DAC Comparison

[wspohn]

I seem to have provoked some discussion on another forum by raising a question about DACs and soundstaging, so thought I'd ask here.

My systems are generally vinyl centric, and I have striven to maintain a decent level of performance on the digital side while not becoming caught up in the component of the month club (things seem to change pretty quickly in this area).

I have played around with DACs ever since the days of the original Arcam Black Box (anyone remember them - c. late 1980s - the Arcam gear was usually built like a battleship and I still use a CD player in one of my systems - about triple the weight of modern players and has never missed a beat).

As part of my more recent ain system overhaul, I decided to try a newer DAC. I had been using a Classe DAC-1, a highly rated and quite good sounding unit, but one channel had died on it (I may still see if it is worth fixing). I ended up with a Hegel HD-12 which has turned out to provide very decent sound, and my friend who was using a Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100, IIRC, wanted to A/B them in my system as it was more revealing than his we thought.

It was an interesting session. Both sounded fairly good even when listening blind, but the minute we switched from the Cambridge to the Hegel, the sound stage expanded a metre or so past the outside of the speakers. Aside from that, we concluded that we both liked the Hegel better and he later ended up buying one, but I was left with the urge to understand how a digital conversion could affect the sound stage like that.

Has anyone experienced that sort of thing and do you have any idea why it would do that?

[Analog21]

I hope to do the same with my dac. A friend has a Bricasti dac I'd like to hear and compare with my EAR. Never done this before in a home setting, so looking forward to hearing the differences between components in "normalized" environments. I'm expecting my friend's Bricasti to be better, since mine is a CD/DAC and his being a little more money, but who knows. Good to hear your reports on the Hegel. I hear great things about that DAC.

[Alrainbow]

Staging varies greatly in the digital domain some do it well others poorly
it's not about the quality or tone or detailed either
a better or worse source matters too
my tube dacs , the recti effects the staging big time
when I owned a ps audio ds dac as they rolled formwares
staging always changed with each roll. A constant as of you rolled back it came or went with that firmware. My msb dac has a new firmware release and USB input as well. Staging is notible in change
also what changes with staging is something that is not spoken of presitation. Not ease of or tense but distance of where we sit. A bigger souud stage means we sit further back
less means up close
but if done well you get both while not as intense of an upclose to a further back one. But still a more upfront one. My lampi changes drastically woth recti roll
it's why I pic the ones I do of critically listening
now while staging may vary hiw about tone
did it change woth staging ?

[Alrainbow]

I seem to have provoked some discussion on another forum by raising a question about DACs and soundstaging, so thought I'd ask here.

My systems are generally vinyl centric, and I have striven to maintain a decent level of performance on the digital side while not becoming caught up in the component of the month club (things seem to change pretty quickly in this area).

I have played around with DACs ever since the days of the original Arcam Black Box (anyone remember them - c. late 1980s - the Arcam gear was usually built like a battleship and I still use a CD player in one of my systems - about triple the weight of modern players and has never missed a beat).

As part of my more recent ain system overhaul, I decided to try a newer DAC. I had been using a Classe DAC-1, a highly rated and quite good sounding unit, but one channel had died on it (I may still see if it is worth fixing). I ended up with a Hegel HD-12 which has turned out to provide very decent sound, and my friend who was using a Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100, IIRC, wanted to A/B them in my system as it was more revealing than his we thought.

It was an interesting session. Both sounded fairly good even when listening blind, but the minute we switched from the Cambridge to the Hegel, the sound stage expanded a metre or so past the outside of the speakers. Aside from that, we concluded that we both liked the Hegel better and he later ended up buying one, but I was left with the urge to understand how a digital conversion could affect the sound stage like that.

Has anyone experienced that sort of thing and do you have any idea why it would do that?

Since there is two of you did you get to observe both dacs in two systems ?

[wspohn]

Since there is two of you did you get to observe both dacs in two systems ?

No, he brought his DAC to my place; we didn't try the opposite and compare them in his system. However he informed me that the improvements we heard at my place were replicated in his home system once he had his Hegel.

[Audioraven]

Many people forget/don't realize that a DAC's analog section has just as much, if not more, effect on sound quality as the digital converter section does. My guess is that the widening of soundstage you heard is mostly due to the superior analog output stage of the Hegel DAC. Just my two cents.

[Joe Pittman]

I totally agree. In addition the power supply has a huge impact on sound quality, imaging, timing, etc. I like seeing separate power supplies for the digital and analog sections.

[Audioraven]

I agree with you, Joe. I totally forgot about the power supply piece of the sound quality puzzle.

[Alrainbow]

I don't know how many my msb has ? But my lampi has many over ten
the ps audio has a few too. Anolog sections and psu must account as well. But as a unit it's all part of it and rarely can we change out either part.