So, I have just purchased the Geshelli Labs DAYYZEE. What is nice about the DAYZEE, you can change out the 8 DAC chips which has some future proof and connections of XLR (Balance), RCA(Unbalance), Toslink and Coax. I also have been running a Raspberry Pi 4/5, Pi 2 Design PI2AES 2.0, 10" Touch LED screen, Volumio 3 and Sparkler-Audio model S512 "perceive" Philips TDA1543 DAC. The Tin Can boxes from Topping, SMSL, etc..is an endless cycle of updates which I will never buy.
How apropos!! After 15 years with the same DAC, I literally just sold my old trusty Peachtree and decided to dip my toe into the new DAC market. Rabbit hole is 100% correct!! First there are FPGA, ESS Sabre, and AKM based DACs. Then most of the DACs worth their salt measure good to great, so the specifications don't tell you much. Some would argue this means they all sound the same, but IMO most of them present music in a slightly different way, so you have to listen for about a week or two to determine if you are fine with the sonic signature. SMSL, Topping, Aune, Geshelli, Schiit, Chord, Eversolo, iFi, outboard power supplies, internal power supplies, bluetooth, optical, coaxial, multiple filter settings, custom filters, exchangeable opamps... Those are all choices to be made at almost every price level! I'm having fun with it, but you can certainly get lost quick. What's funny is one of the better new DACs I've heard is the SMSL SU-1. Just $80!! Measures great and sounds as good as DACs that will set you back $500+. Its not going to compete with a Mola Mola, but it will surprise a lot of people who haven't heard these new generation DAC chips. Cheers!!
HaHa, I have the budget but I have fifty-seven year old ears. I run I-pad through a red Dragonfly, into a 1980’ Marantz receiver, out through some ‘79 Pioneer speakers, and, still get the low bottom, with top end sizzle that I love. (Signed, live musician and tractor driver on a Farm.)
Another great one here. It became dizzying when I was looking to upgrade. But I managed to take the time and research the ones that weren’t heavily reviewed but were highly regarded for a unique presentation and/or architecture. So, waited and waited, and got a really special one used. For a very good deal. Was unique in 2020, and is still is. Better (to me) than anything popping out regularly. Never stops surprising me 🙏🏼👍🏼
I think finding an audio youtube reviewer who has integrity, is getting harder than finding a politician who has integrity. Everybody seems to be scratching each others back. A guy came on today and featured a turntable isolation base he said he "bought ". In my comment I simply mentioned that I had sold an isolation base that I had for decades , and I had mentioned the company, which is a competiitor to the company's iso base that he claims he just bought. If he did "just buy it" for himself, there would be no conflicting interests in my mentioning the competing brand's name. But they might be taking money or something, under the table, so my mentioning the brand I had, a brand that still makes isolation bases also, becones a conflict of interest. So he took my comnent off which mentioned the competing brand. He must have been plugging the iso base his video featured, under the guise of merely showing us something he allegedly bought, and how nifty it is. Can you truat trust video reviews or audio journalism like that? If an audio channel guy comes on & reviews something he claims he just bought, I am going to assune there might be something going on under the table, and take everything he says about it with a grain of salt, just like these political commercials.that we are presently flooded by Our hobby is getting a bit on the ugly side.There's all these people out there who have found a bunch of wealthy older guys (mostly), willing to throw big sums of money at just about anything. Are there any other fields like this? With so many different brands and models to fritter your money away on? The marketers have found them; they've discovered audiophiles, and their irrational stopping at absolutelynothing to get better sound. Half their upgrade attemps are probably side steps; different instead of better. Remember when DACs were a little wee chip inside your cd player? Refreshing to have some honest ones like yourself to watch.
Great vid!! I'm using a 20yo audio magic "kukama" and it's never been replaced!! Dual mono power supply and dual differential burr brown 1704 chips. All these new latest/greatest dacs are isht!! Lasers to my eardrums:( I'll take musical over analytical every day. Let the sheep know
I think burr brown has always been the most musical too my ears:) 💞 only dacs I've heard that came close or nudged my audio magic kukama were both using burr brown chips!! Luxman da-06 and a Yamamoto soundcraft
Excellent points Shrink. Keeping my eyes and ears open to a dedicated Dac. We'll see, don't want to rush in. $1,000-1,500 new or used. So much out there. The journey continues brother. Rock on!
Oh I love the folks that release a new DAC every other week. It makes last week's edition a bargain. I started down the rabbit hole. It took a while to find one where I could say that it sounded better than the Wolfson DAC in my old Rotel, that i realized it's mostly just chasing rainbows. lol.
You're right. I observed that rabbit hole fore a whole month looking for the right Dac for me. I've ended in a used R2R DAC, the Gustard R26. In my sistem made a big improvement over realism, analogness, dynamics and engagement. But yes, you got the point, they try to keep us from the balls, hyping the next thing, making us believe that out there's new stuff we need. Market make us feel to have made the wrong choice and the improvement we need is behind the corner. That said, for me is the end game Dac. To me was a pretty big effort and I'm happy with it. This dac reduced a lot the gap with my vynil in sound quality. They sound both fabulous now. Problem may be assistance, don't know if someone can fix any damage on that may happen in future. Wish a long life to my system!
my issue as I mentioned in video and Gustard is a prime example of changing models like underwear.Any experienced guy knows to stay away and head to a proprietary tried and true design that doesnt change for a very very long time.Companies should not make there customers feel like there product is outdated.
@@SimoRamaThanks sir.Its my goal here not to promote nor review audio just clear the fog to the straight truth to maybe help people gain some clarity that can take a very long time dealing with unneeded stress,lost money etc to finally realize
Thanks for the video. This is one of the reasons I prefer separate components so I can upgrade or tweak my system as I want. It’s a fun part of the hobby and my musical journey. I have listened to 10 different DACs. My budget is $2K US. I found I want just a DAC, not a streamer and preamp. The Eversolo A8 was noticeable for better sound in my system but it wouldn’t stay connected to my wi-fi and at almost $2K it was returned. I took a leap of faith and bought the Holo Audio Cyan 2 and I’m glad I did. It is the most revealing DAC I’ve heard. I hear subtle details I didn’t hear with others in my revealing 2.2 music only system. At About $1300 delivered I’m set for my DAC. I’ve got it connected to my Bluestone Node N130 as a streamer using the USB cable that came with the DAC. Rock on!
Got a like and a sub from me. New to hifi. Recently bought Magnepan 0.7 for myself. Needed a "for now" setup. Will invest later for better gear. The "for now" gear is still in the mail on the way - Wiim Ultra and Fosi V3 Mono blocks. I hope I don't burn the house down...
I find that "for now" gear often gets upgraded 3-4 time, where you could spend the same as those 3-4 dacs, or more and get really good performance for a long time. It is a little like those people who bought the really fast GPU for their PC, and enjoyed 4 years of really good performance.
Just to keep myself from getting bored I had 2 speakers. One panel speaker and one box speaker. Ive since sold the box speaker which I kinda regret. Changing up the system every now and then kept things fresh and me away from wanting to upgrade.
hmmm to be honest that sounds a little counter productive because if you were truly being engaged with the heart not just the ears which can take a very long time to find I think its crazy to change that.If not engaged I can see changing
@@greatlookinglandscap i disagree engagement with the music doesn’t come in one flavour. Two speakers with different presentations can both be engaging but in different ways.
For me my DAC journey has always been PC centric. I ran the onboard PC DACs forever, until one day I decided to go USB. I was stunned by how much better it was just noticing the difference on PC/Desktop speakers! I dream of owning a PS Audio DAC one day, but my budget dwells in the Geshelli labs price point.
I enjoy learning about what is down in the rabbit hole DAC technology is interesting Right now I am enjoying the R2R Holo Audio Cyan 2 All the gushing praise for it made me want to try it and I agree that is is definitely worth consideration if you are looking to dip your toe into the R2R realm I think I would like to try a multi-bit DAC at some point but who knows when that would be as I am in no hurry presently I think the Technics Digital amplifier is interesting as it has no DAC section,it is a DAC inherently and is not Class A or B or D it is it’s own thing There is a lot going on in DAC world Chord has something very interesting in the pipeline All DACs from the least expensive on up to the $100k plus do a pretty good job DACing
@@valvaholic6800 Marantz Musical Mastering 'no DAC' digital signal path, in which all incoming signals are upconverted via user-selectable digital filters, converted to DSD128 seems similar to the Technics digital amplifier. There is no DAC or DAC chip
@greatlookinglandscap you did not try the Aurender N10, N20, N200 so your comments are not very conclusive when you say that you tried an Aurender they are not all the same 😅😂
@@jiyadasThats obvious.I tried up to the $8000 cdn price point A10 and N100h cheaper model.With a few different dacs.The Innuos zen mk 3 at around 4800 cdn exceeded all streamers I have tried and some were double the price.Its not even close.I hope u can try one in your system.All that have taken my advice have come back to share how happy they are
@greatlookinglandscap I'm sorry the A10 with a built-in DAC is absolutely not in the same league as the N10 or even N200, which are solely streamers. The N10's OCXO clock is very precise, which the A10 doesn't have. The A10 is positioned as a relatively cheaper solution for someone who doesn't want a separate DAC. The N100H was their cheapest streamer. The N10 is long discontinued, but you can find one for $4500 to 5000 CAD and Innous Mk 3 doesn't stand a chance against it. The N20 is on a completely different price level, so I don't expect most people to buy it. I have my N20 paired with a MSB Premier DAC. Hey, if you are happy then what does it matter 🙂
So, I have just purchased the Geshelli Labs DAYYZEE. What is nice about the DAYZEE, you can change out the 8 DAC chips which has some future proof and connections of XLR (Balance), RCA(Unbalance), Toslink and Coax. I also have been running a Raspberry Pi 4/5, Pi 2 Design PI2AES 2.0, 10" Touch LED screen, Volumio 3 and Sparkler-Audio model S512 "perceive" Philips TDA1543 DAC. The Tin Can boxes from Topping, SMSL, etc..is an endless cycle of updates which I will never buy.
I like things a lttle more simple as you know but your right stay away from the endless visious dac cycle
How apropos!! After 15 years with the same DAC, I literally just sold my old trusty Peachtree and decided to dip my toe into the new DAC market. Rabbit hole is 100% correct!! First there are FPGA, ESS Sabre, and AKM based DACs. Then most of the DACs worth their salt measure good to great, so the specifications don't tell you much. Some would argue this means they all sound the same, but IMO most of them present music in a slightly different way, so you have to listen for about a week or two to determine if you are fine with the sonic signature. SMSL, Topping, Aune, Geshelli, Schiit, Chord, Eversolo, iFi, outboard power supplies, internal power supplies, bluetooth, optical, coaxial, multiple filter settings, custom filters, exchangeable opamps... Those are all choices to be made at almost every price level! I'm having fun with it, but you can certainly get lost quick.
What's funny is one of the better new DACs I've heard is the SMSL SU-1. Just $80!! Measures great and sounds as good as DACs that will set you back $500+. Its not going to compete with a Mola Mola, but it will surprise a lot of people who haven't heard these new generation DAC chips. Cheers!!
Ya its insane rinse and repeat
@@greatlookinglandscap Yup, crazy. Great video once again.
@@terrywho22Thanks so much
HaHa, I have the budget but I have fifty-seven year old ears. I run I-pad through a red Dragonfly, into a 1980’ Marantz receiver, out through some ‘79 Pioneer speakers, and, still get the low bottom, with top end sizzle that I love. (Signed, live musician and tractor driver on a Farm.)
Thanks for sharing!
Another great one here. It became dizzying when I was looking to upgrade. But I managed to take the time and research the ones that weren’t heavily reviewed but were highly regarded for a unique presentation and/or architecture. So, waited and waited, and got a really special one used. For a very good deal. Was unique in 2020, and is still is. Better (to me) than anything popping out regularly. Never stops surprising me 🙏🏼👍🏼
excellent❤
I think finding an audio youtube reviewer who has integrity, is getting harder than finding a politician who has integrity. Everybody seems to be scratching each others back. A guy came on today and featured a turntable isolation base he said he "bought ". In my comment I simply mentioned that I had sold an isolation base that I had for decades , and I had mentioned the company, which is a competiitor to the company's iso base that he claims he just bought. If he did "just buy it" for himself, there would be no conflicting interests in my mentioning the competing brand's name. But they might be taking money or something, under the table, so my mentioning the brand I had, a brand that still makes isolation bases also, becones a conflict of interest. So he took my comnent off which mentioned the competing brand. He must have been plugging the iso base his video featured, under the guise of merely showing us something he allegedly bought, and how nifty it is.
Can you truat trust video reviews or audio journalism like that? If an audio channel guy comes on & reviews something he claims he just bought, I am going to assune there might be something going on under the table, and take everything he says about it with a grain of salt, just like these political commercials.that we are presently flooded by Our hobby is getting a bit on the ugly side.There's all these people out there who have found a bunch of wealthy older guys (mostly), willing to throw big sums of money at just about anything. Are there any other fields like this? With so many different brands and models to fritter your money away on? The marketers have found them; they've discovered audiophiles, and their irrational stopping at absolutelynothing to get better sound. Half their upgrade attemps are probably side steps; different instead of better. Remember when DACs were a little wee chip inside your cd player? Refreshing to have some honest ones like yourself to watch.
Thanks for the kind words
Great vid!! I'm using a 20yo audio magic "kukama" and it's never been replaced!! Dual mono power supply and dual differential burr brown 1704 chips. All these new latest/greatest dacs are isht!! Lasers to my eardrums:( I'll take musical over analytical every day. Let the sheep know
me too.I am a fan tho of the current bel canto e1x implementing the good ole burr brown.Its the designers choice for years now
I think burr brown has always been the most musical too my ears:) 💞 only dacs I've heard that came close or nudged my audio magic kukama were both using burr brown chips!! Luxman da-06 and a Yamamoto soundcraft
@@mala2149I love it.Im with you!
That old Phillips chips were sweet, the TDA series, probably the 1541 being the most noted.
indeed
Excellent points Shrink. Keeping my eyes and ears open to a dedicated Dac. We'll see, don't want to rush in. $1,000-1,500 new or used. So much out there. The journey continues brother. Rock on!
well I hope the journey of music continues but not the audio gerbil wheel🙏
Oh I love the folks that release a new DAC every other week. It makes last week's edition a bargain. I started down the rabbit hole. It took a while to find one where I could say that it sounded better than the Wolfson DAC in my old Rotel, that i realized it's mostly just chasing rainbows. lol.
😂
This is your best discussion yet. Great advice in this video.
wow! thanks so much!Beware of the vortex lol
You're right. I observed that rabbit hole fore a whole month looking for the right Dac for me. I've ended in a used R2R DAC, the Gustard R26. In my sistem made a big improvement over realism, analogness, dynamics and engagement. But yes, you got the point, they try to keep us from the balls, hyping the next thing, making us believe that out there's new stuff we need. Market make us feel to have made the wrong choice and the improvement we need is behind the corner. That said, for me is the end game Dac. To me was a pretty big effort and I'm happy with it. This dac reduced a lot the gap with my vynil in sound quality. They sound both fabulous now. Problem may be assistance, don't know if someone can fix any damage on that may happen in future. Wish a long life to my system!
my issue as I mentioned in video and Gustard is a prime example of changing models like underwear.Any experienced guy knows to stay away and head to a proprietary tried and true design that doesnt change for a very very long time.Companies should not make there customers feel like there product is outdated.
@@greatlookinglandscap yes, it is an aspect that you made me observing to. Appreciated this, Thank you
@@SimoRamaThanks sir.Its my goal here not to promote nor review audio just clear the fog to the straight truth to maybe help people gain some clarity that can take a very long time dealing with unneeded stress,lost money etc to finally realize
Thanks for the video. This is one of the reasons I prefer separate components so I can upgrade or tweak my system as I want. It’s a fun part of the hobby and my musical journey. I have listened to 10 different DACs. My budget is $2K US. I found I want just a DAC, not a streamer and preamp. The Eversolo A8 was noticeable for better sound in my system but it wouldn’t stay connected to my wi-fi and at almost $2K it was returned. I took a leap of faith and bought the Holo Audio Cyan 2 and I’m glad I did. It is the most revealing DAC I’ve heard. I hear subtle details I didn’t hear with others in my revealing 2.2 music only system. At About $1300 delivered I’m set for my DAC. I’ve got it connected to my Bluestone Node N130 as a streamer using the USB cable that came with the DAC. Rock on!
yes.Rock on.If your budget is able please try an innuos zen mk3 streamer.It will shock you
I absolutely love my cyan 2!!!!!
Ok well thats the one to keep.Dont give in to the dangling carrots of the dac vortex moving forward
Got a like and a sub from me. New to hifi. Recently bought Magnepan 0.7 for myself. Needed a "for now" setup. Will invest later for better gear. The "for now" gear is still in the mail on the way - Wiim Ultra and Fosi V3 Mono blocks. I hope I don't burn the house down...
welcome aboard!
I find that "for now" gear often gets upgraded 3-4 time, where you could spend the same as those 3-4 dacs, or more and get really good performance for a long time. It is a little like those people who bought the really fast GPU for their PC, and enjoyed 4 years of really good performance.
@@jungtarcphyup
Just to keep myself from getting bored I had 2 speakers. One panel speaker and one box speaker. Ive since sold the box speaker which I kinda regret. Changing up the system every now and then kept things fresh and me away from wanting to upgrade.
hmmm to be honest that sounds a little counter productive because if you were truly being engaged with the heart not just the ears which can take a very long time to find I think its crazy to change that.If not engaged I can see changing
@@greatlookinglandscap i disagree engagement with the music doesn’t come in one flavour. Two speakers with different presentations can both be engaging but in different ways.
@@dajikbatarang1yes true
For me my DAC journey has always been PC centric.
I ran the onboard PC DACs forever, until one day I decided to go USB. I was stunned by how much better it was just noticing the difference on PC/Desktop speakers! I dream of owning a PS Audio DAC one day, but my budget dwells in the Geshelli labs price point.
Good stuff! Enjoy it
Man I missed the replay of your live. Had it bookmarked but now it's deleted
every Friday 4pm pacific.If you join please participate
@@greatlookinglandscap Can't join but will watch replays when I can.
I enjoy learning about what is down in the rabbit hole
DAC technology is interesting
Right now I am enjoying the R2R Holo Audio Cyan 2
All the gushing praise for it made me want to try it and I agree that is is definitely worth consideration if you are looking to dip your toe into the R2R realm
I think I would like to try a multi-bit DAC at some point but who knows when that would be as I am in no hurry presently
I think the Technics Digital amplifier is interesting as it has no DAC section,it is a DAC inherently and is not Class A or B or D it is it’s own thing
There is a lot going on in DAC world
Chord has something very interesting in the pipeline
All DACs from the least expensive on up to the $100k plus do a pretty good job DACing
proprietary dac chip tech is what i like not off the shelf in a fancier box then a mth later rinse and repeat
@@greatlookinglandscap what is a brand that uses proprietary chips ?
@@middleearthltdmetrum is one and there are many more real costly brands dcs etc
@@middleearthltdMarantz has their proprietary MMM circuit
@@valvaholic6800 Marantz Musical Mastering 'no DAC' digital signal path, in which all incoming signals are upconverted via user-selectable digital filters, converted to DSD128 seems similar to the Technics digital amplifier. There is no DAC or DAC chip
❤❤❤
Just telling my truth
What is the streamer you like? Aurlic?
innuos model Zen mk3 tried all the others auralic,aurender,lumin,bryston etc
@@greatlookinglandscap Thanks
@greatlookinglandscap you did not try the Aurender N10, N20, N200 so your comments are not very conclusive when you say that you tried an Aurender they are not all the same 😅😂
@@jiyadasThats obvious.I tried up to the $8000 cdn price point A10 and N100h cheaper model.With a few different dacs.The Innuos zen mk 3 at around 4800 cdn exceeded all streamers I have tried and some were double the price.Its not even close.I hope u can try one in your system.All that have taken my advice have come back to share how happy they are
@greatlookinglandscap I'm sorry the A10 with a built-in DAC is absolutely not in the same league as the N10 or even N200, which are solely streamers. The N10's OCXO clock is very precise, which the A10 doesn't have. The A10 is positioned as a relatively cheaper solution for someone who doesn't want a separate DAC. The N100H was their cheapest streamer. The N10 is long discontinued, but you can find one for $4500 to 5000 CAD and Innous Mk 3 doesn't stand a chance against it. The N20 is on a completely different price level, so I don't expect most people to buy it. I have my N20 paired with a MSB Premier DAC.
Hey, if you are happy then what does it matter 🙂