T+A DAC200 Review - Two DACs in one box! 

Fantastic review. Very detailed and knowledgeable as usual. I have to admit some of it goes over my head, but you have such a gift of explaining things clearly that I am learning every time. Thank you!

I love how when I watch a video review on your channel, I also learn things about the technology as well. DSD being something i haven't paid attention to but maybe should.

Great to see you back! Wow, what a listening room! Would love a video on that and your thoughts on the speakers, subs, electronics, and room treatment! I always learn so much from you. Congrats though honestly, it really looks like a special setup!

Marvelous as usual 👍 Articulate, knowledgeable, good ears & knows how to use measurements properly. Thank you

This channel has the best audio reviews on the net. I really appreciate the fact that he calls a spade a spade. An honest audio review, now that is refreshing

One of the most informative reviews I have heard, keep up the excellent work

Welcome back :) Also congrats on your listening room. It came together really nice. Great to see you've got some Zu speakers on hand. Can we expect some future speaker reviews as well?

Just subscribed, above the review. I suspect you're going to climb the ranks of the audio reviewers on RU-vid. Good luck!

It's great to see you're back at it. It's a relief to hear a review that cut through the sales jargon we're otherwise engulfed in. I've learned a lot about how hifi devices work, not that I understand all of it, but your technical explanations give me that aha experience. Keep up the good work, mate.

That is a very impressive setup you have, I wish I had some of your equipment :) Very good review too, I had never heard of the Ferrum Wandla DAC, hope to find out more about it.

Awesome review! GoldenSound's reviews are a tier above the rest in my opinion. Highly detailed in explaining relevant technical details and listening impressions and comparisons. As the very happy owner of a T+A DAC 200 I would agree with sound signature as GoldenSound has described it. In my system with my musical genres (indie, rock, folk) and my preferred sound signature, I liked the T+A better then the Holo Audio May L2 (both in PCM) with with I compared it for 2 weeks. The DAC 200 provided slightly more drive and dynamics to really let the music come to life. The May was just a tad polite in comparison. For me the soundstage of the May was amazing, definitely wider and more cues with regards to the venue, but in my system it made the soundstage too wide and lacking drive. I think that because of the somewhat smaller soundstage of the DAC 200, this soundstage hits the listener with a bit more force / focus, to me giving more emotional connection with the music (although that also might come from the slightly tube like distortion profile of the DAC 200). I do feel that system synergy and musical tastes play a large role in this and I rate the Holo May very highly (it has a unique and technically stellar sound) and was sad I could not keep both.. For reference: DDC: Dante D16, Amp: VAC Phi Beta 110i Speakers: Sonus Faber Guarneri Memento.

Looks Gorgeous!!!!

Thank you for this review

Wow... Excellent work. Nice to finally see the face behind the reviews. Welcome back! I have lots to learn about digital apparently, tho I'm definitely more of a a plug and play music lover😊 Beautiful music room. Enjoying the Grizsini project recordings right now. Since my friend Jim bought your Denafrips terminator dac, i guess we won't get a follow up on the 12th anniversary firmware updates? 🎵🎶🤔🎶🎵

Awesome review

Excellent review, the T&A DAC2000 PCM performance was hyped up elsewhere, but you really broke it down! Musician Audio just released their flagship Taurus Dac for $US3,800, with upgraded power supply, clocks, chassis, extra FPGMA chip, etc, over the Musician Aquarius which itself clearly beat Denafrips Pontus in an A-B sound demo by Pursuit Perfect Sound. Would you be able to review the Taurus sometime?

Great work yall ❤ . Dont have much experience with this brand. Love all the options.

Great review! Wandla keeps being a giant killer… kudos to Ferrum!

Excellent review - very strongly considering this as my next DAC. The higher performance as DSD is interesting. Good to see this format for your reviews as well. “The pair of hands” was good for a while but this is far better.

Excellent video! Just like the old days 😊

Superb xx

So just go with a Holo Audio May then?

I bought a Wandla+Hypsos based in part on your review and am really enjoying it, so thanks much for that. As I recall you said that the Hypsos would likely not much improve the performance of the Wandla, but I think it makes a very good DAC much better.

Last video was 6 months ago and I was getting worried that you weren't uploading stuff here. Nice video.

I absolutely love this new review format, but I’m going to put out a small request to try and include links to mentioned songs, as I found those incredibly useful. I know you didn’t explicitly play any of them (except one), but it’s still awesome to be able to go to them and actually hear the details you’re explaining. Otherwise, top marks!

I love the look of this thing!

It's great that you tested PCM and DSD separately; however, it would have also been helpful to get that comparison in other reviews, such as the Gustard X26 Pro, which is a DAC I own. Yes, as far as I know this is not a native DSD DAC, however putting it in NOS mode and feeding it DSD content has totally transformed my experience to the point that I can't stand PCM anymore. I appreciate that not everyone will be willing to go to these lengths, i.e. PCM to DSD conversion, however in my experience the effects cannot be overstated and this could be a huge factor in one's purchase-related decision-making. Even though the device appears to be mostly targeted at people who just want to "plug and play", it's important to show how much more performance can be squeezed out of it (some might still prefer PCM, but it's still important to show what's available and how audible these changes are).

Fully agree, got one and also prefer it with HQ player, it is really getting awesome.. Would you mind sharing your full DSD options on HQ Player?

Congratulations, these is next level reviewing! I wish you could hear an Aqua La Scala DAC!

Thanks for this Cameron, for the sake of simplicity & ease of use the Cen Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe is far more appealing. It can upsample PCM to DSD1024 & it’s output voltage from XLR is higher at 5V RMS than both the DAC 200 & May KTE when using DSD.

It’s a brilliant dac and I really like it in nos mode, however i have a denefrips venus 2 12th r2r dac and I found there is little to no difference in sound between the two..the t+a has lots more features than the Venus 2 but for me it’s not over a 3 grand difference sound wise.

The PCM sound is very nice for vocal-centric music. For pop, rock, folk etc it is superb. Very relaxing and pleasant. That is what could be expected from a Burr Brown chipset (although now made by Texas Instruments). There is a "tube like" element to it, and it can be dreamy good if that is what you are looking for. Feeding it DSD512 from a mid level PC running HQP is where it goes to another level technically. Incisive, detailed, precise - just fantastic - but that dreamy presentation of the PCM section can be great too. I like having the option to use either. I think perhaps you might be a bit harsh on the PCM sound - it can work beautifully for certain genres.

Upsampling everything to DSD and playing it through the DAC200 is absolutely incredible, far beyond anything else I have heard. Finally digital is better than vinyl in every aspect.

I don’t understand any of the techy stuff you are talking about! However, I have just bought a T+A DAC 200 and it sounds wonderful!

Fantastic !!! ;-)

I thought you were a headphone guy. How wrong I was. Very detailed review. You know your subject and it shows.

Nice review. I’ll stick with my May!

T+A offers (it was the first element of the 200 line actualy) the HA200 which is an headphone only streaming DAC, it is an expensive (way above my budget) DAC/Amp but I had been lucky to listen to it a couple of time (with T+A flagship headphone) and boy ho boy, it is a sweet system and combo

casually showing off his eames as well. hahaha lovely review btw

Great thorough and honest review, thanks a lot! In my opinion it’s far to expensive!

This is an honest and to the point review which told me all I want to know about the performance of the unit. I am not a DSD listener and will be looking for other DACs. The Atoll DAC300 is a great sounding DAC but the huge soundstange makes instruments foot print larger than what I like and so it is not for me.Will continue searching...

Thanks for the review ! What are some other true 1bit dsd converters ?

You could also use Auralic Sirius G 2.1 and have it upsample all content to DSD 512.. Feeding that to T+A DAC200 if you want plug and play upsampling and conversion to DSD without aditional hassel. It would significantly increase the cost though.

Good review because you explains how you think it sounds and a lot of if and buts. That said it only shows how subjective reviews are in contrast to the two other very good reviews I come of think of on RU-vid. All three of you are RU-vidrs with high credibility in my book.

I was at Axpona ‘23 & listened to 30+ DACs from $500-40K on high end racks including from T+A. In the end, the biggest difference: Speakers & Amplifier. Nobody I talked with gave much credit to any DAC.

I haven't checked out one of your videos for awhile. I am not very interested in headphone listening. I am more interested in stereo speaker listening. Previously, I was very interested in your dac reviews, but I always felt that your lack of high quality speakers in evaluating those dacs was a weak spot. I.E. rightly or wrongly, I don't believe that evaluation of a premium dac can be adequately performed only through headphones or a desktop speaker set-up. So, now that you have a revealing speaker set-up, that concern has been laid to rest. This review was excellent. I really appreciate your attention to detail. It's something that is often missing from other youtube reviews. I fall in the camp of easy peasy. Just tell me what works best with PCM files which the vast majority of us will consume; and how do we get the price to performance. What would I like to hear more from you? Advice on how a particular dac fits into an overall system in terms of price and performance. It is a practical issue. In a given system at a certain price level, what is a sensible purchase versus overspending because the rest of the system in not of sufficient quality to hear the difference or realize the full potential of the premium dac. In short, system matching information is really what is most useful to most viewers trying to make the most of their systems at a reasonable cost.

I own the PS Audio 'PerfectWave SACD Transport' which has an i2s port, so I can use the i2s protocol to drive my Holo Audio MAY KTE DAC, allowing me to hear the SACD layer on SACD discs in its native format. However, in your review here of the T&A DAC200, nowhere did you mention whether or not it has an i2s port, and if it does have one, can it be configured to align with the PS Audio i2s pin settings? The PS Audio's i2s protocol has become the default one for DACs like the Holo Audio May and Denafrips Terminator 2. GoldenSound, thank you for your beautiful presentations - you review equipment in depth whilst remaining highly intelligible; you are also thoughtful and considerate when comparing different manufacturers' products in your reviews, a quality which I greatly admire you for.

Hello @GoldenSound, excellent work. Your observations about DSD begs the question, how far down the price scale can one go and still get solid DSD performance?

I ran my dac200 with a Lumin U2 mini, and the mini would covert to dsd256. Roon will convert to dsd256, but it really stresses the Roon core…not recommended

Partial processing on a host PC. Very, very interesting. Thanks 👍👍. Acid Jazz, Funk & Brass 🔈🔉🔊

Really wished dacs with great Dsd performance like this one had internal filters to convert from pcm versus forcing us to get an external option.

How good was the preamp section?

Thanks for the review...you're very professional👍🏼who is your hair stylist...Stevie Wonder❓😜

I love your highly technical explanations. I am interested if anyone has assembled a list of the DACs which are capable of direct DSD conversion? I believe the Holo May does so, but then I really don’t have any idea of the processes and am likely wrong. Is it possible for you to draft a simple list. 😻😻😻

And it only just over 5000$. What a steal.

I wonder how it compares to the Bryston BDA3…

Absolutely great review. Thank you! A quick question though: You can see the SVS subs playing in one part of the video. Was that part of the DAC test? If so, how was the cross-over realized, as the T+A is only a 2 channel DAC?

For some reason, I trust you. Not only for this, but what you've done before too.

Good sophisticated review as always! Only two remarks: 1. Wished you would have mentioned that there is a special headhone-version of this with exceptional functions; the HA 200 as you spoke in the "do not buy it, if you want only listen with headphones" section. Why you are concealing this? To mention this would have been obvious. 2. When it is about the price, you have to consider the balanced class A amplifier AND the dedicated class A headphone amplifier in this device. These two embedded amplifiers cost something. Would have been fair. When you consider on the other side the Holo May plus your preamp, the Holo Serene you are far above the DAC 200 pricewise.

Very interesting video. I really appreciate the depth of explanation, especially given the discourse, when it comes to dacs, in this community has been one of the following three: they are all identical/snake-oil, THD+N starts and ends the discussion, and they are literally magic boxes that inexplicably improve the sound. I have not been the biggest fan of T+A, especially when it comes to the Solitare and the T+A HA200. I thought their headphones, while resolving, were barely on the technical level of the Hifiman Ananda let alone something like the Arya. The Solitare P would have been a great $1k headphone, but was sorely mispriced at $6,900. The amp was a sadder story, I thought it was rather harsh and grating not paring well with any of the headphones I tried paring it with (Especially sad given how beautiful their design is, one of the nicest looking metal boxes in the hobby)

Hands down, next to Darko, best audio reviewer on RU-vid. Keep up the good work, I know it's alot of work you are putting in but it's very much appreciated.

So I take away from this video that because I do most my listening from my desk using my PC I really should just get a DAC that does genuine 1 bit DSD processing and up-sample everything via HDplayer. New rabbit hole to look at 🙂

What are those equipment shelf units you use? I remember you mentioning them in an old video but I can't find it.

Will you review the new schiit Mjolnir 3? I'm really curious to see how it compares to the ferrum oor.

DACs over $3-4K have to compete with themselves more than in any other price/tier category. Expectations are high due to very high cost and implicit (or explicit) tier allocation, and many of them fall short as it is the case here.

Would love some links and/or just somewhere in the comments, a list of the songs you referenced in the video above. Cheers!

I love T+A, but this digital-to-analogue converter did not convince me, on the contrary, I found the slightly cheaper HoloAudio May much better.

how does this compare to the Holo May KTE that you've reviewed very favorably before?

I would love to see goldensound do a blind ab test of all these dacs. Would love to see if these impressions can survive the placebo

It is a pity that only a very small portion of all music is recorded in DSD….

Very cool to see a young dude like you so into this stuff. Super smart review.

As I chose between the Holo May and the T+A DAC200, I listened to both devices for about two weeks. As I could not really hear a difference in everyday use (on a quite revealing system) the fact that the May offers I2S did it for me. HDMI on the DAC200 is available as an extra, but this is NOT I2S, but to connect tv’s and similar equipment. I had to check at T+A for this because many dealers do not know. T+A does not (yet) believe in I2S they said, which in my opinion is a pitty. With a purple SR fuse and later a SR Master fuse the May sounds absolutely wonderful. So I could not agree more with your conclusion.

Please Review Eversolo DMP-A8:) Could Be interesting...

Are you sure that ESS DACs don't support native DSD because i have Technics SL-G700M2 and into its owner's manual it is clearly stated that it playbacks native DSD. And nothing is mentioned about second DAC.

You didn’t try the nos 2 mode? Wtf

I'm a bit suprised they didn't have a selector for DSD playback on it, as the dual PCM1795 in paralell per channel are capable of DSD (my DAC uses this arrangement). Having the option to playback DSD on the Burr Brown then switch to the discreet circuit would really show off the wonders they have acomplished and what you are paying for with the device. Great review as always

So the tiny Cayin RU7 accepts PCM and converts them to DSD 64/128/256 and then goes into 1-bit DAC. Why can't this device do the PCM to DSD conversion by itself? (The RU7 sounds absolutely fantastic by the way)

So 7k dac company failed to consider intersamples over and required your input to fix its oversight....

terrific,any reviewer who doesnt uses measurements is not reviewer,you are the best!

"Bit" of a DSD noob here (pun intended?). Does Audirvana convert to DSD? If so, with good results?

T, Update: I own a pair of Sound Artist LS35A's. "Life is Good". Best, D.

Ha2 im funy.. Thinkin bout usin it with my iem.. Peace!

Thought u was dead

DSD of this device cannot sound "significantly" better, cause it's like a "pure dsd" which has simple shift registers and uses a square window function. If they apply some better window functions for $7k, a sound would be much-much better. It's a matter of few dozens of 1-0.5% resistors. Couple of bucks

zmf caldera review when brother?

As with many T+A products - either overpriced or outdated 😂 BTW: Just look at the FW update process for which you need the MP-200 or how many connectors on the back are completely useless for a DAC user!

At this point I feel like the price is too high for this unit. I am sure the price is justify on economic level but DSD files are few, up sampling from PCM defeats the purpose of DSD, and if the PCM dac is not up tot he task why pay so much? That is why I always prefer pure units that does 1 thing but very well.

helow nice smokey effects very well made

I think I will order 6 or 7 and try a multi room solution on a budget..

So another DAC I can not hope to afford.

Ikea has now also a dac. It is called wandla 😂

get this man a haircut

The distortion would be so low that it would be below human perception.

$7000 and it can clip a high analog signal, not that great a design obviously, i like my RME

7k for a dac ffs

It's pretty kit, but I'd rather buy a boat instead.

Many useless connectors on the back but unfortunately no I2S!

First ❤

Second!

Bad to the bone.