This thread provides merely a high level starting point. You can see reading through all the comments that there is plenty of subjectivity, bias, competition, politics and disagreement, as well as the genuinely useful and more objective opinions.

Either way they are all opinions, so the only reliable way to make the right decision for you is to try stuff at home. Most manufacturers and distributors these days offer free home trials.

Jason

 

[arthur]

Just had a quote of £258 for the Emotiva delivered from US.

Now that sounds like a Mega bargain.

 

[Wilky]

Don't forget it's likely you will have to pay Customs Import duty + 20% VAT unless you get really lucky.

 

[bottleneck]

Just had a quote of £258 for the Emotiva delivered from US.

Now that sounds like a Mega bargain.

Hi Martin

With VAT that will come to just under £310, and will be effectively a ''grey import''.

I saw a post from Item, I believe they are going to try to sell them at £325 (with full UK warranty), although regular price is £350.

Whether an extra £15 or £40, worth it for a warranty and the chance to try it at home before you buy IMO..

 

[ItemAudio]

Just had a quote of £258 for the Emotiva delivered from US.

Now that sounds like a Mega bargain.

At £258 it would be!

Assuming that's the actual cost including the currency conversion, the real damage would be £258 + 20% VAT + 5% duty + £13.50 Parcelforce handling fee = £336.

 

[BobMaximus]

I did. only talks about option 5 being better than option 2. I've got it running continoulsy for about a month and a half now, still pretty much no difference. I'm running it via a mira3 into rega rs5 speakers.
Source is a modded logitech squeezebox touch.

OK, sorry. As I explained, on Chris's system used in the bake-off, it was immediately obvious that guitar strings (using filter 5) had more of a twang than with filter 2. More seemed to be going on though, because the whole thing sounded more "musical", and all but one of us preferred this setting.

On my Naim system at home, I hadn't noticed this twang. At first, I just kept changing the filters expecting to hear a difference (but didn't). Later, I tried each one in turn (over a period of days), before moving on to the next. It was only when moving back to filter 1 that it became obvious that filter 5 was preferable.

Andy

 

[ItemAudio]

The host system worked well to reveal differences, I thought: everything sounded different - even filter adjustments.

 

[bottleneck]

the side of me that made my speakers myself - hopes it was their quality that made changes apparent.

The realist in me says it's more likely a neutral sounding room, and the fact that we know "Hebdren Bridge" like we wrote the track ourselves..!

 

[AguycalledSimon]

OK - time for a weird coincidence......

I'm in Yorkshire for an interview....and guess where I'm really really near......

go on...guess....

that's right.....

I'm just round the corner from....HEBDEN BRIDGE!!!!!

no, really!

 

[arthur]

At £258 it would be!

Assuming that's the actual cost including the currency conversion, the real damage would be £258 + 20% VAT + 5% duty + £13.50 Parcelforce handling fee = £336.

Yeh, I'd forgotten all about that stuff.

When I decide to try one I'll call you.

Arthur.

 

[arthur]

Ok..please don't take this the wrong way. I know you all put a lot of effort into this BO.

But.

Was it really a good idea to use just one track?

Even, say three would have been much, much better. Giving a spread of instruments, say and a voice or two?

I'm not whining here (promise), but one track? I don't understand that really, and I'd like to.

 

[bottleneck]

lol arthur

I guess you'd have had to have been there.

Running through all DACs present with just two transport types (making sure volume was the same for each DAC)... with just ONE 3 minute track...

took 8 hours..!

Even with just this one 3 minute track, we were finding our ''hearing memory'' of DACs played a few rounds ago was fading.

I'm pretty confident we got the general flavour of the DACs down.

The only slightly sad thing, despite all our words, you wouldn't really yourself know what we heard unless you were there.. trying to describe how something sounds in comparison to something else in writing is a hard task.


Even the squeezebox 3 (which had to be the cheapest DAC there - excluding the ''free'' DAC inside a Dell laptop) would I feel get a reccomendation from everyone present if someone wanted a music streaming device that sounded pretty good for the budget they sell for...

That was really one of the key things we discovered. There ARE rough price bands out there, price reflects quality largely, although there are a couple of ''straddlers''. ..

also, our findings are only really applicable to COMPUTER AUDIO. We did nearly no testing with CD-based audio transports..

 

[janerik]

trying to describe how something sounds in comparison to something else in writing is a hard task.

Indeed, and dangerous too when you write for an audio magazine. I've come to the conclusion that writing about audio is very much like writing about wine. A friend of mine cannot stand Côtes du Rhone, whereas I swear by them. Audio is very personal, so it helps to know each reporter's tastes. So, the more clearly you write about your own preferences and what you are hearing, the more the reader will be able to judge whether the device in question is likely or not to be to his or her taste. Forget about trying to be objective, it doesn't help!

Jan

 

[Ciunas Audio]

Ah, I missed this. I would be keen to send my modified Hiface DAC to Chris for comparison against some of these highly regarded DACs. It is based on a battery operated modified Hiface & an ESS DAC. It is not yet launched but I have been trialling it locally - see here for some comparisons against Lector CDP7 & Wadia 850 CDPs. Price will be < €500.

Is it too late to compare to any of these DACs or is there another session planned?

 

[bottleneck]

Hi Jkeny

Unfortunately all of the DACs have now been returned, other than of course the Young Dac which I have purchased.

I read your link, and it looks like you have an interesting product. A hi-face, a battery supply, an ESS chip, and an expected price of 500 euros sounds very promising.

When you have a production model, I am sure Keith at Purite or Mark at Item would be interested in hearing it and potentially stocking it if they like what they hear (although there are many other dealers of course).

best of luck

 

[sq225917]

TC.

 

[hughjampton]

I long ago came to understand that reading other people's conclusions about music reproduction as well as many other things is about as useful as having someone try out your future wife on the night before the wedding and tell you what he thought of her in the morning.