Bill, thank YOU so much for giving up so much of your time, and for sharing so much new music, that allowed me to really get a handle on what this unique set of machines can do... What an amazing experience.
Um, as expressed during our conversations, it sounds fabulous...from 16 bit/44.1 kHz to 11.2 MHz! It never once sounded like typical digital gear, even some of the best I've heard, like the Ideon Absolute Suite that I use, the Spanish WADAX Atlantis three-box stack, or the Esoteric Grandios five-piece suite. And it so clearly bests the well-known and regarded three letter systems like MSB and dCS... These products set a new standard - in my personal experience - for making significant advances in the sound of digital playback.
Greg and Bill, thanks for your very informative video. Having had the pleasure of hearing Bill’s NADAC dac & clock first with Vivid Spirits and then with the Moya’s, it’s hard to put into words but hearing for yourself is a revelatory experience. As others have said we are experiencing the golden age of digital. Advances in technology, price/performance and understanding of why it’s not just 1’s & 0’s makes this possible.
There is a distinct possibility. Though Bill and I didn't specifically discuss that course of action, and I don't know when it would happen, I suspect that those machines will make it into play here at some point. Stay tuned... 😊
Thanks Greg for the review. If you have heard the Merging's previous NADAC I would love to hear about how does the NADAC D compare to their previous NADAC.
Astonishing stuff... In the simplest of terms I look forward to this tech being at a price point that I play at, it's an unfortunate truth that cutting edge capability has to come at this level first... But to say progress excites is an understatement. Greg, Bill thanks for this chat/content. 👍🏻
Hello, Marcus. I'm sure that, over time, this WILL become more affordable. But if you knew the *actual* development cost, combined with the years it took, not only would you be stunned - I know I was, you would easily understand why these first products cost what they do.
Greg, You said that the NADAC is a huge leap ahead of all previous digital for you but can you talk about what other DACs you tested the NADAC against when you visited Bill? Curious how you isolated the leap forward only to the DAC?
First, I did not in any way imply or suggest that the DAC was solely responsible for the sonic accomplishments I was hearing - it was the two-box system, the clock, AND the DAC. Further, I'm not sure how I could be more specific in my statement regarding the systems that I feel it outperforms, or bests. This Master Fidelity two-box system (clock and DAC) renders music in a way that is closer to the sound one hears at a live performance, or the mic feed, if you like. It is more intimate without being etched, edgy, or offering any glare, more revealing, in terms of allowing for more native sounds of instruments, the hammers, strings, and sounding board of the piano, the wooden bodies of the string families, for instance, without artificially spotlighting, and offers a more natural and articulate recreation of the acoustic of the recording than ANY other digital playback system in my experience. The sonic reconstruction with this gear takes you deeper into, closer to, the performances, and with a level of clarity - and I don’t mean a “reduction” of haze or indistinctness - than I’ve previously experienced. The result is a level of revealed nuance so intimately presented, so immediate, and so naturally rendered, that you have to experience it to understand. The experience is much the same as listening to the Kronos Discovery turntable - the sonic result is a step that much closer to the performance, leaving the artifacts from even the very best of other systems behind. Clearly no one, myself included, has heard everything under every possible condition. And I've no intention of disparaging ANY manufacturer. Still, this system so notably, and seemingly effortlessly, offers a musical construct that surpasses the most complete and realistically portrayed sonic envelopes I've heard from *any* other digital playback systems in my experience, including those from the US, Europe, and Asia.
Hi Greg, Thanks! Perhaps my question wasn’t worded clearly. I did mean both the DAC and the clock as a set. I was wondering whether when you auditioned the NADAC clock/DAC you swapped it out in the same system with other DACs so you could hear the difference, all else remaining the same?
Hello, my friend. Sadly, with the realities of being retired and on a fairly fixed income, that likelihood is slim. It would be up to Master Fidelity to find a way to allow me to afford them. And trust me, the Ideon Suite I am now so lucky to live with, ESPECIALLY since the Absolute Epsilon META DAC update, is nothing to sneeze at! The Ideon Suite delivers TRULY spellbinding performance! 😃
On the surface (which is about as deep as I go on the technical details) this sounds a bit like Andreas’ Playback Designs MPD-8. Any thoughts on how they compare, on any level - technically or sound-wise?
As to the technical distinctions between the two approaches, I will leave that to my friend Dr. David Robinson, of Positive-Feedback. While I've known Andreas for some years and have interviewed him here on the channel, I'm not up to date on his applied technology enough to do any more than offer that it is not accomplished in like manner. More as that should become available.
Yes, definitely saw our Andreas interview. I know you remarked you had not obtained a test unit from PBD. Still holding out hope that’ll eventually happen. I own the MPD-8, hence my interest and also my interest in the NADAC system.
We’re about to find out as we’ve got the MPD-8 on permanent demonstration here in Stockholm, Sweden at Perfect sense with the Master Fidelity D (DAC) incoming very soon.
Greg, to your ear, is it better than the flagship DACs from Wadax and MSB? (Btw, Wadax just came out with a more affordable "trickle down" DAC. This might be in striking range for us mere mortals.)
Thanks Greg for taking the time to listen and understand this gear and bringing the message to your viewers.
Bill, thank YOU so much for giving up so much of your time, and for sharing so much new music, that allowed me to really get a handle on what this unique set of machines can do... What an amazing experience.
Great review Greg!!! How does the NADAC D sound when playing 16/44.1?
Um, as expressed during our conversations, it sounds fabulous...from 16 bit/44.1 kHz to 11.2 MHz! It never once sounded like typical digital gear, even some of the best I've heard, like the Ideon Absolute Suite that I use, the Spanish WADAX Atlantis three-box stack, or the Esoteric Grandios five-piece suite. And it so clearly bests the well-known and regarded three letter systems like MSB and dCS... These products set a new standard - in my personal experience - for making significant advances in the sound of digital playback.
@@theaudioanalystwow, great pitch 😅
Greg and Bill, thanks for your very informative video. Having had the pleasure of hearing Bill’s NADAC dac & clock first with Vivid Spirits and then with the Moya’s, it’s hard to put into words but hearing for yourself is a revelatory experience. As others have said we are experiencing the golden age of digital. Advances in technology, price/performance and understanding of why it’s not just 1’s & 0’s makes this possible.
Thanks, David. So, having heard it, you understand what we were talking about! Just an amazing new level of performance from digital playback...
Thanks Greg will we be seeing the NADAC in the reference system? would love to hear your full review.
There is a distinct possibility. Though Bill and I didn't specifically discuss that course of action, and I don't know when it would happen, I suspect that those machines will make it into play here at some point. Stay tuned... 😊
Thanks Greg for the review. If you have heard the Merging's previous NADAC I would love to hear about how does the NADAC D compare to their previous NADAC.
Sadly, I have no practical experience listening to the previous Merging Technologies gear... Sorry!
@@theaudioanalyst Thank you for your reply.
Astonishing stuff...
In the simplest of terms I look forward to this tech being at a price point that I play at, it's an unfortunate truth that cutting edge capability has to come at this level first... But to say progress excites is an understatement.
Greg, Bill thanks for this chat/content.
👍🏻
Hello, Marcus. I'm sure that, over time, this WILL become more affordable. But if you knew the *actual* development cost, combined with the years it took, not only would you be stunned - I know I was, you would easily understand why these first products cost what they do.
WOW! Just wow!
Greg, You said that the NADAC is a huge leap ahead of all previous digital for you but can you talk about what other DACs you tested the NADAC against when you visited Bill? Curious how you isolated the leap forward only to the DAC?
First, I did not in any way imply or suggest that the DAC was solely responsible for the sonic accomplishments I was hearing - it was the two-box system, the clock, AND the DAC. Further, I'm not sure how I could be more specific in my statement regarding the systems that I feel it outperforms, or bests. This Master Fidelity two-box system (clock and DAC) renders music in a way that is closer to the sound one hears at a live performance, or the mic feed, if you like.
It is more intimate without being etched, edgy, or offering any glare, more revealing, in terms of allowing for more native sounds of instruments, the hammers, strings, and sounding board of the piano, the wooden bodies of the string families, for instance, without artificially spotlighting, and offers a more natural and articulate recreation of the acoustic of the recording than ANY other digital playback system in my experience.
The sonic reconstruction with this gear takes you deeper into, closer to, the performances, and with a level of clarity - and I don’t mean a “reduction” of haze or indistinctness - than I’ve previously experienced. The result is a level of revealed nuance so intimately presented, so immediate, and so naturally rendered, that you have to experience it to understand. The experience is much the same as listening to the Kronos Discovery turntable - the sonic result is a step that much closer to the performance, leaving the artifacts from even the very best of other systems behind.
Clearly no one, myself included, has heard everything under every possible condition. And I've no intention of disparaging ANY manufacturer. Still, this system so notably, and seemingly effortlessly, offers a musical construct that surpasses the most complete and realistically portrayed sonic envelopes I've heard from *any* other digital playback systems in my experience, including those from the US, Europe, and Asia.
Hi Greg, Thanks! Perhaps my question wasn’t worded clearly. I did mean both the DAC and the clock as a set. I was wondering whether when you auditioned the NADAC clock/DAC you swapped it out in the same system with other DACs so you could hear the difference, all else remaining the same?
So I have to ask Greg, Are you replacing your Absolute stack with NADAC?
Hello, my friend. Sadly, with the realities of being retired and on a fairly fixed income, that likelihood is slim. It would be up to Master Fidelity to find a way to allow me to afford them. And trust me, the Ideon Suite I am now so lucky to live with, ESPECIALLY since the Absolute Epsilon META DAC update, is nothing to sneeze at! The Ideon Suite delivers TRULY spellbinding performance! 😃
On the surface (which is about as deep as I go on the technical details) this sounds a bit like Andreas’ Playback Designs MPD-8. Any thoughts on how they compare, on any level - technically or sound-wise?
As to the technical distinctions between the two approaches, I will leave that to my friend Dr. David Robinson, of Positive-Feedback. While I've known Andreas for some years and have interviewed him here on the channel, I'm not up to date on his applied technology enough to do any more than offer that it is not accomplished in like manner. More as that should become available.
Yes, definitely saw our Andreas interview. I know you remarked you had not obtained a test unit from PBD. Still holding out hope that’ll eventually happen. I own the MPD-8, hence my interest and also my interest in the NADAC system.
We’re about to find out as we’ve got the MPD-8 on permanent demonstration here in Stockholm, Sweden at Perfect sense with the Master Fidelity D (DAC) incoming very soon.
@marcusfordal4973 Wow, very interesting! As an MPD owner I’m very curious. Any easy way for me to reach out to you to follow what happens?
@@marcusfordal4973 Did you ever receive your NADAC system? What is your verdict vs. the PBD MPD-8? Would be very grateful to know.
Greg, to your ear, is it better than the flagship DACs from Wadax and MSB? (Btw, Wadax just came out with a more affordable "trickle down" DAC. This might be in striking range for us mere mortals.)
Hello, Mike. Please see my response to @a.s.2426 above...
@@theaudioanalyst Thanks!