Well, I went ahead and ordered this DAC during this past Black Friday sales. A month or so previous to this purchase I had bought the Denafrips Ares II (12th) and although it sounded 'fast' and musically engaging it also 'rolled off' the high frequencies a bit too much for my 'I like it real' tastes. Luckily for me that Denafrips DAC had its problems (extraneous noises came creeping in from time to time disrupting the listening experience, so I had to return it). I can say I like the Draco much more than the Denafrips because of the more 'natural' sound coming out of it. And the 300-hour burn-in period is totally true (at first it sounded way too compressed, unnatural, etc.). After the burn-in period, this thing has opened up and has been churning out great sounds ever since. The bass is tight, strong, and fast, the mids and highs are 'correct' too. I've been listening to all sorts of old CDs that I thought I knew well but to my surprise, this DAC presents much more detail and holographic presentation than I had experienced before...a total shock! I did change the power cord and the 2 fuses inside so that might have helped. Another thing to keep in mind is WHERE you connect it. The sound is completely different if your power source is clean than if it's just plugged into a regular outlet...so experiment before returning!
Hi, what would You recomend for a clean power delivery?, I have a toroidal power supply hum with My amp and I justo placed an order for a Draco, I don't want a hum symphony haha
@@antoniopenalopez8884 Hello, the first thing I would check is if you have things like TV, cable box, etc. connected to the same power supply or whatever you are using to give power to your amp. Also, check your cables one by one until you find a culprit. If none of that works try something like the Soundavo PMX-1100 Power Conditioner (if you are going on the inexpensive route) or the IsoTek EVO3 Mini Mira (or any of their more expensive siblings). There are many other reputable brands of course like Furman, AudioQuest, etc.
You are a “precise poet” = you can describe things more accurately than a scientist can do; I immediately understand what you mean by: ““Like sunshine is coming trough the window and it shines on the soundstage so you can see all those dusty particles in the air and you can just feel the air, whereas E70 Velvet feels like the air itself is a little bit cleaner and darker and tones are more isolated from the air, but not more revealing.”
Great review! It appears that the Musician Draco is a very good R2R DAC with an affordable price. I own the *Ladder Schumman* , and that DAC provides an incredible soundstage, with a darker background and plenty of details. Highly recommended! 17:07
It is amazing that we have such a range of choices in DACs. And Denafrips has changed the Ares II to the Ares 12th Anniversary - to the Ares 12th-1, now.
Excellent review with your typical comparisons. Thank you for reinforcing the definition of real men. It’s exactly how I feel. I worked on IBM mainframes for 40 years. I shamed all manual readers.
A thing to note is the output power is 2.8v via XLR and 1.4v on RCA so if one is using lower powered amplification, you may have to turn the volume up much higher relative to other dacs which output higher voltage to get a similar SPL you are used to in your room. It might have to be paired up with a suitable preamp to boost the signal without affecting the qualities it brings to the table. That and typically RCA output may not be good enough as compared to the XLR output. Otherwise tempted to try one but feel it isn't most suitable for my current system.
This Dac is on my wishlist, but how would you compare it to the Eversolo dmp-a6? Is the Draco an upgrade in every way over the a6 or are they just different approaches?
Thanks for the review. I just returned smsl do300ex. It made my ears hurt. Ive had a shiit gungnir DS for 12 years sold it and bought the 300ex. The 300ex did alot of things right but to my ears didnt convey the emotional link to the music. I brought the modi multibit OG out of retirement for now. I prefer the R2R sound. Thanks again from Chicago.
Great review, thank you! For analog like sounding chip based DACs it's worth a try to SMSL VMV D1SE2 or their upcoming DAC VMV D2R which uses ROHM flagship DAC like in D300 but with better implementation and linear PSU.
Your description of Musician Draco as well as the others related to DAC R2R are rasing in me the interest to invest money in a DAC R2R i would like to know if the sound produced by this DAC or by any DAC R2R can be appreciated when input to an amplifier in class D or it is better invest in a more cheaper DAC delta sigma ? In may case i have a Sabaj A20a 2022.
@@iiWiReviews definitely try to get some capable 3.5mm -> RCA cable or a good adapter. Mojo 2 won against RME ADI-2 FS for me. Less focused but much more coherent, musical, sweet, a bit wider and deeper. Amazing DAC but I'm thinking about Pegasus now.
what did you used for connecting draco to preamp? xlr or rca? the WaveTheory reviewer says that the sound is very different... cant find this information in description of your review.
I tried both. They sounded slightly different and XLR was better... But I didn't notice a very big difference. It might be due to different quality cables in his case.
Pozdrav! Znam da svi mi tražimo savjet što je bolje? Što se bolje čuje ....itd.Dosadni smo ali moram da pitam za savjet jer nemam gdje usporediti zvuk između tradutto i darka.Traduttu fali dubina i činilo zvuk je dobar ali preferiram širu pozornicu i dubinu.Koliko bi dobio sa darkom.Unapred zahvaljujem na odgovoru tj.savjetu.Poz!
Pozdrav. Malo je teže ovde dati konkretan savet jer je prošlo solidno vremena od kada sam imao Tradutta do kada sam prvi put slušao Draco. Čak nijedan DAC između njih nemam sa kojim su oba bila poređena pa da tako zaključim. Zato mogu samo ovako uopšteno da kažem da Tradutto jeste imao prilično skromnu, usku, zvučnu scenu. Draco je sigurno širi i vazdušastiji ali nivo razlike (malo ili puno) ne bih smeo da tvrdim posle ovoliko vremena. Ono što je sigurno je da je Draco otvorenijeg zvuka sa više vazduha i utegnutijim basom. Tradutto je tamniji i malo skučenijeg zvuka. Toliko od mene bez direktnog poređenja. Pozdrav
Hi. Sorry I can't find your name. Too bad the Draco cannot be compared to the Denafrips Ares II, same technology and price point. Very interesting nonetheless. Keep up the great work!
Thank you for your detailed reviews, could you sometime share your review process, like how do you switch dacs, im interested in how you manage audio memory, which in my experience is very tough to remember specific details.
In my experience, quick switching from one to the other is not good since it doesn't let you relax and notice fine details and subtle differences. That's not about music and how we use products in reality, and I don't do that. I usually listen to several songs I like using one DAC then I repeat the same songs using the other DAC... then return to the first one for a quick "let's be sure" session. Memory is a funny thing, and even though we might not hold the exact tone in memory for long, we can hold our own impressions and feelings about it much longer. For example, you know that some person has a high-pitched and annoying voice even though you haven't talked to that person for months. If you watched "Friends" 10 years ago, you still remember how Janice sounds I'm sure. :) Also, if you like how someone sounds (like I love Norah Jones' voice), you can tell that most other voices are simply not as pleasant to you even though you haven't heard the one you like for weeks. Simply, our cognitive system remembers much better how we felt about something and why, it doesn't store the exact signal information like computers do. Because of that, anytime someone talks about how we can't remember a sound for longer than a few seconds, minutes, etc. That's true to some extent but it's not how our memory truly works - otherwise, we wouldn't remember our loved ones' voices when we're apart for longer than a few minutes and everybody knows we do.
Hello, sorry for coming with the same coment to second video if you noticed, I assume maybee you dont chceck that much questions on old videos thats why I come here. There are reviews of, and also musicion strongly recomends using xlr over rca becouse of dac output quality difference. Is using xlr to rca cables for this purpose solution?
XLR to RCA cable is not balanced, it just uses the same information from half of the XLR output, which is exactly the same as using RCA cables to begin with. So if the next device in your chain doesn't have balanced inputs, don't bother with mixed connections, just use RCA and don't worry... It's still very good.
Draco vs D30 Pro? For me, D30 Pro works well only with a 5.12 driver, 2.44 firmware, and no filters (other drivers and firmware distort the vocals and other sounds).
I only had Ares II before this 12th firmware upgrade... And I prefer Draco to Ares II in that case. It has much higher resolution and speed. But I never tried Ares II with this latest firmware that goes into Ares II 12th so I can't comment on it.
Potential of RMA return to China - as to date this is the only way to handle defective or faulty unit makes me to take a pause on the purchase. It could always turn into 1 k USD paper weight. Does anyone here have any experience working with Aoshida on defective units? What about post warranty repair?
Coaxial. Has greater bandwidth available, meaning it can support audio up to 24-bit/192kHz. Optical is usually restricted to 96kHz. All that matters on what kind of hi res files you play. If its 320kbps mp3 or standard flac files, it doesn't matter. Moreover, if its a short run (0.5 or 1m) you won't have any sync loss and thus drop outs. Cable doesnt matter that much, just make sure its a 75 Ohm one. Pangea Premier, CYK, Oyaide, Inakustik, Oehlbach, Wireworld Chroma, Audioquest Forest, Chord C-digital, are good brands. Nothing more than 50-60 euros or $ for 1m. Even less for less length.
DMP A-6 has the best optical output. I compared coax, optical and usb from A-6 and optical is easy winner. And no it`s not limited to 96khz. Optical is basically SPDIF so nowadays it runs up to 192/24 in stereo as a technology standard.
Well played. Mojo 2 looks like it came directly from the ship in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. NASA team couldn't communicate with it without the manual. 😄
I'll review it too. I've been using it for some time now with headphones and it really sounds great. But I didn't have time to put it in my main speaker setup yet to weigh it against few other DACs critically.
They're roughly in the same tier but Z8 is very modern sounding clean and somewhat analytical. Draco is richer sounding with better tone timbre and bigger soundstage, but it doesn't sacrifices deteils. I prefer Draco.
@@iiWiReviews That almost sounds like how you may have described the Gustard R26. I took your suggestion and purchased a SMSL SU-1 and paired it with the Wiim Pro. I have preferred the R2R DACs because they sound closer to what you hear on a stage when performing. R2R DACs also don't flatten the sound stage as badly as Sabre dacs do. Thanks for your great reviews.
@iiWi Reviews. Thank you for you content. Which DAC, withous goind into insane price, would resolve better that internal DAC of Hegel H120? What would you recommend? ❤
Why don’t you tell us how many hours you put on for review ,company and others including myself 300+ hours to fully runin , and oversampling ,Vs non oversampling too change the sound No mention Why ? And yes a good power cord makes it sound better.
The latest firmware results in more than subtle changes, i'd love to hear a comparison review with both Ares 2 pre and post update. Don't forget to get the USB firmware and the latest driver too!
Considering most DACs have pretty unintuitive interfaces, the manual is a necessity. I do some work on electronics... Had a call out last week where the oven stopped working. It was just a setting, user didn't look at the manual and called me instead. That's REAL stupid.
![ARGENTINA vs. BOLIVIA [6-0] | RESUMEN | ELIMINATORIAS SUDAMERICANAS | FECHA 10](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/C3wPtKNbAOA/mqdefault.jpg)
And: “That sensation of air connecting all those tones is not as present in SU-10”
Man, you are a genius in the language of music reproduction.
Well, I went ahead and ordered this DAC during this past Black Friday sales. A month or so previous to this purchase I had bought the Denafrips Ares II (12th) and although it sounded 'fast' and musically engaging it also 'rolled off' the high frequencies a bit too much for my 'I like it real' tastes. Luckily for me that Denafrips DAC had its problems (extraneous noises came creeping in from time to time disrupting the listening experience, so I had to return it). I can say I like the Draco much more than the Denafrips because of the more 'natural' sound coming out of it. And the 300-hour burn-in period is totally true (at first it sounded way too compressed, unnatural, etc.). After the burn-in period, this thing has opened up and has been churning out great sounds ever since. The bass is tight, strong, and fast, the mids and highs are 'correct' too. I've been listening to all sorts of old CDs that I thought I knew well but to my surprise, this DAC presents much more detail and holographic presentation than I had experienced before...a total shock! I did change the power cord and the 2 fuses inside so that might have helped. Another thing to keep in mind is WHERE you connect it. The sound is completely different if your power source is clean than if it's just plugged into a regular outlet...so experiment before returning!
Hi, what would You recomend for a clean power delivery?, I have a toroidal power supply hum with My amp and I justo placed an order for a Draco, I don't want a hum symphony haha
@@antoniopenalopez8884 Hello, the first thing I would check is if you have things like TV, cable box, etc. connected to the same power supply or whatever you are using to give power to your amp. Also, check your cables one by one until you find a culprit. If none of that works try something like the Soundavo PMX-1100 Power Conditioner (if you are going on the inexpensive route) or the IsoTek EVO3 Mini Mira (or any of their more expensive siblings). There are many other reputable brands of course like Furman, AudioQuest, etc.
You are a “precise poet” = you can describe things more accurately than a scientist can do; I immediately understand what you mean by:
““Like sunshine is coming trough the window and it shines on the soundstage so you can see all those dusty particles in the air and you can just feel the air, whereas E70 Velvet feels like the air itself is a little bit cleaner and darker and tones are more isolated from the air, but not more revealing.”
Great review. Thank you so much for your time and effort to share this with us all. Much appreciated and very helpful.
Dude you are killing it with your reviews.
Review all kinds of stuff:)
Excellent vid. I think about other DAC's, but, my Tradutto is part of a Synergy chain that my heart will not break. Cool runnings
Your support is appreciated! 👍
I appreciate your skill in this hobby and for recommending the SU-10 it's phenomenal!
I appreciate your support, thanks!
Great review! It appears that the Musician Draco is a very good R2R DAC with an affordable price. I own the *Ladder Schumman* , and that DAC provides an incredible soundstage, with a darker background and plenty of details. Highly recommended! 17:07
It is amazing that we have such a range of choices in DACs. And Denafrips has changed the Ares II to the Ares 12th Anniversary - to the Ares 12th-1, now.
Nice, as always! Now just the SMSL D400EX is missing the puzzle 😎
Really great review. Thank you
awesome review as always, thank you!
Excellent review with your typical comparisons. Thank you for reinforcing the definition of real men. It’s exactly how I feel. I worked on IBM mainframes for 40 years. I shamed all manual readers.
I’d be interested in a comparison between this and the Schiit Bifrost
A thing to note is the output power is 2.8v via XLR and 1.4v on RCA so if one is using lower powered amplification, you may have to turn the volume up much higher relative to other dacs which output higher voltage to get a similar SPL you are used to in your room. It might have to be paired up with a suitable preamp to boost the signal without affecting the qualities it brings to the table. That and typically RCA output may not be good enough as compared to the XLR output. Otherwise tempted to try one but feel it isn't most suitable for my current system.
You proved again you are The King of Comparisons,
This Dac is on my wishlist, but how would you compare it to the Eversolo dmp-a6? Is the Draco an upgrade in every way over the a6 or are they just different approaches?
Thanks for the review. I just returned smsl do300ex. It made my ears hurt. Ive had a shiit gungnir DS for 12 years sold it and bought the 300ex. The 300ex did alot of things right but to my ears didnt convey the emotional link to the music. I brought the modi multibit OG out of retirement for now. I prefer the R2R sound. Thanks again from Chicago.
Great review, thank you! For analog like sounding chip based DACs it's worth a try to SMSL VMV D1SE2 or their upcoming DAC VMV D2R which uses ROHM flagship DAC like in D300 but with better implementation and linear PSU.
Where have you heard about new DAC VMV D2R?
Nice video. Does it crush SMSL SU-1?
SU-1 is good but not 10x its price good. Draco is better.
is laddder shumann dac the only comparable dac at $1400, what others can compete with ladder schumann at that price?
Your description of Musician Draco as well as the others related to DAC R2R are rasing in me the interest to invest money in a DAC R2R
i would like to know if the sound produced by this DAC or by any DAC R2R can be appreciated when input to an amplifier in class D or it is better invest in a more cheaper DAC delta sigma ?
In may case i have a Sabaj A20a 2022.
Considering the first R2R DAC, how would Draco sound compared to SMSL D300 ROHM chip?
Como estas? yo sigo tu canal y tengo los dos dac El Musician Draco y Gustard A 26. Cual de los dos es mejor dac?
Great review!
Hope you can get a chord mojo 2 in for review.
It's already in, I bought it out of curiosity.
@@iiWiReviews I’m looking forward to the review.
@@iiWiReviews definitely try to get some capable 3.5mm -> RCA cable or a good adapter. Mojo 2 won against RME ADI-2 FS for me. Less focused but much more coherent, musical, sweet, a bit wider and deeper. Amazing DAC but I'm thinking about Pegasus now.
what did you used for connecting draco to preamp? xlr or rca? the WaveTheory reviewer says that the sound is very different... cant find this information in description of your review.
I tried both. They sounded slightly different and XLR was better... But I didn't notice a very big difference. It might be due to different quality cables in his case.
You made me realize for the first time that I am a “real man”. Thanks.
You're welcome.
Pozdrav!
Znam da svi mi tražimo savjet što je bolje? Što se bolje čuje ....itd.Dosadni smo ali moram da pitam za savjet jer nemam gdje usporediti zvuk između tradutto i darka.Traduttu fali dubina i činilo zvuk je dobar ali preferiram širu pozornicu i dubinu.Koliko bi dobio sa darkom.Unapred zahvaljujem na odgovoru tj.savjetu.Poz!
Pozdrav. Malo je teže ovde dati konkretan savet jer je prošlo solidno vremena od kada sam imao Tradutta do kada sam prvi put slušao Draco. Čak nijedan DAC između njih nemam sa kojim su oba bila poređena pa da tako zaključim. Zato mogu samo ovako uopšteno da kažem da Tradutto jeste imao prilično skromnu, usku, zvučnu scenu. Draco je sigurno širi i vazdušastiji ali nivo razlike (malo ili puno) ne bih smeo da tvrdim posle ovoliko vremena.
Ono što je sigurno je da je Draco otvorenijeg zvuka sa više vazduha i utegnutijim basom. Tradutto je tamniji i malo skučenijeg zvuka. Toliko od mene bez direktnog poređenja. Pozdrav
@@iiWiReviews Puno Vam hvala i puno pozdrava!!!
You got my (deserved) thumb up at #realmen
i find l can get rid of digital sheen using cheap little tube pre-amps. After rolling tubes and op-amps
Which ones can you recommend?
Hi. Sorry I can't find your name. Too bad the Draco cannot be compared to the Denafrips Ares II, same technology and price point. Very interesting nonetheless. Keep up the great work!
Tack!
Thank you for your detailed reviews, could you sometime share your review process, like how do you switch dacs, im interested in how you manage audio memory, which in my experience is very tough to remember specific details.
In my experience, quick switching from one to the other is not good since it doesn't let you relax and notice fine details and subtle differences. That's not about music and how we use products in reality, and I don't do that. I usually listen to several songs I like using one DAC then I repeat the same songs using the other DAC... then return to the first one for a quick "let's be sure" session.
Memory is a funny thing, and even though we might not hold the exact tone in memory for long, we can hold our own impressions and feelings about it much longer. For example, you know that some person has a high-pitched and annoying voice even though you haven't talked to that person for months. If you watched "Friends" 10 years ago, you still remember how Janice sounds I'm sure. :) Also, if you like how someone sounds (like I love Norah Jones' voice), you can tell that most other voices are simply not as pleasant to you even though you haven't heard the one you like for weeks. Simply, our cognitive system remembers much better how we felt about something and why, it doesn't store the exact signal information like computers do. Because of that, anytime someone talks about how we can't remember a sound for longer than a few seconds, minutes, etc. That's true to some extent but it's not how our memory truly works - otherwise, we wouldn't remember our loved ones' voices when we're apart for longer than a few minutes and everybody knows we do.
Hello, sorry for coming with the same coment to second video if you noticed, I assume maybee you dont chceck that much questions on old videos thats why I come here. There are reviews of, and also musicion strongly recomends using xlr over rca becouse of dac output quality difference. Is using xlr to rca cables for this purpose solution?
XLR to RCA cable is not balanced, it just uses the same information from half of the XLR output, which is exactly the same as using RCA cables to begin with. So if the next device in your chain doesn't have balanced inputs, don't bother with mixed connections, just use RCA and don't worry... It's still very good.
@@iiWiReviews Thank you
Draco vs D30 Pro? For me, D30 Pro works well only with a 5.12 driver, 2.44 firmware, and no filters (other drivers and firmware distort the vocals and other sounds).
Draco is more revealing, has better bass control, and more spacious soundstage.
Musician R2R DAC or Denafrips Ares II, which is better ?
I only had Ares II before this 12th firmware upgrade... And I prefer Draco to Ares II in that case. It has much higher resolution and speed. But I never tried Ares II with this latest firmware that goes into Ares II 12th so I can't comment on it.
Potential of RMA return to China - as to date this is the only way to handle defective or faulty unit makes me to take a pause on the purchase. It could always turn into 1 k USD paper weight. Does anyone here have any experience working with Aoshida on defective units? What about post warranty repair?
THANKS SRBJ 🤗💚💚💚
but what do studios use for ADC, becuase i believe the producer of those ADC's can only produce the best DAC.
Which sounds best to your ears?
What is the best way to connect the Eversolo DMP a-6 to my Gustard A26 DAC and recommended cable. Thanks
Coaxial. Has greater bandwidth available, meaning it can support audio up to 24-bit/192kHz. Optical is usually restricted to 96kHz. All that matters on what kind of hi res files you play. If its 320kbps mp3 or standard flac files, it doesn't matter. Moreover, if its a short run (0.5 or 1m) you won't have any sync loss and thus drop outs.
Cable doesnt matter that much, just make sure its a 75 Ohm one. Pangea Premier, CYK, Oyaide, Inakustik, Oehlbach, Wireworld Chroma, Audioquest Forest, Chord C-digital, are good brands. Nothing more than 50-60 euros or $ for 1m. Even less for less length.
DMP A-6 has the best optical output. I compared coax, optical and usb from A-6 and optical is easy winner.
And no it`s not limited to 96khz. Optical is basically SPDIF so nowadays it runs up to 192/24 in stereo as a technology standard.
Try using the mojo 2 without looking at the manual.
Well played. Mojo 2 looks like it came directly from the ship in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. NASA team couldn't communicate with it without the manual. 😄
@@iiWiReviews why not review it at some point.
I'll review it too. I've been using it for some time now with headphones and it really sounds great. But I didn't have time to put it in my main speaker setup yet to weigh it against few other DACs critically.
@@iiWiReviews
Eh…I'll just keep my Pontus II (with original firmware)….It sounds fantastic!
Where would the Eversolo Z-8 fit if you compared it to the Draco?
They're roughly in the same tier but Z8 is very modern sounding clean and somewhat analytical. Draco is richer sounding with better tone timbre and bigger soundstage, but it doesn't sacrifices deteils. I prefer Draco.
@@iiWiReviews That almost sounds like how you may have described the Gustard R26. I took your suggestion and purchased a SMSL SU-1 and paired it with the Wiim Pro. I have preferred the R2R DACs because they sound closer to what you hear on a stage when performing. R2R DACs also don't flatten the sound stage as badly as Sabre dacs do. Thanks for your great reviews.
@iiWi Reviews. Thank you for you content. Which DAC, withous goind into insane price, would resolve better that internal DAC of Hegel H120? What would you recommend? ❤
Do i see tubes in the background?
Yes, it's a Lampizator Baltic 3 DAC. Review is coming soon.
What about pure imaging? what would you choose?
Why don’t you tell us how many hours you put on for review ,company and others including myself
300+ hours to fully runin , and oversampling ,Vs non oversampling too change the sound
No mention Why ? And yes a good power cord makes it sound better.
I run in R2Rs for 300h before testing because they need it. There is a NOS vs OS mention in this video, that section is tagged too.
Comparison with the D400EX is not really worth it
399 on wallapop
This dac does not sound R2R at all get Pegasus
Hahahaha LOL
Real men don't read manuals! Indeed!
LAMPIZATOR!!!! OMG!!!!
Yes, it's Baltic 3, video coming soon.
Name and name font look cheap.
I do not trust this company. My Draco failed in under 6 months.
And that’s what I was thinking too. Products that fail are impossible for me to return. Ok. Not impossible, but extremely costly. Third World
Ares has had a firmware update, so maybe your comparison with it is kind of...outdated.
It kinda is, but many people are familiar with how it sounded before the update so I supposed it's better than skipping it altogether.
@@iiWiReviews fair enough
The latest firmware results in more than subtle changes, i'd love to hear a comparison review with both Ares 2 pre and post update. Don't forget to get the USB firmware and the latest driver too!
@@peterlarkin762 so i've heard. there's also a new version (an actual new unit)
I respect reviewers who read manuals , those are REAL MEN ...
Well I guess you're girly man...
Considering most DACs have pretty unintuitive interfaces, the manual is a necessity. I do some work on electronics... Had a call out last week where the oven stopped working. It was just a setting, user didn't look at the manual and called me instead. That's REAL stupid.
Another blatant Denafrips ripoff but without the reliability or any customer support