DAC Opinions

[bikeman71]

I used the T+A direct to a MC452 before getting my Allnic integrated. I was very impressed. The pre/volume control is very high quality. My only criticism is the chintzy remote...

[Mechnutt]

Randy, I knew that when you heard it with DSD512 you would be blown away. That DAC is something special with HQP sending it DSD512. It has awesome texture and detail without sounding digital. It is good at lower DSD but at 512 it is a huge step up.

Glad to see that you are enjoying it.

[Randy Myers]

Thank you, and thank you to all sharing their opinions and experiences! It would be very difficult to find out about very special machines, such as the T+A, let alone actually listen to/play with various pieces of new gear. There are no dealers near me without driving several hours. Therefore I really appreciate other members sharing opinions and experiences!

[Kuoppis]

Randy, a smart choice of DAC as you are into DSD.

Not that it is not great with other formats, but the T+A is just awesome with DSD. Congrats!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Randy Myers]

Thank you and I tend to agree. I am still getting used to it's particular mode of operation. As we all know, each piece of gear has it's own methods. Learning these and making sure they are acceptable seems important.

There are a couple things I have noticed about the T+A. Neither are deal breakers. One is the way it interfaces with HQ Player. I have noticed that HQ Player likes to have the T+A on before it runs on my server. If not it sometimes does not connect properly. Therefore simply leaving the server on does not work best unless I also left the DAC on. I usually turn both off when I am not listening at this point.

The second I believe may be a firmware, or maybe a change in manufacturing. Mine only displays the DSD level by the resolution, ala 2.8, 5.6, 11.2, etc. This is how the Teac I had worked as well, although the T+A displays it as 2M8, 11M2, etc. I figure it must be a German thing ....

The manual I received with the unit does not show any way of changing the display, however the manual I downloaded from their website shows one of the options in the menu is to display either this way or DSD64, DSD128... DSD512... This option is not in my unit. Therefore I am wondering if T+A has a firmware update.

Does anyone have any knowledge about this?

[aKnyght]

The second I believe may be a firmware, or maybe a change in manufacturing. Mine only displays the DSD level by the resolution, ala 2.8, 5.6, 11.2, etc. This is how the Teac I had worked as well, although the T+A displays it as 2M8, 11M2, etc. I figure it must be a German thing ....

The manual I received with the unit does not show any way of changing the display, however the manual I downloaded from their website shows one of the options in the menu is to display either this way or DSD64, DSD128... DSD512... This option is not in my unit. Therefore I am wondering if T+A has a firmware update.

Does anyone have any knowledge about this?

the manual i received with the unit does have the instructions for changing the display format for DSD level. following those instructions, i was able to toggle between the two DSD display formats. unfortunately, i have been unable to find out how to determine which firmware version is installed. if anyone knows how to do this, i can check. the manual i have can be found online here:

http://www.ta-hifi.de/wp-content/upl..._260_DE_UK.pdf

as mentioned earlier - i received the DSD8 DAC a week or so ago. it was shipped to my dealer direct from germany after a two week wait... so, i think it was manufactured within that time.

hope this helps.

[Randy Myers]

Hello, and thank you. I downloaded this manual from their website. This is why I was questioning if there was a firmware update or something. I purchased a show demo unit which has only a low number of hours on it. It works perfect however it does not have the option to change the display type as per the online manual. Furthermore the manual that was in the box also does not mention this function. I would prefer to be able to change the display, but as I said, it is not a deal breaker.

I would also appreciate if anyone has knowledge on this. If there is a firmware upgrade, etc. I assume this function to change the display is probably a firmware upgrade.

[Mechnutt]

If all else fails, contact tech support.

[Randy Myers]

I tried e-mailing support. I guess we will see what happens.

[Randy Myers]

According to T+A support the only way to update the firmware myself would be if I owned a MP8 music player which can actually update firmware on the DAC as well. Otherwise I would have to send the machine to them in Germany. Not really something I want to do at this time.

They did confirm that they feel it is a firmware update as well.

[CPP]

Randy a couple of questions, have you tried the headphone section and how does the T&A sound NON DSD. Anything to compare it to. Thanks

[Randy Myers]

Hey Chris. I only tried the headphone section using my KEF. I am waiting an adapter to use the MrSpeakers because I only have 4-pin Balanced cables. I really don't feel like buying another cable with a 1/4" jack since the cable I have is a $250 cable.

When that arrives I will try the other cans. If they do as well as the KEF did then it will be an easy decision. The KEF M500 sounded as good as they ever have through the T+A.

I have not tried anything except DSD, although I suppose I could. It would be a simple matter of choosing the T+A zone in Roon versus the HQ Player zone ....

In DSD it is spectacular!

[Anatta]

Since you only have a digital source you should try driving your amps directly from the DAC8, just to see what your preamp brings or takes away from the sound.

[CPP]

Thanks Randy. It would be interesting to see how the T&A worked with driving the MR Speakers which is what I have also along with the 800s. And trying some PCM will be interesting. I heard it was good but I was looking for comparisons.

[Randy Myers]

Yea, I was thinning the herd a bit and got rid of my HD800S. I liked the MrSpeakers better and since headphone listening is not the primary use I felt it did not make sense to keep both. I was able to trade them along with other items to get to my current configuration....

At some point I may try PCM, I am sure it will be good, from what I have read. For me the DSD capabilities were my real concern and from everything I have read, heard, and seen the T+A is one is the finest in this regards.

I may try asmps direct at some point also. I know when I had the W4S DAC I tried it direct and felt the RC pre-amp sounded a ton better.

[wisnon]

Chris, any reason why you are using Win7 on your music PC and not Windows 2016?

BTW, we use the same NAS. I am wondering if an iFi Audio DC iPurifier will improve things when added in line with the SMPS that comes with the Synology? Costs $99.

[Anatta]

I know when I had the W4S DAC I tried it direct and felt the RC pre-amp sounded a ton better.

Difference is the W4S has a digital VC, while the DAC8 has an analog resistor ladder VC.

[Randy Myers]

True, and that difference is huge. I might try it at some point. I have always liked having a pre in my system, and have wanted an ARC pre-amp, but you never know. The one function that I would loose is being able to spin SACDs, which I do rarely now that I rip all that I buy and put them on my server.

I assume that both XLR and RCA outputs are active at the same time. This is important since I use the SE outputs to the sub.

[Mechnutt]

Randy, you can always use an XLR to RCA adapter. That is what I use for my subs as my BAT pre has only XLR's. But both RCA and XLR outs should be active.

[CPP]

Chris, any reason why you are using Win7 on your music PC and not Windows 2016?

BTW, we use the same NAS. I am wondering if an iFi Audio DC iPurifier will improve things when added in line with the SMPS that comes with the Synology? Costs $99.

Norm, never had any reasons to change over, plus I use this PC for only two things, music and my photo work and a few of my photo programs do not work with the newer windows programs unless I wanted to do a cloud service which to me can't cut it. My lap top however with HQPlayer and JR River is a 10 -pro 64 bit quad i7 machine.

The iFi Audio DC iPurifier, for $99 bucks it might be something to try.

[Randy Myers]

Randy, you can always use an XLR to RCA adapter. That is what I use for my subs as my BAT pre has only XLR's. But both RCA and XLR outs should be active.

I use the XLRs to the amplifiers and the RCAs to the sub.

[Randy Myers]

I think that this demo T+A DAC8 DSD I picked up has very low hours on it. I have been noticing it improving for me when putting some time on it. I can honestly say this is the biggest improvement a single component has made in my system to date!

I also recently tried the headphone section in it. Very nice indeed. I do not believe it is quite as good as the Bryston headphone amplifier that I have, but it is darn good. Definitely as good as the Woo and Benchmark which were my two previous headphone amps. Since I do not listen to headphones a ton, it may actually suffice. I will live with it for a bit and see how I feel about selling the Bryston since I have used it so sparingly.

[jmusica]

I have the DirectSteam, am very happy with (the sound of, and build quality of) it. (I'm not particularly crazy about it's looks). It's different from my previous Audio Note, but I'm not ready to say "better or worse"; right now it just has it's own strengths vs the strengths I lived with for a few years with the AN. And that's saying quite a lot imo since the AN was a spectacular DAC compared to every other one I'd heard.

In general I like the concept of FPGA based, being programmable it can always be improved on sonically and feature-wise - it's not locked into a certain "sound" or limitations of a specific DAC chip.

[Phantom_Audio]

Formula DAC by Aqua Acoustic is highly recommended.

[joeinid]

Welcome to the forum, thank you for joining.