Another beautiful presentation. You have a lot of followers here in Belgium! Once purchased, I have to spend years with my stereo system before I can purchase something new. Currently I am very satisfied with the CAMBRIDGE CXN-V2 network player. In combination with the CAMBRIDGE CX-A81 amplifier as well as the CAMBRIDGE CXC CD player and KEF R500 speakers, these devices have already given me a lot of listening pleasure. Thank you for your honest and thorough explanation.
A wonderful summation of the year's products with your very rational and succinct perspectives to round out the year. Thank you as always for your time and effort to share this with us all. A very Merry Christmas to you and your family, and I look forward to your next year presentations with much anticipation. Stay well and all the best, Sir.
For me, as for you, it was the Aries Mini. My introduction to streaming (other than playing my Astell & Kern portable via an Arcam Blink) has been a revelation in sound quality. That is, when it’s working. When it goes into a not infrequent sulk and will not connect, it is, as my wife reflects, the cause of a great deal of cursing. But for the price (I paid c£430) its output is a delight. I may try the power supply you mention. Thanks for a great channel.
Thanks for your recommendations, Tarun. You can't have avoided the multiple positive reviews of Wiim products this year. I know you're not averse to reviewing budget equipment, so I'd love you to audition the Wiim Pro going through your Denafrips DAC. I know it is nothing special to look at and has no screen, but its streaming abilities and app are second to none. Happy Christmas 🎄
Merry Christmas Tarun, I can't believe it is that time again. Thank you for doing these reviews. I hope you will continue to review plenty of British products. I live in New Zealand but I do love the British sound.
Great video as always. Would love to hear your impressions on digital streamers/DACs of the next price brackets, things like Chord Dave, Aqua La Scala II, T+A 200 DAC, and Esoteric N05-XD (the one I decided to keep). Keep up the fantastic work!
Absolutely love the idea of you reviewing a couple of cd players in 2024, Tarun. While Harley Lovegrove did a tremendous job reviewing several players and did a great history of the cd player over three videos (some of my favorites of the year in our little community), it would be great to hear your perspective of where we're at with the compact disc in 2024. The Cyrus (with and w/o external power supply, the venerable Rega Saturn, which I recently purchased, and even the Shanling transport paired with a DAC like the Ares or Venus, I'd love to hear your thoughts on.
Some incredible gear and a great video! I think the Gustard R26 and the Denafrips Terminator should both be available with optional clear tops. Those are beautiful inside as well as outside. I'm glad you show us the "innards."
My favorite source of this year is the Geshelli Labs Dayzee - their new flagship DAC. It is a dual AKM 4499EX (with two AKM 4191 chips as well) and it uses eight op-amps. I have heard the stock version, which uses eight OPA1655 op-amps. But it can be upgraded to using eight Sparkos SS2590 discrete op-amps.
Sounds great, you already got one? The website says coming soon... Geshelli has nice products with many options, unfortunately its not easy to get in the EU (shipping costs + taxes), so the value for money shrinks a bit.
@@Djehuti-85 I heard the Dayzee on their Capital Audiofest system with my Tower 6 speakers. I shared that room with Geshelli, and both the Dayzee and the newest Zoofa integrated amp was really amazing. Like I said, that was with the TI op-amps. I can only imagine how great it will be with the big Sparkos. I think the cost is $1300, plus the Sparkos upgrade.
I am really happy with Eversolo dmp-a6 in combination with ifi neo idsd as an external dac. I got an almost analog sound. Thanks Tarun for the great reviews. Greetings from Croatia!
Thanks for another year-end review. Lovely DACs. I wish I had the funds to try them all. I use the Bluesound Node I purchased at the beginning of the year for my 2.2 channel music system but to answer your question. The top source I added this year is a CD player. I use the DAC in the preamp using the Node as a streamer. Maybe my CD player can fill the review gap you mentioned. It’s the Rotel RCD 1572 MKII that pairs beautifully with my RB 1572 and 1582 MKII preamp and amp. It has balanced XLR outputs to the preamp. The DAC matches the quality in the preamp. The tray mechanism is smooth and sturdy and the sound quality is much better than the Sony 300 disc carousel I’ve used for years. The player Got me to go back to my CD collection this year and I started buying CDs again. The quality and sound of my music both streaming and CD is usually hard to distinguish with my old ears. Sometimes one sounds better than the other but the differences with a well recorded album are minor. In the end the convenience of streaming usually wins out listening late at night. Cheers!
I have the Geshelli Labs J2 Dac fitted with the new 4499AKM chip and Sparkos Labs Op Amps on the balanced output stage. Really enjoying this Dac at around £600 with taxes and duty paid.
I purchased a new CD player about 9 months ago. After much auditioning, looking for something that delivered well balanced sound, was appropriately priced and would play SACDs... that was important to me since I have a fairly large collection of SACDs and it had to sound better than my Oppo UDP-205 Universal Player. I settled on the Marantz K1-Ruby SACD Player. I think its sound presentation reminds me of Goldilock's... it isn't to bright, neither to warm nor under detailed... it is just right.
Tarun have you had a chance to review any of the higher end Schiit DACS? Would be interested on your take on those. Thank you for all your wonderful reviews and have a Happy Holidays!
Awesome review. I have to agree with you the auralic aries g1.1 is brilliant and extremely stable. I connected it with a kimber select cable today and that took it to a whole new level. As for favourite source components of this year...the soulnote d1n dac. One of the most natural sounding dacs that I have heard. Cheers
CD transports and accompanying DAC’s are the new Audiophile Candy. Look forward to hearing the reviews, would like to see you ahead of the curve 😊 Thank you for the quality videos and reviews sir 💜
Best digital streamer I have ever heard is an Aurender. Huge soundstage (beyond speakers). I currently have an Aurender N10 using the AES output to and older Mytek Manhatten DAC. That combination with a Tube preamp and tube amp seem to jive well together. I am not sure if you had a lot of seat time with an Aurender or Mytek. My biggest surprise is when I changed from a coax digital connection to AES. That change to put into perspective was like changing to a different speaker. It was that significant. Aurender has higher end offerings that unfortunately my pocket book will not allow but maybe you can stretch yours sample the new N30SA. Very nice stuff. The only other DAC that has similar performance I hear locally is a Simaudio Moon DAC like the 280D or An Audio Research unit. The audio shop I go to in the upper midwest USA use either one of those as their reference for comparing other products.
Well I bought the A6 ME based on your award. It sure sounds way much better than my IPhone 15 Pro and it’s set up and operation is absolutely first class. Also it’s small form factor. They even gave me the remote. In China the ME is around US1K so it’s a bargain and I only waited 1 day for it. Great product.
Thank you. Nice video. Very detailed and smooth. Good comparison with 2023's best dacs. I have a question. for dac tech, fpga, r2r, delta sigma. What is the difference I mean as sound? if you build dac, which tech (fpga, r2r, delra sigma) do you use for basic?
Okay, I’ll bite 😂. My favourite source is my LP12 playing all the wonderful new and second hand records I’ve bought this year! Seriously though, your thorough round up leaves me thinking it’s going to cost a lot for me to be happy with a new DAC. It seems I have a choice between lots of detail and some other key attributes to the sound I love. I know everyone likes to think I burn money on my turntable, but I could see a DAC costing even more! Thanks for all the hard work this year and I look forward to your amp roundup. 😄👍
More good stuff Tarun and Happy Holidays. Haven't picked one yet, but my next purchase will be a new CD transport. Not that there's anything wrong with my Audiolab. Spinning silver discs is how I prefer my music. Saw this great cartoon about vinyl. "I prefer it because it's expensive and inconvenient".
But seriously, vinyl can be the superior playback medium. The reason I like playing discs is that it encourages me to sit still and listen rather than flipping around between tracks.@@alexg4284
Gustard R26: seriously a giant killer. I’m currently comparing it with with PS Audio DirectStream dac that used to cost $7k and I find stark differences. PSA DSD is pretty resolving but not as resolving as R26 and R26 has sweeter midrange while DSD plays way too safe in the midrange. Both have similar bass tone and texture. For me (kef r3 and Yamaha as1200) tonally DSD is no match for R26 and DSD is usually compared to Denafrips Terminator! On top of it, R26 keeps getting better with break-in. I only wish it looked better. Thank you for introducing this amazing DAC, Tarun!
Thanks Tarun. Return to the 90s now that Yamaha is going to make a multi disk CD player. Memories of my old Rotel of decades ago. I'd like to see you review the Border Patrol DAC. Made in the US by an Expat Brit. .
@@scruffy8861 I sold my Nakamichi in the 90’s for unknown & obviously dumb reasons but got a Sony Pro Walkman which I still have. Both play music beautifully 🎵
Sir u have to review the Eversolo A8 in comparison to these. I'm looking to buy a streamer, but why pay 1000s for a streamer, when u can pay much less for great performance and sound. Great review.
I’m currently using a DSC Bartók for my main system but my DSC network bridge feeding a 10+ year old Weiss Dac 202 still sounds awesome. Some old SOTA DACs may be worthy of consideration and picked up for a good price.
Hi Aba, thanks a lot for your very interesting video, I like it very much! I‘m owning a Camebridge Edge A amplifier for a few weeks now and have the following questions to you: 1) Would it be the money worth to buy one of the „low priced“ streamer for my system, even if I am mostly analogue fan (Nottingham spacedeck 294 turntable)? 2) Is it correct to assume that the built in SAC in the CA Edge will be a better quality than in bluesound/Eversolo? 3) If so, what would be the best connection between streamer and amplifier? As I understood, it should be connected via USB, right? Thanks a lot in advance! Sebastian
Thanks a lot Tarun for your channel and this great overview. I'm a 2 channel and home theater enthusiast and in the latter space most brands are including dirac live in their offerings. I don't see this trend in 2 channel land, do you think this will add to the sound quality and that it will come to 2 channel in the dac/streamer domain? It made a real big difference in my 5.1.4 setup...
NAD and others have dirac live or similar software in many 2 channel products, including C658 streamer. It doesn't always improve stereo system, room treatment is a better option.
@gottrekk5798 jep, agree nad and arcam plus a few others. But I don't see new comers/more components. Plus the new line of arcam streamers don't have it.
My experience is that DSP can do some great things with bass management. Unfortunately, it tends to cause phase irregularities in the midrange and upper frequencies. Newer DSP engines have got better but there is no free lunch 😊
R26 with master clock and DDC is at or above the level of the Terminator II in my system, but then I have tubes in my system so that is a wild card that makes direct comparison difficult as it makes accounting for different synergies impossible.
I know it's way off topic, but I'm sure many viewers of your channel would be interested in how to find correct phase in a Hi-Fi system - I'm sure you check the phase before you plug a new device into your audio system. A video on this would be very informative indeed.
What a lovely video! I am a newbie in the audiophile world. You convinced me (together with the rest of the internet :) that Eversolo DMP A6 is a sensible choice in the respective price category. There is only one question I am struggling to find an answer for: is there going to be a perceptible sound enhancement when pairing it with my Rotel A14 mk II amp and Wharfedale Lintons? Currently I am streaming via bluetooth from my smartphone. And all the answers I was able to find talk about the range of a stremer vs BT, higher quality of a DAC in a streamer, user frendlier interface of a streamer... However I am unable to find a direct statement saying that the sound quality will be clearly higher. Can you please share your view? Thank you
I used to use Apple Airplay and a cheap Amazon DAC. I’ve made the move to an Eversolo DMP-A6. The difference is not huge, and a bit disappointing until I stopped thinking about it. Bass is much more noticeable detailed, but not like my CD player or vinyl. I’ve got a Krell FBP600 / Classé pre / B&W 802D2, which should make the differences obvious
@@petervirnuls7879 Thank you for your input, Peter. I am amazed that in a HiFi reviews world it is so hard to find any clear information regarding the sound improvement. Suspicious 🙂 I will have the A6 delivered before Christmas. Eagerly expecting it. If I find any improvement compared to sourcing the music from smartphone BT, it will be a happy holiday. Congrats on those beautiful B&W speakers!
@@albertjurcisin8944 thanks. I did worry that I should have waited for the A8, but it seems the extra might be better spent on an external DAC. That can be a choice for later
Love this video from my FAVORITE "reviewer" 😊 So many good things; so many ideas I am getting watching this!! * reaching for my purse to get my wallet * 🤭😋
Earlier this year I upgraded my Audiolab M DAC to the Denafrips Venus 12th anniversary model. I expected the 5 times the price Venus to make a night and day difference. It didn’t. Not even dusk and dawn. The audio reproduction was however differ. That ‘digital edge’ was substantially reduced. The presentation was more natural, dare I say, analog sounding. The Delta Sigma produced a ‘wall of sound’. All musicians vying for front of stage dominance. The Venus producing a more layered soundstage with each musician having their own clearly defined space. The absence of a remote control with the Venus is initially an inconvenience but you quickly add apt. I have both DACs housed in my media cabinet and the Venus is prioritised, but, in view of the age differ between them and separate DAC topologies employed, I would say they are more similar than they are different.
@@howardskeivys4184 Worthy partners for sure. I have the original Terminator which replaced a heavily modified MHDT Orchid I'd had in my system for a few years. Both R2R designs, I was hoping for a refinement of what the Orchid does and that's precisely what I got. Not an earth shattering difference, but certainly worth the price of admission (substantially less on the used market). I expect it to be in my system for at least as long as the Orchid. Enjoy!
I don’t know how far above £3,000 you’re going, but after trying out multiple DAC’s and streamers, I bought the Grimm Mu1 streamer. Nothing else below or at its price came close in terms of SQ.
I am stretching the price points organically. I want to establish enough references points below before moving up. That way I can convey what you get for the extra outlay. In summary, I will get there in time 😊
Hi Tarun. What speaker cable would you recommend for a Farlowe era exposure amplifier? Ive been trying to find some used exposure cable but its non existent. Thanks.
@@abritishaudiophile7314Thanks. Out of curiosity what do you use for your exposure mono’s? Im using a chord cable atm, sounds good, i think its fairly average capacitance.
@@russellparker4568 I used the K20 for years. Now I use Audiomica Red. Just avoid low inductance cables with twisted pair configuration. This is because the Exposure amps have no Zoble network on the output 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314 Really appreciate the replies, I’ve noticed you reply to every comment, truly dedicated to your channel, best hifi channel on youtube by a long way in my opinion.
Hi Tarun, on the Bluesound, regarding the single USB port. Do you think it would be possible to use a passive multiport USB hub? If so, it would provide access to extra storage and an external USB DAC, especially if it could be powered from a source other than USB. If you still have the unit, it might be worth a try.
Wiim pro plus and smsl su-1 dac. If you had a "Best value source gear" category, these would be it.😀 BTW you'll definitely review some cd players. There are new product launches from a lot of companies. Maybe a cd craze is about to happen.
all i need is streamer only without DAC for my Pontus below $1500, please review something in this price range. are you planing on reviewing the new Denafrips streamer? thank you
My son bought the A6 master edition with active G3 genelec spkr. . I’m wondering if it is any better sounding than my IPhone 15 pro connected via usb C to my DDC - DAC as I only listen to Apple Music as other services are not available in China and also it is only US14 for 1 year, yes you heard it right.
Turntables are getting larger with separate motor units, longer arms & more sizeable plinths all to justify those high prices. We don't all live in a mansion & drive limos, do we?
